SOVIET FASHIONS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 288, 30 July 1932, Page 3

SOVIET FASHIONS

FEMININE SKIRTS BADGES OF CAPITALIST TYRANNY. Soviet Russia is having its first fashion show, a Moscow exhibition which is the culminating feature of a national contest for designs in keeping with the Revolution, state s a B.U.P. message from the Soviet capital. Skifts have apparently been taken to symbolise "the tyranny of capitalism," for the women's styles, in the marjoity of cases, call for trousers. Not mere divided skirts, but out-and-out male garments, breeches, and trousers. Many of the garments resemble skiing outfits, while others are more like beach pyjamas or sports clothes. The designers were asked to express the economic 'equality of the sexes, and obviously took this literally. While the women's clothes call for jaekets and trousers, the men's clothes showed brighter colours, opennecked shirts, and an absence of tighi waistcoats. No Evening Dress. Designers were asked to reflecfc in styles freedom of movement, freedom from capitalist conventionalities freedom of class distinction, and to avoid making distinctions between clothes for "intellectuals" and "proletarians." There was little originality displayed, however, for generally capitalist fashions of about 1925-26 have been "lifted," with adaptations thought suitable to Soviet conditions. In Soviet Russia no distinction is made between morning, afternoon, and evening dress. so the task was simplified. A few of the models attempted to adapt Ukrainian and other native styles, but the results, although picturesque, were unpractical. Some weird futuristic designs were also on show.