RUSSIAN CIRCUIT

In a state like the Soviet Union there was in fact no such notion as men's fashion. Clothing for men got much less development in the country after the Socialist Revolution. Many of those who came to power were rednecks from the backwoods, not educated culturally and aesthetically and with almost no interest in the arts... Fashion was none of their business. The first proof of this statement can be found on the numerous portraits of the first Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin. If we take a closer look at the photographs we'll see him pictured in one and the same dark blue polka-dot tie. His everyday look was an example of a classical men's outfit of the 1910s: a black jacket and a waistcoat with striped black trousers. Only one thing differed – the bourgeois bowler-hat was replaced by a peaked cap adopted from the American urban suit. It became an integral part of the look of a proletarian. But as usual any rule has its exceptions. And we can find such exceptions even on the dark and monotonous fashion pages in early Soviet history.

Poet Vladimir Mayakovsky was a rare example of a man not indifferent to the way he was dressed and loved to surround himself with beautiful things, like glossy fountain pens, that would undoubtedly be called “bourgeois luxuries” by any orthodox socialist. He wore foreign, often American, suits and was in fact a sex symbol of his time.

Another detail wouldn’t be a sensation if only it wasn’t the Socialist Russia we were talking about. In 1928 a huge wooden box crossed the border of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. It was a French Renault and it wasn't a governmental order. It was a car for the writer holding the same views as the Bolsheviks, the poet-revolutioner Mayakovsky!

For a long time Mayakovsky was an idol for the celebrated maestro Yves Saint Laurent. The fashion designer even had Mayakovsky’s portrait in his house. They didn't meet, but Yves Saint Laurent was personally acquainted and admired Mayakovsky's big love Lilya Brik.

Speaking about tendencies, there was one particularly distinguishing element of a Soviet man’s look. It was a leather jacket. It became a cult subject of the new Soviet period. In our minds it is most inseparably linked to the image of a Soviet security officer or a police commissioner.

During the first years of the Socialist government there was no money for seamstresses and materials to produce such a considerable quantity of identical top quality leather jackets. Those jackets were made before the Revolution during World War I and were meant for a new aviation battalion. However, they were not claimed back then. Later they were occasionally discovered in warehouses and were distributed among security officers or police commissioners as a uniform. The Budyonny cap (a pointed helmet formerly worn by the Red Army) is also an inseparable element of the history of a Soviet men's outfit and a significant symbol of Revolution. The cap imitating a helmet of an old Russian soldier was drawn by artist Viktor Vasnetsov in the days of World War I as new model of a helmet for the imperial army. The caps were also sewed and stored in warehouses to be rediscovered later by the Socialists. The new men in power needed only to add red (and sometimes dark blue) stars to those caps. The cap was named after Semyon Budyonny, a Soviet military commander and an ally of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

Men's fashion of the 1930s in Soviet Russia was even worse than before. Stalin, as well as his sworn enemy and political rival Leon Trotsky, wore militarized service jackets. All details like ties or handkerchiefs were gone, as they were considered unnecessary bourgeois accessories.

Summer clothes were white. A typical men's summer suit consisted of white linen trousers and a so-called Russian shirt (with the collar fastening on one side) worn outside the trousers. The winter suit consisted of the same set of dark colored subjects. Most often such outfits looked a little stale and rumpled.

All kinds of hats were replaced by a cap. The only exception was the embroidered skullcap symbolizing brotherly friendship with the people of Central Asia. Jersey was widely used in men's clothes, including sweaters and scarves.