From Bright Clothes to Bright Futures: Discourse on the Colour of Children’s Clothing in the USSR of the 1950s–1980s

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to study the meaning of the colour of children’s clothes as it relates to ideology. The methods of research include a discourse analysis of Soviet advice books, brochures, and thematic articles in fashion magazines of the second half of the twentieth century, as well as a content analysis of a collection of Soviet postcards depicting children provided by the Russian National Library in St Petersburg. Illustrations from Primers (Bukvari) were also used for qualitative analysis. Official recommendations to dress children in light and bright colours are regarded in the paper as utterances on childhood containing ‘programmatic epithets’ which constructed the conceptual field of a Soviet childhood. The paper raises the discussion about Soviet concepts of childhood and defines the place of Soviet children’s fashion in relation to world fashion trends.