Here we have a collection of 3 Soviet illustrations from the late 1920s, all featuring Soviet women in rowing boats. The idea of ‘physical culture’ was being actively promoted; using one’s leisure time in healthy social activities was expected. Workers were encouraged to enjoy the facilities in the parks of the Soviet Union’s cities. Rowing on boating lakes became a popular visual theme in magazines around this time. Today these illustrations provide us with clues about what women workers might have worn on their day off.
This image is taken from a larger picture, ‘Park Culture’ by Soviet artist Rosalia Rabinovich. It gives a clear visual description of the style of everyday dress of many urban Soviet women in the 1920s, the women who supported the revolutionary project. She wears a loose tunic style top, tucked into a fairly straight skirt. The way she wears her scarf (tied at the back) is a sartorial message that she is a supporter of the revolution.
This illustration is a painting called ‘Summer’ by Soviet artist K.B. Kustodiev. It featured on the cover of Red Panorama magazine in 1929. Again, the woman is dressed in a relatively short & narrow skirt & simple top in a ‘revolution red’ colour. Topped off with the symbolic red scarf, tied behind the head, of course.
This picture is from the August 1929 cover of Women’s Journal. At last the woman is doing the rowing! Again, we see the short dark skirt, but the long sleeved top has been coloured in rainbow stripes, & she is sporting a rather natty pair of green shoes. There is no red headscarf here as the Women’s Journal was trying to appeal to a broader female audience with its fashion features.
Some other posts on Soviet fashion:
In 1917, Red was the New Black
Soviet Chic: Revisiting 1920s Design #1
Posterity Chic 