Everyday Garments of Soviet Non-capital City Women in the 1950s-1960s (the example of Volgograd)

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2020-49-1/98-114

Abstract

The article discusses the ways, methods and mechanisms to create women’s garments in the Soviet non-capital city of the mid-1950s–early 1960s. Clothing and fashion, inscribed in the context of Soviet everyday life, are considered to be a socio-cultural phenomenon that forms women’s needs. The analysis of the structure of women’s consumption showed a close relationship of everyday culture, economy and politics in the USSR of the 1960s. The media formed the image of a modern woman: being the translators of fashion trends and, at the same time, strengthening the ideologically approved image of a “working mother”, who could and should even be modernly dressed. Modesty, practicality and simplicity of style were promoted as canons of fashion in the socialist country, although these parameters did not always meet the needs of Soviet women who dreamed not only of industrial achievements. It was the labor exploits and active social work of Soviet women that ideologists put in the foreground, while the desire to satisfy the needs of women to dress fashionably acted as the party’s concern for the people, for their satisfactory supply of the necessary goods. The unavailability of some of them, especially fashionable clothes, on the one hand, formed new women’s household needs, and, on the other, taught women to adapt to shortages. In conditions of high demand for fashionable goods, Soviet city women, one way or another, were either trained to fill their requests by developing sewing skills or forced to acquire things illegally. Heterogeneous ways of acquiring women’s garments in the late 1950s-early 1960s revealed the transformation in understanding of permitted and forbidden in everyday practices and, thus, influenced the policy of supply of medium-term consumption goods in the region.

