1920s fashionista in the Soviet Union

Dr. Djurdja Barlett explores the very eclectic fashion choices available for Russian women in the 1920s. During this era, citizens of the young Soviet Union were surrounded by a wide spectrum of different ideas and trends - cubism, jazz, Bauhaus and cinema, each of these represented a different image of women. Soviet women had to make choices, as even in fashion they were restricted by ideology, often creating their own styles. The brief period of NEP allowed Russian women to adopt the style of a teenage girl – á la garçonne in Europe or flapper in the USA. Parallel to this, constructivist artists were also designing clothing, but with the aim to make functional not fashionable items.

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