How dudes appeared in the USSR, why they were disliked and called spies

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Some representatives of the younger generation learned about dudes from the famous film of the same name. Today it is difficult to imagine that there were times when the society strongly condemned any manifestation of interest in Western or American culture. Unusually dressed and strangely speaking young people aroused interest and at the same time censure. Read how the dandy movement arose, what clothes were fashionable among them and why representatives of this subculture were called spies.

Where did the dudes come from and what does this word mean?

At the end of the 1940s, the first dudes began to appear in the USSR, in other words, young people who were not satisfied with the stereotypes of a socialist society. Some cynicism in judgment, apolitical behavior and disregard for certain norms of generally accepted morality became the hallmarks of this movement. Trophy clothes and shoes, images from Western magazines formed the basis for the unusual appearance of the dandies. Many were attracted by the behavior model shown in foreign films. It seemed that “there” everything was different, easy, simple, original. It is clear that this was not the case, but the less information, the more attractive.

The term "dude" originated in 1949. Then DG Belyaev's satirical feuilleton was published in the famous humorous magazine "Krokodil". The essay described an ordinary school evening, where a young man came, brightly dressed, funny dancing, imitating foreigners, that is, having a strange style. In fact, he turned out to be an uneducated and conceited person.

There is another version: the word dandy came from the jazz environment. The musicians used the word "style", which could be translated as "steal", that is, to repeat someone's musical style. Saxophonists, for example, used to say "The hipster is blowing." The representatives of the movement themselves used the term "shtniki", which implied a love for American-made clothes.

Socks of different colors and boogie-woogie as a favorite dance of dudes

The first representatives of the movement dressed very comically. Young people wore wide trousers of always bright color, loose colorful jackets, wide-brimmed hats, shoes with pointed toes, shirts with a Hawaiian pattern, ties with dragons, birds, and macaques. The “trick” with colored socks of different colors was very fashionable. Later, on the contrary, pipes-pants, scarce jeans, thin ties with a knot and an umbrella-cane became fashionable.

By the 60s, fashion had shifted towards austere raincoats, elegant British-style coats. The dudes wore scarce woolen suits, rough soldiers' boots and elegant shoes with perforations on the toes. The squeak of fashion was the cook on the head, like Elvis and the mustache-"git".

Unlike men, fashion girls could not boast of their own style. They used styles found in magazines from the Baltics or friendly social states. They chose beautiful fluffy or, on the contrary, tight skirts, colored blouses with a print, pointed shoes.

The girls painted their lips brightly and eyed them thickly. As a hairstyle, they built a "crown of peace", that is, they laid curled hair in the form of a circular wave, and after the appearance of the tape "Babette goes to war" with Brigitte Bardot they began to make the so-called babette, like a beautiful actress.

Boogie-woogie, which appeared in Europe and was based on African-American dances, was considered the favorite dance of the dudes. Rock and roll was out of competition. Young people listened to Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly. Some even managed to get their records. And sometimes the music was recorded on X-ray film with pictures, it was called "rock on the bones." When tape recorders appeared, it became easier.

Who are they? Spies or just liberated youth?

In the USSR, dandies were often portrayed in films, and these were not very pleasant images. A criminal, a villain, a slacker, an unemployed or a despised hermit - this is how they appeared before the audience. In essays and feuilletons, they were made into alcoholics and degrading characters. And in magazines, cartoons often appeared, where the dudes were real rebels or terrible foreign spies.

Since the 1950s, the persecution of representatives of this subculture began. They were "sandwiched" at Komsomol meetings, vigilantes chased them through the streets, policemen brought them to police stations, where the dudes were filmed for shameful articles. Groups of aggressive youth could ruin their clothes or even forcibly cut their hair.

Sometimes there were gaps. For example, in 1956, when an exhibition of works by the great Picasso took place, or in 1959, when Christian Dior came to Moscow with his beautiful models. And, of course, 1957 was a pleasant year, marked by the youth-student festival. But the cultural events ended and the pressure began again.

Words that dudes used and that are still in use

The dudes used funny phrases and words, that is, they spoke their own slang. Not everyone understood that mainly English was used here, just for convenience, endings and suffixes familiar to the Russian ear were added to the words. You don't have to go far for examples. For example, the "shoes" that the famous Vera from "Office Romance" spoke about many years later are nothing more than ordinary shoes with a sufficiently high soles. Sometimes dudes went to the cinema to “look” the film. Translated, it means looking. The famous meeting places were called Broadway. Usually this was the central street of a city.

The rise to power of Khrushchev and the disappearance of the youth movement

When Nikita Khrushchev came to power, the dudes subculture gradually began to disappear. Perhaps this is due to some indulgences made by the government. Young people have different, new hobbies and interests.

In the mid-60s of the XX century, dandies were encountered less and less. Nevertheless, for a long time fashionable, brightly dressing or trying to create their own style, young people and girls were called dudes. This term gradually came to mean "fashionable person".

Western fashion still ended up in the USSR. And in 1960s Soviet fashionistas reworked Western fashion to match the realities of the country.