References

1. Achmiz, K.G. 2017. Reformy razvitogo socializma: konec utopii ili nachalo konca? [Reforms of developed socialism: the end of utopia or the beginning of the end?]. Vestnik nauki Adygejskogo respublikanskogo instituta gumanitarnyh issledovanij imeni T.M. Kerasheva 10 (34): 99–107.
2. Bannikova, E.V. 2011. Kriterii povsednevnosti: teoretiko-metodologicheskie osnovy istorii povsednevnoj zhizni [Criteria of everyday life: theoretical and methodological foundations of the history of everyday life]. Istoricheskie, filosofskie, politicheskie i yuridicheskie nauki, kul'turologiya i iskusstvovedenie. Voprosy teorii i praktiki 7-2 (13): 21–24.
3. Belova, A.V. 2006. Zhenskaya povsednevnost' kak predmet istorii povsednevnosti [Women's everyday life as a subject of the history of everyday life]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie 4: 85–97.
4. Belyaev, L.S. 2016. Ekonomika «zrelogo» socializma [The economy is «Mature» socialism]. Svobodnaya mysl' 6 (1660): 70–92.
5. Bogdanov, S.V. 2009. Spekulyaciya v SSSR v 1945–1953: prichiny, masshtaby, osobennosti [Economical speculations in the USSR in 1945–1953: reasons, scales, features]. Novyj istoricheskij vestnik 4 (22): 41–47.
6. Degtev, D.M. 2011. Problemy formirovaniya obshchestvennogo soznaniya v hode denezhnoj reformy 1961 goda [Problems of formation of public consciousness in the course of the monetary reform of 1961] // Aktual'nye problemy social'noj kommunikacii. Materialy vtoroj Mezhdunarodnoj nauchno-prakticheskoj konferencii «Aktual'nye problemy social'noj kommunikacii», edited by M.V. Shiryaev. Nizhnij Novgorod: Nizhegorodskij gosudarstvennyj tekhnicheskij universitet im. R.E. Alekseeva.
7. Gamel'ko, E.V. 2009. Obraz sovetskoj zhenshchiny na stranicah zhurnala «Rabotnica» za 1940–1953 [The image of the Soviet woman in the pages of the magazine «Rabotnitsa» for 1940-1953]. Molodoj uchenyj 7: 174–177.
8. Gumenyuk, A.A. 2009. Chelovek i reformy v SSSR v 1953–1985 gody (po materialam Saratovskoj oblasti) [Man and reforms in the USSR in 1953–1985 (based on the materials of the Saratov region)]. Izvestiya Saratovskogo universiteta. Novaya seriya. Seriya: Istoriya. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya Vol. 9. 2: 92–102.
9. Gusarova, K.O. 2007. «Ya nikogda ne uvlekalas` kosmetikoj»: sovetskij opy`t «iskusstvennoj» krasoty` [«I've never been fond of cosmetics»: the Soviet experience of «artificial» beauty]. Neprikosnovenny`j zapas 4 (54): 142–156.
10. Hmelevskoj, A.V. 2016. Osobennosti odezhdy i predstavlenij o mode v socialisticheskom obshchestve perioda «ottepeli» (1953–1964) [Features of clothes and ideas about fashion in the socialist society of the «ottepel» period (1953–1964)]. Vestnik Tambovskogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye nauki Vol. 21. 9 (161): 120–123.
11. Kovalevskaya, Yu.N., and L.A. Krushanova. 2013. Stanovlenie predprinimatel'stva na Dal'nem Vostoke Rossii v 1960–nachale 1990: ot «baraholki» k rynku [Formation of entrepreneurship in the Russian far East in the 1960–early 1990: from «flea market» to the market]. Rossiya i ATR 4 (82): 96–112.
12. Petrov, M.S. 2010. Evolyuciya obraza zhenshchiny v otechestvennoj zhurnalistike (na primere kontent-analiza zhurnala «Krest'yanka») [The evolution of the image of women in domestic journalism (on the example of the content analysis of the magazine «Krestyanka»)]. Voprosy kul'turologii 7: 40–44.
13. Pushkareva, N.L. 2014. Interes k zhenskoj i gendernoj istorii – harakternaya cherta vremeni [Interest in women's and gender history is a characteristic feature of the time]. Tractus aevorum: evolyuciya sociokul'turnyh i politicheskih prostranstv Vol. 1. 1: 137–139.
14. Pushkareva, N.L. 2012. Gendernaya sistema sovetskoj Rossii i sud'by Rossiyanok [The gender system of Soviet Russia and the fate of Russian woman’s]. Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie 5 (117): 8–23.
15. Pushkareva, N.L. 2008. Predmet i metody izucheniya istorii povsednevnosti [Subject and methods of studying the history of everyday life]. Social'naya istoriya. 2007. Ezhegodnik, edited by I.YU. Novichenko and N.L. Pushkareva, 9–21. Moscow: «Rossijskaya politicheskaya enciklopediya».
