Monday, March 23, 2009

Shaking up the streets






[click to enlarge]
I got these photos from a post on English Russia, across which initially came my dad. And I was really glad to see these LIFE magazine shots from the streets of Moscow in, I guess, 1950's. The models are wearing Dior which wasn't even dreamt of in the USSR. Look at the reaction of the Soviet women. It's interesting that you won't only find curiosity, sometimes delight and jealousy but also disapproval in some expressions.
Whatever women did in the USSR to create their own sense of fashion amongst those boring items of clothing made in their native country. Fashion wasn't cultivated due to the shortage of imported clothing. Everything else was if not identical, quite lame, to be honest. This, however, made many women sew at home and create their own fashion from scratch.
One Soviet actress of the 1950's was known to paint her shoes with nail varnish to make them look like she had many pairs instead of one only pair. That's what deficiency can lead to.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

I love these shots, they capture so much. xx

mode.ulation said...

These are beautiful, and thanks for the great read! I love your blog, would you like to exchange links?
http://mode-ulation.blogspot.com

Kira Aderne said...

Really fancy ladies!
Love them all :)

a kiss!!!

Anonymous said...

Awesome pictures, thanks a lot for sharing them!

Marina, ChloƩ et Andy said...

They all look perfect! And the light of this photos is amazeing!!

xx

hasta la vista, mademoiselle!

Unknown said...

They all look so glamorous!!=)
Love them so much.Thanks for sharing it to us.;D

Claire Geist said...

amazing

a mixture of all my favorite things:
photography,fashion & history

gotta love it

Jules said...

Wow!
They're all amazing.;D
Great outfits,love them..;D

hannah said...

wow. these are really lovely. i dream of living back in the day.

Lydia O'Connor said...

Wow, awesome to see how these people worked with what they had. The nail polish story is brilliant! I bet her shoes looked amazing.
And thank you for the writing compliment! It made me smile big.

Bianca said...

love the feel of these pictures
xx

the crumpet girls
http://crumpetsandt.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

fabulous post!

http://balmainbazaar.blogspot.com/

ELM said...

Love these photos--- truly fantastic! I love how you can tell that these women are truly "foreign" in Russia--- must have felt weird to be them, eh?

Caterina foi passear... said...

Wow!!!! These girls shaken Moscow! In Brasil says: Arassou!

Eeli said...

This is a set of interesting pictures, alongside your commentary it is really interesting. I wonder more of the history of the USSR now... :)

tenth said...

thats really the style