Contents
- Hot curlers and makeup like actresses: how our grandmothers prepared for the New Year
- We thought about beauty in advance …
- Self designer
- Instead of a corporate party – an evening in the recreation center
- The menu for the festive table was prepared with special trepidation.
- The finishing touch of New Year’s magic – home decoration
Hot curlers and makeup like actresses: how our grandmothers prepared for the New Year
We suggest indulging in festive nostalgia.
Today’s preparation for the main holiday of the country is very different from the one in which the inhabitants of Russia were immersed 30 years ago. And if you believe our mothers and grandmothers, now it is difficult to feel the New Year’s mood, because there is no former atmosphere and pre-holiday bustle that captured everyone at least a month before the magical night! How exactly did they prepare? Let’s remember.
We thought about beauty in advance …
There are so many beauty salons now that you can sign up for the procedure literally a day before the holiday and be sure that you will definitely get to the master. Previously, there were not many hairdressers, but they had to sign up for a month in order not to be afraid of being left without a haircut.
By the way, about hairstyles. Look at the photos of your parents. It seems that everyone then had perms and bouffants. Moreover, women at that time did not think at all whether the styling went to the type and shape of their face, to the length and structure. And even the curls were not afraid to damage. All for the sake of the holiday!
They sat in the hairdresser for five hours, and then left them as queens with a sparkle in their eyes, joy and a feeling of complete satisfaction.
Those who were not so lucky with finances or who did not have time to sign up with the master had to get out on their own or with the help of their girlfriends. Here I recall this picture from my childhood: my mother sits at her dressing table and, burning her fingers, pulls out hot curlers from a plastic box, clinging one by one to her hair. And grandmother, meanwhile, sits in front of a table mirror with a comb and does a fleece, generously sprinkling her labors with Prelest varnish.
Everyone was guided by their idols: Brigitte Bardot, Alla Pugacheva, Tatiana Doronina … If the varnish ran out, no one ran to buy a new one, they got out with improvised means. That is how such styling products as sweet water, beer, chamomile decoction were “invented”. They held the hairs together and did not let the hair fall.
Makeup then was not done by professional make-up artists, it was enough to have cosmetics in the arsenal and a great desire to look beautiful. In front of them, women put posters of their favorite actresses, singers, or clippings from fashion magazines. Then there were enough bright eyeshadows, blush and lipstick to feel like a style icon and the main fashionista of the holiday!
Self designer
They also approached the choice of outfit thoroughly. A few months before the holiday, they studied fashion magazines to find beautiful designs and sew an outfit for themselves. Sewing machines were in almost every home, and most Soviet women had the ability to make an outfit. The film “Carnival Night” made a big contribution to the festive fashion. The outfits after him became much more feminine: a tight-fitting top and a lush bottom were the hallmark of the holiday. By the way, the purchased outfits did not differ in femininity: gray suits, as if office dresses, in which there was absolutely no hint of attractiveness and sexuality.
Slightly more wealthy women found it easier: they took the pages of magazines with patterns to a dressmaker and sewed dresses and suits to order, because even women in abundance in the USSR had nowhere to buy a beautiful festive dress. Foreign outfits and even fabrics were also difficult to get, so dressmakers did with the most unimaginable things: curtains, men’s shirts, tablecloths and so on. They went to the cutting and sewing courses not only to hone their skills, but also to get the opportunity to get imported fabric.
Instead of a corporate party – an evening in the recreation center
We did not go to restaurants often with colleagues at work. But dances and a concert program in the Palace of Culture or in the assembly hall were an integral part of the holiday. It was held on a grand scale, despite the fact that there were no stylish decorations, no luxurious photo zones, no performances by popular bands. People often prepared the numbers themselves, performed their favorite hits and danced incendiaryly.
This is because nowadays the counters are full of foreign delicacies, goodies and drinks. It was different then. Before the holiday, orders were made to friends and acquaintances who could get something unusual. They paid dearly for this, but they really enjoyed the delicacies. Surprisingly, many of us in the USSR could eat black caviar, and now it is simply impossible to afford such a luxury!
The finishing touch of New Year’s magic – home decoration
There was not a single apartment without a Christmas tree! Everyone was waiting for the New Year: they took out boxes with old, but dear to heart toys, half of which were beaten, they decorated coniferous trees, a house, a festive table with them. They cooked not only for the family, but also for the guests, because they were always expected, and if no one could come, then they went to the neighbors to share the treats. In general, we were preparing for the holiday with all our hearts!