Fashioning Enemies of the State: Investigating Sartorial Subversion in Soviet States

Abstract

As far back as 1867, early-modern fashion has been the subject of harsh criticism. In his Critique of Political Economy, Marx referred to fashion as “murderous” and as having “meaningless caprices” (Marx and Engels 1967). The Soviet states certainly recognized the importance of clothing to reflect and inform its citizens of the preferred modest lifestyle. The main purpose of this study is to analyze two specific cases of sartorial resistance in two Soviet societies. Specifically, I will be examining the case of Allerleirauh (1980-89) in East Germany, and the Stilyagi (1940s-1960s) in Soviet Russia. In order to test the differences and similarities in the sartorial subversions, I will analyze a number of primary and secondary documents. There are four forms of primary documents that I will analyze: state-run magazines, periodicals, and photographs (both state-sponsored, and fringe), from the GDR and Soviet Russia. My interpretation— of the visual and textual responses to the youth groups who subverted the sartorial codes of the GDR and in Soviet Russia— has led me to propose two main speculative-conclusions. First, the responses by the government, such as the satirical cartoons of the Stilyagi, reveal the extent to which government officials recognized, and felt threatened by, the potential potency of dress to cause political disturbance. Second, the reactions of condemnation towards the fashionably-dissident makes salient the recognition that visual culture and semiotics in fashion, particularly when the body (as a sort of canvas) is implicated, can yield politically-threatening influence.