Department of Media Studies 30 Hp Fashion Studies Master Thesis
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Department of Media Studies 30 hp Fashion Studies Master Thesis Spring semester 2020 Supervisor: Klas Nyberg Abstract This thesis aims to highlight the smock-dress within the context of Soviet-Estonia during the post-war epoch, ca. 1950s until 1990s. Through Mauss’s socio-anthropological tripoint view, the concepts and identities of the smock-dress are studied from the angles of biology, sociology and psychology. The intention is to show its widespread use amongst Soviet- Estonian women and their remembrance of it, in accordance with the Soviet ideological structures. Using semi-structured interviews, I have assembled oral history from women who attain this historical retrospective, aiming to depict the smock-dress as both a concept and an object, thus functioning as an emblem of Soviet society rather than a historical artefact. Relying on the terms nostalgia, socio-cultural belonging and phenomenology, I seek to capture the smock-dress as both a vestiary phenomenon and representation of social structures. Thus, creating a dual identity, individual and collective, through its usage, showing that sartorial fashion encompasses more than just emotions and promoted stylistics. Keywords: Women, Home, Smock-Dress, Soviet-Estonia, Nostalgia, Uniform, Phenomenon Cover photo: Vello Västrik (private collection) approx. 1975. Accessed: Ellen Värv. Kittel – nägus või näotu? [Smock- handsome or hideous?], Eesti Rahva Muuseum, 2019-09-05, https://blog.erm.ee/?p=12849, [Blog] Stockholm June 10th, 2020 Acknowledgments Firstly, I wish to express my gratitude to Klas Nyberg for being my supervisor throughout this turbulent time. Without his guidance this thesis would not have seen the light of day. Similarly, I wish to give thanks to Louise Wallenberg, whose encouragement I have always valued highly. Importantly, a sincere thanks to the women of this study for allowing me access into their personal histories. All of them demonstrated that fashion indeed exists and communicates in multifaceted and timeless ways. Additionally, a special thanks to the National Library of Estonia for facilitating my archival research and others who have contributed to the makings of this thesis. Also, thanks to my friends, who not only aided to identify this topic but also kept my mind from spinning throughout this process. Lastly, I am ever so grateful for my family’s inspiration and support, whom without none of this would have been written. I dedicate this to my mother and grandmother. “An object in motion tends to remain in motion along a straight line, unless acted upon by an outside force.” Sir Isaac Newton Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis, 1686 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 3 AIMS & QUESTIONS 6 SUMMARY 7 METHODOLOGY & MATERIAL 8 FACING HISTORY 8 APPROACHING HISTORY 9 DISPLAYING HISTORY 11 SUMMARY 11 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 12 ESTABLISHING THE PHENOMENON 13 SOCIO-CULTURAL BELONGING 16 ACHING MEMORIES 17 SUMMARY 19 DE-LIMITATIONS 22 LITERATURE REVIEW 19 SUMMARY 21 THESIS OUTLINE 23 CHAPTER 1｜ STICHING TOGETHER A CHARACTER 24 IDENTIFYING THE DRESS 25 ESTABLISHING THE ORIGINS 25 FINDING THE GARMENTS PURPOSE 28 THE ‘DIY’ GARMENT 31 BUYING INTO IT 31 FINDING THE RIGHT MATERIAL 35 FINAL REMARKS 39 CHAPTER 2｜ ILLUSTRATING IDEOLOGICAL IDEALS 40 PORTRAYING COLLECTIVE CONCEPTS 41 FASHIONING IDEOLOGICAL POTENCY 41 TRANSFORMING INTO A UNIFORM 44 CONFORMING WITH IDEALS AND TEMPLATES 47 ILLUSTRATING A MODEL WOMAN 47 SEARCHING FOR ROLE MODELS 51 FINAL REMARKS 54 CHAPTER 3｜ REMEMBERING UNSENTIMENTAL MEMORIES 55 THE SOVIET HOUSEWIFE REVISITED 56 CREATING COMFORTABLE SOCIALISM 56 INHERITING THE DRESS 59 EMOTIONS OF THE PAST 62 SUPERFICIALLY IDEOLOGICAL 62 DRESSING IN RETROSPECTIVE 64 FINAL REMARKS 68 CONCLUSION 69 FINAL DISCUSSION 69 WHAT WAS THE DRESS? 70 WHERE WAS THE DRESS? 71 HOW WAS THE DRESS? 72 FINAL REMARKS 73 BIBLIOGRAPHY 74 PUBLISHED MATERIAL 74 INTERNET SOURCES 77 ARCHIVAL MATERIAL 78 APPENDIX 80 DESIGNER MARIT ILISON 80 A - 70 COTTON SMOCKS 81 B - 77 CHINTZES 85 C - PATTERNS: KREENHOLM’S TEXTILE DESIGN 1953-2005 91 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 96 2 INTRODUCTION Tallinn, January, 1981. In a ‘khrushchyovka’ apartment, a teenage girl notes down in her diary; “Reagan has just been inaugurated president of the United States of America…”, unaware of how the world will look like in ten years’ time. Meanwhile her mother, having just come home from work, rushes through the front door, hanging her thick woollen coat on one hook, grabbing her lighter smock dress from another. Tying it around her waist in order not to ruin her clothes underneath with grease stains, she heads into the kitchen to fry some pancakes for her children. Whilst flipping them by the stove, she notices the purple stains on the sleeve, reminding her of the blackcurrant jam she cooked of the berries they picked