Another beauty: how attractive girls looked in the USSR

Soviet times are still often remembered, although almost 30 years have passed since the collapse of the USSR. A lot of things back then were very different from what they are now: some were better and some were worse. The standards of women’s beauty were also different. No one was chasing the parameters 90-60-90, not often applied makeup in several layers, and frank outfits were not worn. Let’s remember what attractive girls of the past years looked like.

Soviet fashion

Obviously, clothing in the USSR was very different and much less varied than it is now. Jeans in the 1960s and 1970s could be obtained only from farzovchiki, i.e. speculators, at a price slightly less than the average monthly salary. Girls rarely wore pants, and walking around town in sportswear was out of the question. Most often they wore dresses or skirts of various lengths, from “mini” to “maxi”. In almost half of cases, they sewed them themselves. Although they were available in stores, unlike jeans, but the styles, as a rule, were not distinguished by a great variety. Suitable size is also not always available, so that even bought clothes often had to adjust to fit themselves.

The most common women’s shoes were summer shoes and winter boots. There were no sneakers then, and sneakers were worn only in physical education classes and during other sports activities. By the way, mass sports uniforms remained simple for quite a long time. Most often used sharovars and T-shirts. However, Olympics, first sewn for the USSR team at the Olympics-1956 in Melbourne, gradually began to spread among the people and by the mid 60’s became commonplace. Closer to the Moscow Olympics-1980, the Olympics were modernized, making it fully unzippable. Initially, the zipper barely reached the chest.

USSR national gymnastics team at the Munich Olympics, 1972

At the same time, the girls did not chase thinness on purpose. There was no mass distribution of diets, fitness clubs, gymnastics for weight loss, Pilates and other modern activities. Manufacturers did not distribute “pills for rapid weight loss”, various miracle herbs and other, to put it mildly, extremely dubious products.

Women’s appearance in general remained quite natural. The only common cosmetics were lipstick, powder and mascara – most often solid, which had to be soaked with a wet brush. There was no pressed powder in powder boxes. Boxes for it were bought separately and were reusable. And the product itself was sold in the form of powder, which was applied to the face with absorbent cotton. Nail polish was also available. This was the end of the available means for “putting on makeup”. But it is unlikely that many people in those years were very worried about it. The beauty standards of the time were in line with it, and the girls looked very attractive.

Such weight, of course, was not common, but the chance to see a girl with such dimensions was still higher than with “skin and bones”. Barbie doll-like models became fashionable after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and in the Soviet years no one aspired to such a figure. Looking at the photos of those years, including those taken as part of the Spring-Summer 1966 women’s clothing collection, it’s not hard to be convinced of this. And it certainly does not spoil the appearance of Soviet girls in the slightest.