16. Pushkareva, N.L. 2004. Predmet i metody izucheniya «istorii povsednevnosti» [Subject and methods of studying «the history of everyday life»]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie 5: 3–19.
17. Pushkareva, N.L., and S.V. Lyubichankovskij. 2014. Ponimanie istorii povsednevnosti v sovremennom istoricheskom issledovanii: ot Shkoly Annalov k rossijskoj filosofskoj shkole [Understanding the history of everyday life in modern historical research: from the annals School to the Russian school of philosophy]. Vestnik Leningradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta im. A.S. Pushkina Vol. 4. 1: 7–21.
18. Rogachevskaya, M.A., and I.A. Novikova. 2010. Istoriya sovetskogo rublya [History of the Soviet ruble]. Sibirskaya finansovaya shkola 2 (79): 137–142.
19. Ryzhenko, V.G., and A.V. Zhidchenko. 2012. Sovetskaya moda v kontekste povsednevnoj zhizni gorodskogo rajona v 1950–60. (po materialam omskogo gorodka neftyanikov) [Soviet fashion in the context of everyday life of the urban area in the 1950–60 (based on the Omsk town of oilmen)]. Istoricheskie, filosofskie, politicheskie i yuridicheskie nauki, kul'turologiya i iskusstvovedenie Voprosy teorii i praktiki 12 (26): 197–202.
20. Savel'eva, E.V. 2006. Sovetskij kostyum 1917–1921 kak otrazhenie obshchestvennyh peremen [Soviet costume of 1917–1921 as a reflection of social changes]. PhD diss. abstract, Moscow City Pedagogical University.
21. Smeyuha, V.V. 2012. Processy identifikacii i zhenskaya pressa [Soviet costume of 1917–1921 as a reflection of social changes]. Rostov-na-Donu: Rostizdat.
22. Tihomirova, A. 2004. V 280 kilometrah ot Moskvy: osobennosti mody i praktik potrebleniya odezhdy v sovetskoj provincii (Yaroslavl' 1960–1980 gody) [In 280 kilometers from Moscow: features of fashion and practices of consumption of clothes in the Soviet province (Yaroslavl 1960–1980)]. Neprikosnovennyj zapas: debaty o politike i kul'ture 5 (37): 101–109.
23. Vajnshtejn, O.B. 1995. «Polnye smotryat vniz»: Ideologiya zhenskoj telesnosti v kontekste rossijskoj mody [«Women look down»: Ideology of female physicality in the context of Russian fashion]. Hudozhestvennyj zhurnal 7: 49–53.
24. Vajnshtejn, O.B. 2007. «Moe lyubimoe plat'e»: portniha kak kul'turnyj geroj v Sovetskoj Rossii [«My favorite dress»: the dressmaker as a cultural hero in Soviet Russia]. Teoriya mody 3: 101–126.
25. Val'cev, S.V. 2012. Ocenka preobrazovanij, provodimyh v SSSR pod rukovodstvom N.S. Hrushcheva [Assessment of the reforms carried out in the USSR under the leadership of Khrushchev]. Problemy sovremennoj nauki i obrazovaniya 5 (5): 11–20.
26. Vel'mozhko, I.N. 2016. Social'nye transformacii v period «hrushchevskoj ottepeli» [Social transformation in the period of «the Khrushchev ottepel»]. Vestnik Udmurtskogo universiteta. Seriya «Istoriya i filologiya» Vol. 26. 4: 93–100.
27. Volkov, A.P. 2013. Obshchestvenno-politicheskie processy konca 50–nachala 60 XX veka: nekotorye aspekty [Socio-political processes of the late 50–early 60 of the twentieth century: some aspects]. Simbirskij nauchnyj vestnik 1 (11): 22–29.
28. Vinichenko, I.V. 2009. Sovetskaya povsednevnost' 50–serediny 60 XX veka (zhenskij kostyum v modelyah odezhdy i bytovoj praktike) [Soviet everyday life of the 50–mid 60 of the XX century (women's costume in clothing models and household practices]. PhD diss. abstract, Omsk State Pedagogical University.
29. Vinichenko, I.V. 2008. Mekhanizmy translyacii mody v SSSR v period «ottepeli» [Mechanisms of broadcasting fashion in the USSR during the «ottepel»]. Omskij nauchnyj vestnik 6 (74): 50–53.
30. Vinichenko, I.V., and A.N. Gmyrak. 2011. Koncepciya sovetskogo vkusa v mode i potrebitel'skoj kul'ture perioda «ottepeli» [The concept of Soviet taste in fashion and consumer culture of the «ottepel» period]. Omskij nauchnyj vestnik 5 (101): 237–241.
31. Vinichenko, I.V. 2017. Sovetskaya moda v kontekste social'no-ekonomicheskoj i kul'turnoj zhizni SSSR ot «ottepeli» do «zastoya»: tradicii i novye realii [Soviet fashion in the context of socio-economic and cultural life of the USSR from «ottepel» to «stagnation»: traditions and new realities]. Omsk: Omskij gosudarstvennyj tekhnicheskij universitet.
32. Zhuravlev, S., and Yu, Gronov. 2006. Vlast' mody i Sovetskaya vlast': istoriya protivostoyaniya [Fashion power and Soviet power: a history of confrontation]. Istorik i hudozhnik 1: 133–147.