Table of contents:
- Non-existent profession
- Popular tourist attraction
- The disgraced status of the Soviet model
- "The face of morality" under the control of the KGB
Video: Who in the USSR were called "hangers", and why the KGB controlled them every step
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In the Western world, Soviet fashion models were nicknamed "the Kremlin's beautiful weapon", while in their homeland they led a very poor life. Models of the USSR received low wages, and all foreign exchange fees were handed over to the state. They went about most of the time under pain of dismissal, were controlled by the special services and condemned in society. But despite all the difficulties, they managed to preserve the natural beauty in demand in the most prestigious fashion houses in Europe for many years.
Non-existent profession
In the Soviet fashion industry, affecting the light industry, roles, rights and responsibilities were clearly defined. At first, the artist prepared sketches, then the designer cut out the products according to the figures of the standard models, and the process was completed in the sewing workshops. A couple of times a year, officials visited the production with an audit, and the Fashion House organized a show.
Products approved by the bureaucratic artistic council were transferred to textile factories for sewing. The parameters of the models were approved by the notorious GOST - 44, 46 and 48 sizes were required. In the USSR, it was emphasized at every opportunity that a fashion model was a simple worker. Employees of the model house were required to be at the workplace from Monday to Friday, from 9 to 18, without delay, even in the absence of fittings and shows.
The newbie model received about 70 rubles (only the cleaning women received less), the top-class fashion model - a maximum of 90. Occasionally, the premium of 30 rubles dropped. Magazine shooting was paid for 100 rubles, but some shows were held for a penny (a ruble for one set of clothes). Due to the low income with excessive requirements for the appearance, many girls earned some money wherever. And in order not to pay for the left income, they were forced to register even according to someone else's work book.
Popular tourist attraction
Back in 1944, a house of all-Union fashion models was opened on Kuznetsky Most. It has become both a smithy of "fashionable" personnel and a showcase of Russian fashion. The best Russian fashion designers Alexander Igmand, Vera Aralova, Vyacheslav Zaitsev began their journey here. The shows were held several times a day, customers were queuing up for ready-made patterns, and collections for the best garment factories were born here.
The fashion house on Kuznetsky used to dress the creative and political elite. The master of men's Soviet fashion Igmand sewed Brezhnev himself, and the Minister of Culture Furtseva immediately ordered her elegant outfits. The figure of Valentina Yashina, one of the outstanding Soviet fashion models, was used to create costumes for Valentina Tereshkova.
The Central Model House was one of the capital's popular attractions for foreigners. In the 50s, entrance to a fashion show cost 5 rubles - a solid sum for a Soviet worker. It should be noted that the names of the leading fashion figures remained behind the scenes, and all the products were listed as created by the "team of authors" of the House of Models. The general public was not informed about the names of the models.
The disgraced status of the Soviet model
The profession of a fashion model, to put it mildly, was not considered prestigious in the USSR. People did not like models. For this reason, the famous director Nikita Mikhalkov, the husband of the model Tatyana Solovieva, deliberately represented her in companies as a translator or teacher. Professional interest in fashion and exquisite clothing in common people bordered on dishonesty.
"Defiantly" dressed fashion models with bright makeup on the street caused public snorting, they were even disparagingly called "hangers". There was also a downside to this popularity. Models often aroused interest in high-ranking men, the rejection of which could seriously harm their careers. Many years after the incident, one of the legendary Soviet fashion models Leokadiya Mironova spoke about her personal vicissitudes. Due to the refusal to participate in a candid photo session for one party official, the girl was unemployed for a year and a half.
"The face of morality" under the control of the KGB
The morale of the fashion models and their privacy outside of work were controlled. The models were watched especially carefully during trips abroad, where not everyone went. Units managed to go abroad, having passed more than one permitting authority. It was easy to obtain travel ban status, one denunciation was enough, which was not uncommon in the context of high competition in the industry. Candidates for foreign screenings were separately approved by the KGB.
On a foreign business trip, the models handed over their passports to the escorts in civilian clothes, were deprived of the right to leave their places of deployment alone, and in the evening the curfew was observed. It got to the point that the girls were locked in hotel rooms outside, and an authorized member of the delegation was responsible for the availability of models in the field. Unauthorized contacts threatened not only the Soviet beauty with sanctions, but also her relatives. Gifts from non-domestic fashion houses had to be handed over, and the question of foreign exchange fees to the models did not arise at all. At best, the models managed to bring back overseas cosmetics, which were highly valued in the USSR at that time. Sometimes I was lucky with the purchase of underwear, presented in Soviet Russia by leggings, pantaloons and patterned panties.
But this is all a story about a phenomenon. Fate is the Soviet fashion models were formed in different ways.
Recommended:
Who were the Berendei and why in the annals they were called "their filthy"
The numerous people mentioned in the annals hold many mysteries for historians. Very little is known about him and, perhaps, therefore, school history textbooks usually do not write about him. Most often, when we say Berendey, we recall Ostrovsky's play "The Snow Maiden", however, the fairytale king who rules the "kingdom of good Berendey" has nothing to do with a real ancient people
How Soviet soldiers survived, who were carried into the ocean for 49 days, and How they were met in the USA and the USSR after they were rescued
In the early spring of 1960, the crew of the American aircraft carrier Kearsarge discovered a small barge in the middle of the ocean. On board were four emaciated Soviet soldiers. They survived by feeding on leather belts, tarpaulin boots and industrial water. But even after 49 days of extreme drift, the soldiers told the American sailors who found them something like this: help us only with fuel and food, and we will get home ourselves
What bodybuilders were called in the USSR and for what sports they were imprisoned
Sports games - what could be more apolitical? - bring people together, help to find like-minded people, take time and, finally, do, as in the song "a healthy mind in a healthy body." However, the authorities in the Soviet Union looked at this differently: they believed that even a sport could become an ideological enemy, capable of negatively affecting the morality of a citizen of the country
"Not a step back!": Why order number 227, which helped to win, was called "cynical and inhuman"
To judge the need for order No. 227, colloquially called "Not a step back!" And at that time it was far from in favor of the Red Army: the Germans were rushing to the Volga and planned to seize Stalingrad. They believed that without such a strategically important region, the USSR would not be able to resist the advance of enemy troops into the Caucasus. The Soviet command also understood this, the purpose of which was to prevent long-range
Why the Baltics were called "Soviet Abroad", and what goods of these republics were chased for in the USSR
In the USSR, the Baltic States have always been different, and have never fully become Soviet. The local ladies were different from the rank-and-file union workers, and the men were different from the rank-and-file builders of communism. Under the Soviet Union, three small agrarian states grew into a developed industrial region. It was here that the brands that the whole USSR longed for were born. Soviet citizens rightfully called the Baltic lands their own foreign countries