Abstracts
Russia on Edge: Reclaiming the Periphery in Contemporary Russian Culture
Interdisciplinary Workshop, 11-12 December 2009 (CRASSH, University of Cambridge)
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London College of Fashion
Moscow on the Fashion Map: between World Periphery and Russian Centre
This paper focuses on the complex position of Vogue in post-socialist Moscow, both in its peripheral position in relation to the world fashion capitals, as well as its central position towards its geographical periphery. The paper covers three key issues: the politics of style, the concept of luxury, and consumption practices.
When Vogue arrived in Russia in 1998, Moscow had yet to develop its own fashion industry, which was still dominated by the big players in Paris, Milan and New York. The city did not have the decades-long experience needed to establish a flexible and highly skilled manufacturing base and to nurture the talent and creativity required to turn the city into an international fashion capital. However it took the city just a few years to become a recognized capital of consumption on the global fashion map. Vogue promoted the transformation of Moscow from a retail backwater into an extraordinarily exciting space of consumption. Yet, Vogue took much longer to promote home-grown Russian fashion. Domestic designers of which some were born in the capital, while others were drawn to Moscow from the provinces brought their energy and ideas, which could only be realized through fashionable dresses in the capital.
For a long time, almost all of Vogues visual references in the various fashion stories and features about fur, smart sports, films, cinema stars and beauty icons belonged to western iconography. When Russian iconography was eventually introduced, it comprised two main categories: ironic visual references to the countrys socialist past and glamorized visions of its geographical provinces. The Russian periphery was presented through profiles of extravagant singers, expensively dressed politicians wives and striking travel reportages, all presenting the periphery as exciting and exotic. The letters published in the column From Far Away - only perpetuated the notion of Moscow as a Russian fashion centre.
The paper explores the contradictory position of Moscow on the global fashion map. In general, symbolic production of fashion acknowledges only centres, thus Moscow exists as both fashion periphery in the world context and as an unquestionable centre concerning its own geographical periphery.