Sovietų Sąjungos aprangos kontrolės mechanizmas: Baltijos šalių mados žurnalai „Banga“, „Rigas Modes“, „Siluet“ 1970–1990 m.
Soviet Mechanism of Clothing Control: Fashion Magazines in the Baltic States Banga, Rigas Modes, Siluett in 1970–1990

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the peculiarities of the Soviet mechanism of clothing control by comparing the content of the Soviet fashion magazines of Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian houses of models and the magazine Zhurnal mod published by the Moscow House of Models during the period of 1970–1990. It highlights the 1970s–1980s in the Soviet Union – the period of stagnation and new changes in politics opening broader opportunities to follow the tendencies of the Western world, to draw inspiration and to adopt the democratic ideas on the topics of culture, music and fashion. The article presents the circumstances of establishment of the houses of models, discusses the content of the magazine Zhurnal mod published by the Moscow House of Models. It analyses the similarities and differences in the content of the Baltic magazines Banga, Rigas Modes and Siluett. It reveals the elements of the mechanism of clothing control by focusing on the process of development of light industry in the Soviet Union. The state centres of fashion founded across the Soviet Union as a result of the reorganisation of the Moscow House of Models into the All-Union House of Models in 1948 shaped the culture of clothing and developed the Soviet fashion. By keeping a distance from the fashion tendencies of the Western world, the editorial office of Zhurnal mod shaped the perception of Soviet clothing of classical forms in the cut and silhouette featuring timeless, universal forms. The content of fashion magazines Rigas modes, Banga, Siluett was under control in the years of 1970–1990, ideological articles were published on the mandatory basis, which determined a clear dissemination of Soviet ideology in publications. In the 1970s, the focus of the magazine content on the activities of the All-Union House of Models and its product presentation drew clear boundaries of idea, content, form, rhetoric and aesthetics for the fashion magazines of Soviet Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The photographs re-printed in Siluett and Rigas modes from Western magazines (Burda, Linea Italiana, Mode nora, Bazaar, Vogue, Elegance boutique, Petra) were given as a nameless creation of Western designers without specifying the source of the photographs. They can be evaluated as a sign of the clothing control liberation process in the Soviet Union. Once perestroika initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev gathered pace, the magazines Siluett and Rigas modes distinguished by their rhetoric, content components, in particular the growing number of original articles on the topics of fashion history. Despite the reforms of perestroika, the magazine Banga essentially preserve the old trends of content and form, which focused on the presentation of activities of the Vilnius House of Models...

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