last summer. She then makes a mental note – “it is about time to take out the sewing-machine again”. When the red banner overlooking the Kremlin, descended for the last time on December 25th 1991, one, being citizen of a communist country, might have asked — was that it? One might even have questioned what they had just lived through.1 One might also dispute if it ever really left. Lasting imprints of the Soviet Union [SU/USSR] makes itself reminded in many ways still today. In this way, the reminiscences of the former SU are not that far-fetched at all. Nostalgic cues of how life once was are something hard to relinquish. Sort of a re-visit to a once very real and lived myth. Likely, because it represents a bygone era having once been part of, if not even being a piece of one’s own identity. Like many of us hide, re-use or simply forget certain garments in our wardrobes. They allow us to momentarily travel back in time. Not only treasuring memories, but even the time and space they took place in. Proving that they were charged with much more than their practical use. More so, the direct influence of politics in fashion production. Not the least including the act of embodiment and, even more so, a certain piece of clothing used for the embodiment that resonates with that encircling political discourse. In this attempt to improve and develop the field of fashion studies, I believe that one should always attempt to challenge and confront it from opposing angles. Very much so in fashion and its constant need for new interpretations. What does and does not fall under the category of adored fashion? Can any garment that has previously been so cherished serve as historical evidence of fashion? Especially if the use and concept of the way of dressing is collective, can it be considered a trend or even a style, or merely remain a shared way of covering the body? Still, if multiple people dressed similarly, using a particular piece of clothing, that could potentially open new dimension of ‘fashion’. 1 Schmemann, Serge, ”END OF THE SOVIET UNION; The Soviet State, Born of a Dream, Dies”, The New York Times, 1991-12-26, https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/26/world/end-of-the-Soviet-union-the-Soviet-state-born- of-a-dream-dies.html 3 One of these objects I find fitting here is namely the smock, or more particularly the smock dress. A womenswear item, made in different variations, in a smock-like cut, functioning as a shield towards dirt and dust while tidying at home. Which over time came to be much more than that, practically gravitating towards becoming an insignia of Soviet female society. Demonstratively, the smock dress has come to be more than a bearer of social and cultural meaning, but also becoming an historical artefact. As it, in accordance with its practising in Soviet-Estonia [S-E], not only embodied the everyday wear female life, but also a favoured ideal and practical appearance. Initially, I would like to take advantage of a general politicisation of the fashion discourse. A topic interlinking the aspects and dimensions of politics which both influence and undermine fashion in all sort of measures. Set aside from published literature covering the interrelation between fashion and politics, particularly socialist fashion, I have not seen any signs of the smock or smock dress been studied as a distinctive type of clothing, let alone with any political influence. With many other types of garments becoming characteristic for a political cause, ideological sympathy or even patriotic affiliations.2 My attraction to this topic particularly, is how this practice takes place under certain non-considered conditions. Meaning, dressing in a more or less identical way, without any broader self-reflection of one’s façade. Simply adapting to a homogenous way of dressing as well as embodying a given role. Thereby – as a bodily cover – it acts as a shared embodiment of a certain role. Whether that role plays out in work related, religious or leisured circumstances. It confirms a sort of togetherness and commonality based on a shared understanding or concept.3 Generally, there has remained a long-lasting shadow over Russia and the other former Soviet republics, with a general idea of its style to be rather uniform. At the same time, the SU led one of the largest organisations of fashion design in the world, completely under the realm of the communist party. Hence, gaining the supervision of political institutions and stipulations. This being the main topic that I shall try to develop and shall further discuss through an examination of the socio-cultural function of the artefact of the smock dress. Scholars, Jukka Gronow along with Sergey Zhuravlev, claim that the SU never really achieved a good reputation nor a competitor within the world of fashion, in regard to its standardised and mass-producing industry.4 But, how did they get a hold of fashion news and adopted them? And more importantly, how was it protected? 2 Djurdja Bartlett.