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[GRADUATE’S THESIS ON MODERN WOMEN’S CLOTHING AFTER THE WWII] Sovremennyi zhenskii kostuм v poslevoennoe vremia na praktike Obshchesoyuznogo Doma Modelei [i.e. Modern Women’s Costume After the War in Practice of All-Union House of Models/Fashion]

Item #465

[Moscow: MGU, 1954]. [1, 56 pp., 31 pl.]. 29x21 cm. In original full cloth binding. Typewritten text with drawings pasted in. Title page is also handwritten. English titles of magazines also handwritten. Near fine.

This is a typewritten graduate thesis of a then MSU student and later a writer, professor and corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Education Vera Alekseeva (1930-2010) on women’s clothing after the war. Already in the introduction she stated that up to 1941 Soviet designers were not able to resist Western fashion and build a new Soviet style. In general she analyzed state of fashion in recent decades and made a few suggestions like creating a whole look so
designers not only sew cloth but think about accessories, make more public shows to get feedback from women, the key role was for the House of Models.

Alekseeva’s drawings depict the recent history of women’s costume, it’s silhouette as well as models from the international competition of fashion designs in Prague in 1953 where the Soviet All-Union House of Models, which won first place, took part for the first time. In her work Alekseeva mentions the House a lot which was a
fashion forge even before the Revolution. It held open fashion shows, created collections for 300 garment factories of the USSR, sold patterns and even sewed clothes for the Soviet elite. Basically it was a Soviet equivalent of Balenciaga or Christian Dior. The entrance cost five rubles. In her thesis Alekseeva talks about Soviet women. The appearance of ordinary Soviet women in the 1950s differed little from the appearance of women in the 1940s, many of them, from the point of view of the fashion of the new decade, were hopelessly old-fashioned. After Stalin’s death in 1953, with the coming to power of Khrushchev, during the so-called ‘thaw’ period, the time of reforms in the life of Soviet society begins. Thanks to the development of international ties between the USSR and the capitalist countries, information on the Western consumer culture penetrates into the Soviet way of life, people are increasingly able to learn about the novelties of foreign fashion. If in the early 1950s foreign sources of information tried to cover up, then from the mid-1950s, some changes took place. In fashion magazines, which, by the way, there were many in the USSR, foreign models of clothing began to be published in periodicals, most of them, of course, were from the countries of the socialist camp, but also the work of Western fashion designers. Soviet people could read about the style proposed by Christian Dior. Fashion magazines quickly picked up new trends and began posting on their pages samples of actual feminine outfits. This thesis was wrote in 1954, and we already can spot changes and find such titles as ‘Vogue’ and ‘Femme Chic’.

A rare survival of the time and a glimpse into the very beginning of the thaw period.

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