Figure 1.--This boy's outfit appeared in the Soviet fashion magazine "Modeli detskoj odezhdy" ("Models of Children's Clothes") during 1981. The boy is wearing tights which had replaced long stockings during the 1970s. |
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We note several fashion magazines published during the Soviet era. They were published in different republics. Some of the most important were published in the Baltics and Lenningrad. It is not entirely clear to us just what the purpose of these magazines were. They do not seem to have been catalogs nor were patterns included. At least some were published by fashion houses, institutions that we also do not know a great deal about. Hopefully our Russian and Baltic readers will provide us some insights here.
We note several fashion magazines published during the Soviet era. They were published in different republics. Some of the most important were published in the Baltics and Lenningrad. The Baltic republics, especially Latvia, were leaders in the Soviet fashion clothes industry. Riga and Tallinn Houses of Models were regarded as the most creative.
It is not entirely clear to us just what the purpose of these Soviet fashion magazines were. They do not seem to have been catalogs which could be used to order clothes. As far as we know there were no mail order catalogs in the Soviet Union. Some of these magazines even had little inserts advising readers not to bother the editors by writing to ask where these clothes could be obtained. A Russian reader tells us that some patterns were included. Not every fashion pictured had a pattern. Also patterns included were normally for one or a very limited size range. In addition since these were not cut out patterns, they were not very easy to use. American and European patterns were done in sizes. This mean you could cut out each segment, lay it over the fabric and then cut out the precise element of each segment to be sewed together. This was not the case of Soviet patterns. They were much more difficult to use. A Russian reader writes, "I am not a specialist, but as I remember, sizes on that patterns was in variables. To begin a sewing mother should measure, e.g., length of the arm etc. and denote it as l1 etc. On the sewing patterns measures were like l1+l2, or l1-d3 and so on - so, as I suppose, it could be possible to sew clothes in different sizes. Usually with a model there were a region of sizes, or region of ages, (e.g. 6-9 years old) or something like "infant", "pre-school age", "first-form", "lesser school age", "midd;e school age", "older school age". There were no mailorder companies offering easier to use patterns.
I am not entirely sure who sunscribed to these magazines. We think it was primarily Soviet women who sewed for their families. There may have also been some fashionable, well off women who could afford to pay somene to sew for them.
At least some were published by fashion houses, institutions that we also do not know a great deal about. We do not see any innovative fashions coming out of the Soviet Union. As far as we can tell, the Soviet fashion houses basically were recyclong Westrn fashions. We are not sure what function these fashion houses fulfilled. As far as we can tell, the trendy fashions showcased in their masgazines were not available to the Soviet public. We assume that these institutions created the fashions that were then produced in Soviet clothing plants. The clothing actually produced and availavle in Soviet stores, however, seems less fashionable than what appeared in the magazines. Hopefully our Russian and Baltic readers will provide us some insights here.
We note several different Soviet fashion publications, but our information on each magazine is still very limited.
This magazine was titled The Children Clothes Fashions. At this time we have no information on its publishing history. We do not know when it began publishing or when it ceased publishing. A Russians reader has provided some images from 1975 and 1981 issues. One matter that is not clear to us is the extent to which the garments displayed in the magazine were actually on sale in Soviet stores. Some mothers may have used the styles for home sewing, but I do not think that these are advertisements for sewing. Hopefully our Russian readers will privide us some information here.
This magazine was titled Dla detej - modeli i vykrojki (Children Models and Patterns. This magazine was published by a Lenningrad fashion house--the Lenningrad House of Models. We do not know much about the magazine, but know it was being published in the 1960s. We note a Young Pioneer uniform they created in 1964. We are not sure when the magazine was founded. It seems to have been in operation during the 1980s. We do not yet know what happened to the magazine or the Leningrad House of Models after the disolution of the Soviet Union.
Another Russian fshion magazine during the Soviet era was "Modeli detskoj odezhdy" ("Models of Children's Clothes"). I'm not sure just who published the magazine. We know that it was functioning in the 1980s.
We note another Soviet fashion magazine. The title was Rizhskaya moda dlya detej (Riga Fashions for Children). The magazine was bi-lingual, printed with text in both the Latvian and Russian languages. The Latvian name of the catalog was Rigas modes bernien. We note the magazine being published in the 1960s. A Russian reader tells us that Latvian and Estonian fasgion houses were especially prestigious in the Soviet Union. We suspect that a major factor here was that the Baltics republics had greater contact with Western countries and thus Western fashions than other areas of the Soviet Union.
No information on other magazines available at this time.
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