Provocative. Weird. With a hint of bad taste. Is it almost a little trashy? This is the aesthetic trend called post-Soviet fashion, which has taken the world of high fashion by storm and gained a cult following in recent years. But what is post-Soviet fashion and why is it so important right now?
Politics and socio-economic processes are an important influencing power in fashion trends, and post-Soviet aesthetics is certainly not an exception. Post-Soviet fashion is a catch-all term describing the current fashion trend originating from the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR. It enabled the rest of the world to finally see the cultures of formerly closed and isolated society. The difference was striking from a Western global perspective; Eastern Europe was perceived as something different, unfamiliar, exotic.
However, from the post-Soviet perspective, it was the Western world that was exotic and unfamiliar. Though the Eastern Blocs had experienced a mild democratisation process in the 80s, Western art, culture and influence were unattainable for its citizens until the collapse of the USSR in the 90s. What followed was a powerful, almost turbulent cultural upsurge, as not only was Western culture now attainable, but underground Soviet culture, such as the 'Gopnik' style could also be practised freely. Gopnik style, which was a subculture that evolved when poverty was at an all-time high in the USSR, is the beginning of what is today known as post-Soviet fashion.
Brilliant rising Russian and Eastern European designers are behind the fashion world’s current obsession for the aesthetic. Influenced by their own personal experience as refugees or having lived in poverty in the post-Soviet society, designers such as Alexander Akhalkatsisvili, Paksa and Svetlana Bevzatothen mainstreamed the post-Soviet chich in the world of fashion. Demna Gvasalia’s work for not one but two major fashion houses, Vetements and Balenciaga, brought more consumers aware of the aesthetic. Suddenly, a trend born from poverty in Eastern Europe had entered the world of Western luxury and high fashion.
While the aesthetic was introduced and mainstreamed by designers originating from Russia and Eastern Europe, it is not associated with only designers of this area anymore. American rapper A$AP Rocky made the ‘babushka’ headscarf, originally worn by elderly women in Eastern Europe, a cornerstone of his colourful, eccentric style. Publishing a single and a music video on police brutality with the name Babushka Boi further amplified the rapper's image as a scarf-wearing style icon. This has caused the babushka headscarf to be associated with not only Rocky but also Gucci, an Italian fashion house, as the company collaborated with Rocky in a "Life of a Rockstar" campaign alongside Iggy Pop and Tyler the Creator.
As cultural appropriation has increasingly (and rightfully) been a topic of discussion in the world of fashion, one may wonder, if Gucci’s adoption of the babushka headscarf is merely an instance of taking cultural influence or whether it is an example of cultural appropriation. The trend has also been criticised for its tendency to aestheticize poor people – the whole fashion aesthetic, after all, originates from a place of poverty and a sense of abandonment by the Soviet people. The association of the babushka scarf with an expensive luxury brand Gucci finely illustrates the irony of the post-Soviet aesthetic trend: the pieces cannot be afforded by the very people they were inspired by.
Why is the trend which was born from the collapse of the USSR so popular now, especially in the high fashion world as well among young people? It is most likely a sum of many different factors. Here is my take.
One factor is the age of the creators mainstreaming the aesthetic. Many of the most celebrated creatives of this trend are now in their 30s, which means they lived their youth during the end of the Cold War. Perhaps some of them experienced living in a Soviet republic, but for most, the Soviet era is an almost mythical time with its remnants, such as brutalist architecture, bleak grey colours and graffiti-filled, forgotten Soviet monuments reminding the people of today about the people of yesterday. For the burgeoning fashion scenes of post-Soviet regions, fashion offers a way to negotiate with the loss of youth culture in post-Soviet society, the complex history of their origins as well as their national identity.
While also influenced by the utilitarianism of the early years of the Soviet Era and its utopian faith in a future with a uniform socialist society, the trend is mostly known for its angsty and rugged ambience which clashes and contradicts with Soviet utopianism. The almost anaemic vibe of the post-Soviet aesthetic has been widely adopted by the young generation riddled with weltschmerz, world-weariness. Climate emergency, economic crises, political unrest, and other injustices of the world have become painfully obvious and always present through technology. The post-Soviet trend with its absurd tailoring, lust for ugliness and peculiar aesthetics has a certain postmodern feel fit for the scepticism of today’s youth.
Finally, the trend that seems to rest on an exaggeration of Eastern European aesthetic is a remnant from the time of the Cold War. For this reason, it remains intriguing for the Western consumer. The Soviet Union was a hidden and distant place. As it collapsed, the region offered an experience of exotism to the West. Even now, from the Western point of view, the East, especially Russia, remains ambiguous, odd, even. Take for instance the recent attempted assassination of the political activist Alexei Navalny. Winston Churchill was onto something when he described Russia as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. Perhaps the post-Soviet aesthetic is an attempt to solve the riddle of the East, maybe it is a way to embrace the enigma.
Most importantly, the post-Soviet fashion aesthetic is an interesting example of how fashion can create movement between cultures in a way realist politics never could. Even for this reason alone, I am looking forward to seeing where the road will take the trend in the coming years.
Text: Saara Lappalainen
The writer has a lot of takes on fashion for someone who only ever wears one colour.
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