Paper dresses in the country of peasants and workers: pop fashion in the German Democratic Republic

Abstract

Despite its critique of Pop Art and western consumerism, the former GDR briefly promoted the “paper dress” as an attractive, fashion novelty for its youth, consistent with the tenets of “socialist fashion.” This essay explores the phenomenon of the paper dress, putting it in the context of GDR youth policy, the growing youth culture in the country, and Cold War ideology. It argues that the GDR’s brief embrace of the paper dress, after severe state restrictions on the importation of western youth culture, was part of a gradual liberalization of GDR society.