Contents
how our mothers prepared for the New Year at work
Now employees gather for New Year’s greetings in cramped offices, where the budget allows – in restaurants. It’s not the same scope anyway.
In the Soviet Union, the meeting of the country’s main holiday took place in local houses of culture or assembly halls. Remember Ryazanov’s “Carnival Night”, where the atmosphere of the so-called Soviet corporate parties is perfectly reproduced. They prepared for the New Year’s party in advance: they took out outfits, did hairstyles and make-up. Often the best friend played the role of a hairdresser, and dresses were sewn according to patterns from fashion magazines. Our mothers and grandmothers had no idea who the stylist was, and all the women were sure that they were dyed with perm and bright shadows. In fact, Soviet girls were adorned with a sincere smile, a twinkle in their eyes and a good mood, about which Lyudmila Gurchenko once sang.
“Like Doronina”: hairstyles of our mothers at corporate parties
Soviet hairdressing salons (by the way, they were called “Hairdresser # 1, 2, 3”) could be counted on one hand, so they were registered in a month. Even that didn’t help. Beauty in the literal sense demanded sacrifices: girls defended hourly queues to get their hair or manicure done. In the early 70s, the first beauty salons with spacious halls and renowned hairdressers began to appear in Moscow. Only the stars of Soviet cinema and the wives of party workers had their hair cut there. “The prices for hairdressing services were dictated from above, everything was the same in all salons,” says Natalya Smirnova (67), a hairdresser. – In the 70s, curls could be made for a ruble, and a woman’s haircut was about 2 rubles. Fashion was dictated by the actresses. Many women brought clippings from magazines and asked to make them fleece and curls like Tatyana Doronina’s. Nobody thought about the structure of the hair. Many catastrophically did not go to bouffant, but they did it anyway. Until the mid-90s, there was some kind of craze for chemistry. Every second Soviet woman did it ”.
Indeed, in the 60s the world was overwhelmed by women with lush hairstyles, copied from the heroine Brigitte Bardot in the movie “Babette Goes to War”
Trying to add the missing volume, women put a rolled stocking, and sometimes even an empty tin can in the babette. Many women took care of labor-intensive styling – they did not wash their hair for several days, therefore in the USSR another name for babette – “lousy house”, came into popular use. Curls were also in demand: curlers were in the home cosmetic bag of every fashionista.
Even hairdressers could not boast of an abundance of professional hair products. Hydrogen peroxide, henna, basma, curlers, Prelest varnish – perhaps this is the whole set for beauty. It ended quickly, so our mothers and grandmothers managed to use folk remedies. For example, sweet water was used instead of varnish, shampoo was replaced with beer or chamomile decoction.
Our mothers and grandmothers could look attractive even without the newfangled beauty products. The contents of the cosmetic bags of all Soviet women were the same. Mascara for eyebrows and eyelashes “Leningradskaya” (popularly “mascara-spitting”, since to make up eyelashes, you had to spit into a palette), thick cream “Ballet”, reminiscent of a building material, cosmetic Vaseline “Mink” (analogue of modern hygienic lipsticks), green or blue eyeshadows, powder without a mirror with a piece of cotton instead of a sponge, oily blush (few suspected the existence of dry ones).
Modern makeup artists would definitely refuse to work with such cosmetics, but Soviet women could boast of bright makeup, which, as a rule, took several hours. “We learned to paint from Soviet stars,” says Elena Klimova (50). – I took a photo of Svetlana Svetlichnaya and tried to repeat her bright makeup. For hours they drew expressive arrows for themselves. Sometimes clerical pencils were used for these purposes. There were queues for the shadows. I remember a set of two shades called “Elena”, which was produced by the Moscow factory “Rassvet”. A fresh blush was imperative. If there was no blush, then they simply pinched the cheeks. It’s good that lipsticks were in short supply. Otherwise, everyone would walk like nesting dolls. “
Indeed, the main rule of makeup artists – the emphasis must be made either on the eyes or on the lips – was constantly violated.
Lipsticks, which were produced in the Land of the Soviets, were bright, mostly red shades. Especially prominent were the eyebrows in the form of strings, which Soviet women plucked independently. Remember the advice of the fashionista Vera from Office Romance. “Eyebrows are now acquiring colossal importance,” the secretary taught Kalugin. – If your eyebrows grow so thickly, you have to deal with it somehow. You need to pluck, thin out at least with a drawing pen. The eyebrow should be thin, thin, like a thread raised in surprise. ” That’s right: in the 70s, tweezers were much more difficult to obtain than the drawing drawing pen, which was sold in ready-made kits.
The final touch before going out is perfume. French and domestic perfumery was sold in the Soviet Union. After the release of the film “Irony of Fate”, the Parisian Climats became especially popular. They had to pay a third of the salary for them, so they were limited to more budget options – for example, the Baltic “Riga Lilac”, Polish “Perhaps” or the perfume “Natasha”, which were brought from Finland.
In the Land of the Soviets, even on New Year’s, there was a dress code. “I remember these carnival evenings, at which we, young chemists, dressed up in Russian folk costumes,” recalls Maria Ivanovna Volkova (80 years old). – They adored masks of animals, they ran out into the street in order to amuse passers-by. Of course, true women of fashion imitated Soviet actresses. After the release of the film “Carnival Night”, dresses with a tight top and a fluffy skirt became popular. The outfits were sewn by themselves (everyone had sewing machines). But mostly wealthy ladies could afford to order dresses from dressmakers ”.
It was impossible to look at what was offered in clothing stores without tears. The assortment included mouse-colored suits, uniform dresses and goodbye youth boots. Indeed, along with sex in the USSR, there was no bright feminine clothing. Fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev has repeatedly emphasized that the Soviet authorities clearly did not like Soviet ladies. In any era, women want to be attractive. “Of course, we dreamed of beautiful dresses, fur coats, elegant boots,” continues Maria Ivanovna Volkova. – When such a lady appeared on the streets, fragrant with expensive perfume, everyone secretly dreamed of being like her. The trouble is that, even with money, there was nowhere to buy an evening dress. “
In the Soviet Union, fabrics were also in short supply, so fashionable clothes were created from improvised means. Curtains, tablecloths, grandmother’s shawls, men’s shirts, combinations were used. “Cutting and sewing courses were very popular,” says Marina Serikova (59). – In Voronezh, where I lived, they were taken to the House of Pioneers. They came there not only to learn how to sew. The teachers could get the coveted patterns from fashion magazines. ” Thrift stores were in great demand. Among the old rags, you could dig up imported things. “There were lucky people whose parents could afford to travel abroad,” says Natalya Lebedeva (52 years old). – I studied with the daughter of a diplomat. Once on New Year’s, she came in jeans and a white blouse. For us then these things seemed to be some kind of cosmic “.