«Всеобуч вкуса»: теория советской моды и эстетическое образование потребителя в позднем СССР (1960–1980-е гг.)

Новое прошлое. 2021. № 4. С. 70–90.

Kulinicheva E.

This article analyzes Soviet books published in 1959–1991 which were
purposed to educate Soviet consumers both aesthetically and politically. I suggest calling
this genre, and the campaign these books belong to, “modnyi likbez”, an eradication of
illiteracy in fashion and clothing. These books, as well as lectures given by designers and
art critics working for design institutions such as fashion houses of prototypes (doma
modelei), not only taught people how to choose clothes for themselves or their family
members, but also introduced Soviet consumers to the concept of endemic Soviet fashion
and socialist consumption, seeking to develop a unique Soviet taste. I argue that good
Soviet taste in these texts belonging to the esteticheskii likbez campaign was theorized
as a system of ideologically informed determinants of choice. According to Soviet fashion
theorists, the good Soviet consumer was supposed to know not only the rules of color
or item coordination, age and gender conventions in clothing, but also understand the
difference between Soviet and capitalist fashion, as well as the Soviet interpretation
of “beauty”, “elegance”, “the culture of clothing” and other important concepts. This
consumer was also supposed to refuse new fashion trends if they were at odds with the
Soviet interpretation of good taste or “the aesthetic canons” of the Soviet system.

Keywords: советская повседневность, советская мода, late socialism, визуальная культура СССР, поздний социализм, Поздний социализм, soviet fashion, consumption in USSR, aesthetic turn, everyday life in USSR, Vyacheslav Zaitsev, потребление в СССР, эстетический поворот, Вячеслав Зайцев