Navigating the Thaw: Limits and Opportunities in Khrushchev Era Fashion Design

• In Event: Beyond Aesthetics: Unraveling the Liberation Potential of Soviet Fashion Design, Cinema, and Art

Abstract

The “Thaw” era proved simultaneously an opportunity for artistic exploration and a time of great uncertainty for Soviet designers. Fashion designers attempted to determine what sorts of clothing would be acceptable under the new regime, while simultaneously embracing the opportunity to participate in the international fashion system. Even as designers gained more freedom, many industry specialists and Party members began to fear that the growing engagement with Western design would blur the boundaries of Soviet and Socialist design. This paper will examine the role of the Thaw in granting designers greater artistic freedom, even as their designs became a part of a state effort to promote a unified Soviet, Socialist identity domestically and internationally.

Author

• Virginia Carter Olmsted McGraw, U.S. Naval Academy