Fashion of the revolution: Avant-garde clothing designs in the Soviet Union

Article Author: Journalist-Writer Kavel Alpaslan

Source: Gazete Duvar

The focus of Soviet designers was primarily on producing functional, comfortable, simple and hygienic clothing for male and female laborers. While designing high quality, beautiful but above all functional clothes, the pre-revolutionary aristocratic fashion sense is the sword is also drawn: Uncomfortable and pompous designs are replaced by geometric shapes, asymmetry and bright colors.

The consumer society in which we live surrounds us to such an extent that we assume that many concepts of everyday life are inherent to capitalism. As if everything has to make sense only in the light of consumption and profit. For example, clothing designs, or in other words, fashion.

However, the issue is not that simple. It is also possible to combine functionality with aesthetics instead of seeking the highest profit with the lowest cost. A ‘fashion’ that appeals not to the elite but to the working masses is also possible. But how? If we read the explosion created by the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 from this perspective, we can better understand the realism of a different alternative. The October Revolution not only showed that a different economic model could be built in the world we live in, it also proved that culture, art and everyday life could be read in a completely different way from a class perspective. So, let’s take a look at the groundbreaking clothing designs that emerged in the Soviet Union with the October Revolution.

The Reverberate of the Revolution

With the October Revolution, every field touched by art and life was turned upside down. The horizon created by the first workers’ state in world history reverberates in different ways from visual arts to literature, architecture to science. The Soviet Union, especially in the 1920s, was thus influenced by avant-garde art movements such as futurism, constructivism and suprematism.

Although not as well known as cinema or architecture, there were also highly innovative developments in the field of clothing design. In this respect, following in the footsteps of constructivist artists such as Varvara Stepanova and Lyubov Popova, we can capture a few key points on the avant-garde foundations of a socialist understanding of fashion. Constructivist artists, who treat art as a system of production, approach fashion from the same perspective. Guided by a social meaning and a functional purpose, constructivists not only recognize the transformative power of art, but are also interested in making new forms of artistic expression accessible to people.

 

What kind of clothes to make?

The focus of Soviet designers is to produce functional, comfortable, simple and hygienic clothes for male and female workers. While designing quality, beautiful, but above all functional clothes, the sword is also drawn to the pre-revolutionary aristocratic fashion sense: Uncomfortable and pompous designs are replaced by geometric shapes, asymmetry and bright colors.

Let’s go through the designs made by Stepanova, a versatile artist. Stepanova, who was the life partner of Aleksandr Rodchenko, one of the most important names of the Soviet avant-garde, creates various designs with the aim of allowing the human body to move more freely in clothes. The portrait of Stepanova published in Petrol-İş Kadın Magazine includes the following statements on the subject:

“Gender and class differences paved the way for a functional, geometric understanding of clothing. In accordance with this understanding, Stepanova aimed to allow the body to move more freely in her designs, and she gave importance to the functional features of the garment rather than its decorative features. She believed that clothing should be seen in motion. In contrast to aristocratic dress, which she believed sacrificed bodily freedom for the sake of aesthetics, Stepanova was designing clothes for specific spaces and working environments. She also sought to develop shortcuts in garment production through simple designs and economical use of fabric.”

Stepanova shortly categorizes clothing under two headings: prodezodezhda and sportodezhda. Prodezodezhda, which we can define as production/work clothes, covers functional and simple styles used in working life. A subset of spetsodezhda designs clothes for specific work areas. Depending on the type of work, pockets, buttons, seams or fabrics may vary in a functional way. However, another prominent feature of these designs is the unisex clothes that are prepared without distinguishing between men and women.

Again, as the name suggests, sportodezhda covers sportswear. In addition to designs that allow the body to move comfortably, the use of vibrant and contrasting colors draws attention. What is more striking is the predominantly unisex preferences that hide the human form.

Mass production

Another constructivist who attracted attention with her designs was Lyubov Popova, who was a close friend of Stepanova. Popova, who gives movement to paintings with the repetition of images, uses the same method in her dress and fabric designs. The duo started working in Tsindel, the first state textile factory, and brought their designs to their peak with their work there. Their previous designs could not gain mass popularity because they coincided with the Civil War period, which was struggling with economic negativities. Due to the war, opportunities from dye use to machine technology was quite scarce. However, a serious success has been achieved, especially in the field of textiles. In fact, fabric designs have defied time and become so widespread that they are described as the only project of the constructivists that has gone into mass production. Popova says about her happiness about this situation: “No artistic achievement has given as much satisfaction as a peasant or worker buying a piece of material I designed.”

The designs made in Tsindel are striking not only qualitatively but also quantitatively. For example, although Stepanova worked in the factory for only 1 year, she created over 150 fabric designs during this time. More importantly, they create the backbone of the Soviet textile concept. It is possible to see designs emulating the styles of Stepanova and Popova in textile production in the following years.

Another world, a new world

We strive to perceive life as people of our own time. We cannot do otherwise. But being trapped in our own time is another thing. It is necessary to make sense of today without anchoring itself somewhere in history.

Even this small example shows that the cultural and artistic light of the October Revolution became a light not only for the Soviet Union but also for the whole world. Perhaps, as in every revolution, these movements may seem to be limited to a certain period of time, but they have brought another world, a new world, out of the minds and into life. That is why, in an age when horizons are limited and degenerating, we must continue to go back and dig into the history of the Soviet Union in every sense.