"Rigas Modes" in the 1960's

Rigas Modes fashion magazine was published in small town of Riga, but famous all over big Soviet Union.

Many Soviet women have vivid personal memories connected with Rigas Modes. The magazine first came out in 1948 as “Assistant for families and sewing workshops in creating beautiful and tasteful clothes”.

In 1960's Khruschev's thaw started and Soviet women got access to western fashion. Of course, they needed sewing patterns to create these clothes by themselves, and the magazine offered those.

Men were also looking for fashionable clothing. But they were proposed to wear woolen and linen suits, some of them - underlined - made of inexpensive textile. The stilyagi, or style hunters, would be bored and disappointed.

Children's fashions were lagging behind. It was almost impossible to buy fashionable kids clothing. Shops proposed dark brown, grey or dirty blue shoes and clothes.

Parents could dress their children decently only if they could sew themselves. Mothers and grandmothers spent hours sewing and knitting and kids were obliged to keep clothes clean and safe in order to pass them to younger siblings.

State-owned magazines moderated fashion trends for Soviet audiences. Fashion "crazes" were rejected in favor of classic, long-running styles. In addition, moderation and modesty were stressed.

Rīgas Modes was not that much moderated by authorities, as soon as the Baltic republics enjoyed more freedom in the USSR. So, magazines were torn and worn by frequent use of many women.

Fashion historian and collector Alexandre Vassiliev represents the magazine as the “Soviet Vogue”, in his exhibition Fashion behind the Iron Curtain.

The magazine contributed to forming a sense of taste and style and also demonstrated the primary standard of beauty.

The magazine followed tendencies of politics in the USSR. Women's dresses are not as bourgeois as 10 years before. They look simple and practical, as the society demanded women to be.

Coco Chanel’s signature style, for example, was particularly admired as a symbol of timelessness and simple sophistication.

Youth fashion was quite brave, and allowed youngsters to show all their beauty, especially in summer. Men wore items such as Hawaiian shirts, sunglasses, narrow slacks, and pointed shoes, while women wore miniskirts and maintained a childlike demeanor.

In the 1960s Riga was the trend-setter for the entire Soviet Union. Artists of the Riga Fashion House created designs that were shown in exhibitions and fashion shows, also abroad, i.e. in France.

The show in the world capital of fashion was very successful. Rīgas Modes reported about this abroad trip proudly.

Both the Rigas Modes and the Riga Fashion House ceased to exist in 1992, following the change of state and economic system. Today, you will not find major manufacturers of designer clothing in Riga.

But there are bright and recognizable designers, and small salons which specialize in making clothes, shoes, bags, hats and accessories for fashion followers.