No sleight of hand and no fraud – how costume designers in the USSR created iconic looks with scarce fabrics and budgets?

Soviet cinema is loved for thoughtful and familiar characters, jokes and plot that are still relevant today. Movies from that era can easily take you back to the past, make you feel nostalgic or learn something new. It seems that there is no such person in our country (and beyond) who has not heard of Shurik and Operation Y and does not know that it has nothing to do with rabbits.

Now these films are an encyclopedia of the Soviet past “on the pages”, from which you can learn almost everything. From the cult paintings of Eldar Ryazanov and Leonid Gaidai, we (the younger generation) know that not only honest people do not take a taxi to the bakery, and many houses look like two drops of water, but also “shoes”. Make a woman a woman.” Yes, cinema also had a strong influence on fashion. In the Iron Curtain era, our mothers and grandmothers were the main fashion figures of the heroines of their favorite movies. Dresses, skirts, like Barbara Brylsky, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Alisa Freindlikh and Irina Muravyova or thousands of girls came to the studio to sew blouses.

But who created the images for them? And most importantly – how? Today we decided to delve into the archive of Soviet cinema and find out what cult images of our favorite characters consist of.

Zinochka from the movie “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession”

Immediately after its release, Leonid Gaidai’s film was scattered in quotes. And not only verbal, but also fashionable. The images of Natalia Selezneva, who played Shurik’s wife Zinochka, made an indelible impression on thousands of fashionistas of the Soviet Union.

Everyone literally dreamed of a duet with red gloves and a white suit in a geometric print dress. And this is not surprising, because the author of all these clothes was Vyacheslav Zaitsev, who at that time was a novice designer. Especially for the movie, he created several images that were supposed to reflect the character of the protagonist. And he definitely succeeded. Flirty, but moderately restrained outfits did not make the main role of the actress bright and memorable.

Nadia from “The Irony of Fate”

Eldar Ryazanov’s The Irony of Fate needs no introduction. For almost half a century, the film has become an integral part of Night of the New Genre, and its characters almost become family. The tape gave the world not only warm traditions, but also trends. Nadia’s ocher dress became a real hit among Soviet women. They say that many came to the studio with a clear desire to sew a dress like the main character. By the way, no one specifically created a cult image. The dress was taken from the Mosfilm archive and even featured in the movie Dangerous Turn, which was released three years before The Irony of Fate. For Ryazanov’s painting, costume designer Olga Kruchinina shortened it, made it fit and added a belt with a gold buckle. And voila, it’s a hit!

Goga and Katerina from the movie “Moscow does not believe in tears”

Costume designer Zhanna Melkonyan worked on the creation of images for the cult film by Vladimir Menshov. The task was not easy – to combine the two eras and make the actresses first 19-year-old students, and then adult women. Corsets, petticoats and all kinds of tricks were used. And fabrics were even sought after in a warehouse in the Moscow region to create costumes in the spirit of the 1950s.

By the way, personal belongings of the cast and crew were also revealed on the set. For example, Katerina’s yellow raincoat belonged to Vera Alentova, but Wrangler jeans were worn by Zhanna Melkonyan’s husband, Goga.

Lyudmila Prokofievna and Verochka from Office Romance

The actor of the role took an active part in creating the image of “mymra”. Alisa Freindlich was looking for the costume that would ideally reflect her character, and also helped her choose the most trendy hairstyle. By the way, Lyudmila Prokofievna’s glasses actually belonged to the father of the film’s cameraman. She ran in fury in search of a faceless, sexless creature. In her ecstasy she wore terrible costumes and terrible shoes. And with a make-up artist, she tried to make her hairstyle spoil her as much as possible. It was a great acting prowess, ”Eldar Ryazanov said about working with the actor.

Despite the fantastic transformation of the heroine Freindlich, the main fashion designer of the picture is still Verochka. Only a scene with over-the-knee boots is valuable. By the way, Zhanna Melkonyan, who is already familiar to us, worked on her images.