Soviet Men, Clothing and Appearance in Leningrad in the 1950s and 1960s

Gender and History. 2024. Vol. 36. No. 2. P. 673–690.

Platonova E.

The current article aims to discuss the conversations around men’s clothing and appearance in Leningrad during the 1950s and 1960s. In the early 1950s, fashion became an important ideological issue in the Soviet Union. The policy of isolationism of late Stalinism alongside with the rising of youth subculture stiliagi produced the emergence of formal and informal mechanisms and regimes of regulation of appearance of Soviet population for next decade. The system of fashion houses aimed to provide Soviet citizens with contemporary and comfortable clothing and teach them the rules of ‘good taste’ and a proper appearance. The Leningrad Fashion House (LDMO) designed and produced clothing and discussed the variants of appearance of the city residents at the official meetings and in the fashion magazines. Although fashion was considered as woman’s prerogative that time, the fashion house took into account male customers needs just as they did female and provided them with the various clothing. The study argues that the fashion house in Leningrad constructed its own vision of masculinity that was not significantly influenced by the authorities and to which most male citizens could not adhere.

Keywords: history of USSR, советская мода, Soviet society, история культуры СССР, Khrushchev's thaw, позднесоветское общество, hegemonic masculinity, гегемонная маскулинность, период оттепели в СССР, soviet fashion