Soviet fashionista

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2022

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

Slava Zaitsev was the first designer to create high fashion collections in the Soviet Union. He tells Dina Newman about the challenges he faced working under communism. This programme was first broadcast in 2018. (Photo: A sketch of a dress designed by Slava Zaitsev. Credit: Slava Zaitsev)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, and thank you for downloading the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:10.9	We're going back to Moscow in the 1980s when Slava Weitzoff transformed the Soviet fashion
0:17.2	industry.
0:18.2	He spoke to Deena Newman in 2018.
0:26.7	What is the point of a fashion designer?
0:29.1	It's to give people joy, the joy of connecting with beauty, you see.
0:34.0	This has been the most important thing in my life.
0:36.6	Slava Weitzoff started working in the Soviet clothing industry back in 1962.
0:43.5	From the start he was full of creative ideas, but high fashion wasn't really an option
0:49.0	in the communist economy with its emphasis on mass production.
0:53.3	And fashion shows featured simple designs from the cheapest fabrics.
0:58.4	Like this one, the 1960s spring collection from Moscow Fashion House.
1:07.5	Models of the Moscow Fashion House are the first to open the spring season as usual.
1:16.7	Most designs are made out of cheap fabrics, cotton, poplin and canvas.
1:22.1	The Soviet textile industry was geared only for mass production.
1:26.7	Fabric runs changed once every three years.
1:30.0	To get a design from a drawing to factory production took two years.
1:35.0	But Slava Weitzoff was impatient.
1:37.6	The Soviet garment industry could not keep up with his creative output.
1:42.4	We used to make four designs a month.
1:47.3	That was ridiculous.
1:48.3	I could produce a hundred designs a month.
	...

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