A Proper Dress Length for Little Girls?: Soviet Taste, Girls' Innocence, and Children's Fashion in Contemporary Russia

Headnote

ABSTRACT

In this article we present the results of research on children's fashion in contemporary Russia. Our premise is that what is known as individual taste and universal traditions are determined socially. The ways in which parents dress their daughters convey messages about girlhood. Short dresses for girls in so-called Soviet taste can still be seen in Russia nowadays, along with examples of a new Western trend of apparently protecting girls by dressing them in long dresses, skorts (hybrids that combine the features of skirts and shorts), swimsuits, and leggings worn under skirts. In this article we discuss two trends in girls' wear that reflect two different conceptions of what counts as girls' innocence. We suggest that these are tied to societal changes in the country.

KEYWORDS

dress length, fashion studies, innocence, preschool children, sociology of taste, Soviet taste

Introduction

Our aim in this article is to reveal some of the trends in the ways in which people who take care of girls dress them, and to describe and explain these trends and trace their roots in history. Our premise is that what is seen to be suitable and appropriate clothing for girls varies in societies and across history. The question we are interested in has to do with why people in contemporary Russia dress their daughters as they do.

To answer this question, we have to approach the complex topic of children's fashion but studying children's fashion as a research object is challenging because of its invisibility. Unlike adult fashion, it does not exist in public discourse. Instructions on clothes for children in childcare literature focus on health and comfort and hardly ever consider issues of fashion and even decency, except to offer verbiage on the necessity to develop good taste in children from birth. What is claimed in fashionable magazines to be the latest trends in children's fashion turn out to be advertising discourse advocating the same cuts and hues every year. We suggest that trends in children's apparel may be seen in everyday wear rather than in glamorous clothing. Interest in these very trends is at the center of our research.

Methodology

The disciplinary framework of our research is the sociology of taste (see Bourdieu 1984; Gronow 1997). Our basic...