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[FASHION, LIFE IN RUSSIA 1910–1920s] Zhizn’ devitsy Elizavety, vosstanovlennaia po eie kostiumam [i.e. The life of the young maiden Elizaveta, reconstructed via her costumes]

[KOZLOVA, E.]

Item #2893

[Saratov, 1920– 1930s]. [200] p. 28×15,5 cm.

Manuscript on paper. Watercolours, pen and pencil. 91 hand-painted pages with accompanying text. Each watercolor depict Elizaveta in a new dress, the text states the year and what she was doing at the time.
The manuscript-diary of Elizaveta Kozlova, a young women from Saratov intelligentsia, daughter of a civil servant, written and illustrated by herself – it tells the fascinating story of growing up in pre- Revolutionary Saratov, the struggle in the Civil War years and the establishment of the Soviet rule in Russia. The manuscript gives a great overview of what it was like to live in central Russian town though these times. The illustrations give us the first-hand idea of what Elizaveta wore (not a single dress in the album is duplicated), ate (for example, a good glimpse at the Easter table of 1915), what movies she has seen, what exhibitions she attended, the sporting activities (swimming, croquet)and what friends she kept.
Below is the description of her story, based on the album:

The first part of the book is titles ‘Happy Childhood’. Elizaveta was born in 1905 and the first couple of images show her mother, starting from 1910 we start to see the author of the book in different attire. The script goes ‘Since the age of 5, she was overcome by a lifelong pernicious passion for finery’. [all the captions address Elizaveta in the third person].
The captions are written with good humor and it’s possible to get the idea of the character of Elizaveta as well – since her childhood years ‘she was very independent and refused, when the adults wanted to walk her by the hand’. Apart from Elizaveta’s dresses, the clothes of her relatives – mother, grandmother, cousins and friends are drawn with attention to detail. Father is mentioned, but not shown, from captions we learn, that he is a civil servant.
In 1913 Elizaveta and her mother went to Anapa, the drawings show their beach attire.
In 1914 Elizaveta has entered the 1st Female Ministry Gymnasium, the drawings of the school uniform and school everyday activities are included in this section of the book. In the following years Elizaveta goes to Astrakhan and Petrograd, spending the New Year in Finland. Elizaveta’s aunt lived on Bolshaya Monetnaya in Petrograd and Elizaveta instantly fell in love with the city. In 1917 Elizaveta joined the Girl Scouts, she is shown in a khaki scout uniform with the image of the scout hut and the fire. 1917 ends with the short story about the two boyfriends of Elizaveta, both pictured.
The second part of the manuscript is titled ‘The Stormy Youth’. It starts in 1919, so the ‘stormy’ years of 1917–1918 are missed out. In 1918 Saratov area became an active battlefield in Russian Civil War, with the socialist uprising in Saratov itself and the unites of White Army general Krasnov taking part of the region. All of this is not mentioned in the book, in 1919 we find Elizaveta in the village Maksimovka outside of Saratov ‘earns his daily bread by the sweat of his brow’, in the village theatre her mother and Elizaveta were actresses and her father was a director. In 1921 Elizaveta’s father died of cholera and together with her mother they returned to Saratov and Elizaveta re-joined the gymnasium, now called 11th working-class school.
We can see that the life for the family swiftly changed, as 17 year old Elizaveta had to sell the cookies her mother was making at the local market. Also she was selling the same cookies in bulk to the local cinema theatre, where usually they were buying 30–40 at once plus allowed her to go in the cinema for free.
The third part is titled ‘Life starts to normalize’.
Elizaveta decides to take up English (she only had French as part of her classes before), finds ‘the only Englishwoman in Saratov’ and starts to sell of her library (pre-revolutionary Volf and Marks editions), to pay for tuition: the cost of the lessons was quite high. Elizaveta applies to the Art School and enters it (former Korneev studio), later enters Music school as well. In this chapter the kaleidoscope of dresses is much more bright than in previous ones, Elizaveta comments on her favorites.

The next chapter is called ‘Overboard’, starting when Elizaveta has graduated from high school. She was sad at first because she was not allowed to get accepted in any universities as she ‘didn’t have a workingman father’ to be accepted as she puts it. Eventually after few months of unemployment, Elizaveta started to teach English, Russian and Arithmetics, also as a private tutor. Life in Saratov in early 1920s showed as a combination of struggles and joys: one watercolor shows Elizaveta helping the poor, with the caption reads that she didn’t believe the official explanation by the government that all of the poor and homeless in Saratov are lazy and drunk, the other watercolor shows her and her partner at a dance party ‘dressed up according to the latest fashion’. Elizaveta continues her education adding German to her portfolio.
Next chapter is titled ‘Have no future, but the present is quite interesting’. It starts in 1924, when Elizaveta becomes a member of the literary circle, where the local periodical was printed, the music evenings organized etc. According to the manuscript, Elizaveta started to live ‘a high society’ life, going to the horse racing, theatres, concerts, to the Volga beach.
Next chapter is called ‘How the place under the sun was earned’ when in 1925 Elizaveta goes to town of Turtkul’ in Uzbekistan for work. 7 watercolors are dedicated to Uzbekistan and Elizaveta’s life there (including her local dresses). She worked as an accountant at the local firm, learnt horse riding, acted in the local amateur theatre and took an interest in occultism. She returned to Saratov and applied for a job at Gosbank – and got hired because of her knowledge of three languages and the experience in accounting.
The last chapter is titled ‘Straight road ahead’ and it starts in 1926, shows Elizaveta’s work at Gosbank’s branch in Saratov, her dresses become more elegant and expensive. She enjoyed a certain level of comfort. The last page of the book says that in 1928 ‘maiden Elizaveta’ became ‘dame Elizaveta’ and the story of ‘Elizaveta the maiden’ ends.

Status: On Hold