On fashion, 80s and Life in the USSR

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We interrupt our regularly scheduled shows to bring the 80s back! It is the 1980s theme at Project Sewn , and I decided to play along! I was born during 1970s. Late 1980s was when I came of age and began to experiment with fashion. Except, I was living in the USSR where fashion and anything related to it was strictly forbidden. Soviet women were supposed to study hard and become doctors and engineers, fly into space and build new cities in Siberia and not to stuff our heads with such silliness as fashion. That was for the "rotting West" we were told. By the time I was a preteen, the Soviet propaganda machine was cracking and sputtering and not functioning that well and fashion seeped in. It came through magazine pictures, glossy catalogues picked up on rare trips abroad, and Soviet celebrities and party officials parading their expensive outfits. By the late 1980s Gorbachev was in power and everybody was talking about "perestroika" and "glasnost" and the arrival of Burda Style magazine. That's when my sewing adventures began and the start of the dress I am about to present.

Two years ago I was visiting home and my mother begged me to go through her fabric stash and take some home. Among rolls of vintage cotton, flannel and lace I spotted something that was shiny and sort of looked like snake skin. I promptly pulled it out and lo and behold it was a cut out dress.  I wanted to make it for a school dance in 1988. The pattern was traced, the fabric was cut, the darts marked and that's when I ran out of steam and it stayed there for  almost 25 years. I brought it home and again it was buried in my stash until a week ago.

And now it is all done and ready to take on the world in all it's shiny glory! A tribute to the awesome 1988. The fabric is stretchy, but kind of stiff at the same time. It's really a weird combo.

Will I ever wear it again? Of course! It is sparkly and who wouldn't want to have bat wings for sleeves!



 Also, it kind of tickles me that 25 years and four kids later it still fits me, well sort of. I still have a few pounds to lose after the last baby, and I am pretty sure it would have been too loose on me in 1988. But still, it brings good memories. And there you go! 80s rule!