"People dress so brightly here!" Exploring social distinctions through clothing, in Gurova O. Fashion and the Consumer Revolution in Contemporary Russia. London and New York: Routledge, 2015 (chapter 4). (original) (raw)
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The chapter “’We are not rich enough to buy cheap things’: Consumer patterns of the middle class” discusses the formation of a class identity through the consumption of clothing, focusing mostly on the middle class. The formation and expression of identity through appearance and clothing are perceived as important aspects of belonging to the middle class (cf. Liechty 2002: 135). During the Soviet era, conceptions of the body and of middle-class fashion were framed by the notions of being cultured and by Soviet taste; during the 1990s, such concepts were framed by “culturedness” and “civilization” (cf. Patico 2008). These notions continue to inform the understandings of clothing and consumption among today’s middle class in Russia. The middle-class lifestyle is characterized by hedonistic consumption, yet at the same time, the middle class moralizes about the right to enjoy shopping along with such values as virtue and dignity, immanent in the middle class for whom excessive consumption is contradictory. Members of the middle class evaluate a “good life” in qualitative rather than quantitative terms. “Europeanness” is an important concept used to articulate their identity and consumption patterns.
The chapter “’When I put on a fur coat, everyone knows I am Russian’: Clothing consumption of Russian migrants in Finland” explores the expression of ethnic identity through appearance and personal style. Style and clothing choices, apparently, make Russians a visible community at many levels, demonstrated not only in the media, but also by academic research (Vihalemm, Keller 2011). Scholars describe the fashion style of Russians as an ethnic group as “tasteless because of the use of bright textiles, heavy make-up, and clothing elements in bright colours… The glamorous style is manifested by a variety of elements: expensive brand logos on clothes, glossy fabrics, bright colours, plenty of jewellery, conspicuous make-up, and high heels. Richness of detail is part and parcel of this sub-repertoire” (Vihalemm, Keller 2011: 303). Drawing on in-depth interviews with Russians who live outside the country, particularly in Finland, I will discuss how these Russians express their Russianness through clothing. I rely on the argument that the reproduction of ethnic belonging in consumption goes along with other social distinctions – age, gender, and class. In other words, there are more similarities between people of different ethnicity belonging to the same class and generation than between people of different classes and generations, yet have the same ethnicity. Thus, an ethnic boundary uses other social dimensions to differentiate between the self and others.
The chapter “Fashion and time: The lifespan of clothing” investigates the changes in everyday consumer practices from the point of view of the concept of time. Scholars have called Soviet society a “repair society” (Gerasimova, Chuikina 2009) because not only were things under constant repair in an effort to prolong their lifespans, but so was the whole societal system. Based on differences in the longevity of relationships between humans and things, at least three concepts of clothing consumption may be identified: “permanent,” “fast,” and “sustainable.” I also distinguish a “transitional” fashion. These concepts are rooted in societies with particular economic conditions, levels of technological development, norms, traditions, and customs, as well as consumer practices. I argue that “permanent” consumption was a feature of socialist societies, “transitional” fashion is intrinsic to a period of reforms, “fast fashion” is a dominant characteristic of emerging consumer markets, and “sustainable consumption” is a feature of mature capitalist societies. Based on these concepts, I explore daily practices related to man-thing relations from the point of view of the life cycle of clothing.
The chapter “«Semiotic baggage» and fashion” explores the key concepts of clothing and the traces that have been left by socialist past in contemporary styles repertoirs in Russia. In order to reach this objective I examine images of the people encountered on Nevsky prospect in St. Petersburg. Despite globalization and its consequences, fashion still contains “semiotic baggage” from the socialist past. In addition, there are “semiotic disjunctions” - the concepts of today’s fashion that could conflict with the concepts existed before. A number of changes are discussed in this chapter: individualization; sexualisation of the body; marketization of youth fashion; and nostalgia for the soviet.
In the existing literature, the relatively stable period of the 1970s, in Russia, is characterised by the rise of 'socialist consumer modernity,' while the affluent 2000s were the time when a new phenomenon, 'the culture of glamour,' emerged. Both periods parallel some cultural developments in the western world: the 1970s-1980s supposedly saw the rise of late modernity whereby individuals, freed from constraints of social structures, engage in ongoing process of self-reflexivity and self-fashioning, through consumption. In this paper, drawing on the interviews with 20 middle-aged women from Moscow, I examine the limitations on self-fashioning as a means of achieving and maintaining a position of privilege. I particularly focus on the women's concerns about failing to engage in normative practices of self-care, including anti-ageing cosmetic procedures, and hence failing to embody feminine dispositions that had value in their middle-class milieu. The analysis of such concerns helps to discern the ways different markers of identity (gender, class and age) interplay and act as enablers or constraints in the mundane struggle for power at the interpersonal level.