thank you for joining r.t. it happened after the hour and here's a quick recap of your headlines clashes player across syria with violence on the rise between government troops and rebels after a deadly attack on several of the regime's top brands the free syrian army has claimed responsibility with a former inner circle bodyguard named the culprit. israel points the finger of blame at iran over an attack on its citizens as revised numbers say at least seven people were killed in a blast in the bulgarian city of borg ops no group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing. and

a test of chancellor merkel's cell phone already at the german parliament to such a bold whether to funnel cash to spain's beleaguered banks that although lawmakers are widely expected to back her still have to face down a rebellion within her rule and polish. a little be it for me today but now stay tuned to look back at fashion or rather the lack of it behind the iron curtain and how two people bucked a trend carving out their own unique sense of style that's coming up next in our special report. western journalists called her the soviet union's answer to audrey hepburn international modeling agencies snapped up her pictures fashion houses offered her lucrative contracts abroad but global stardom was out of reach.

can you imagine that for the post that i am in now. one of our girls had to leave the soviet union that was going in the middle so that she was doing a shoot for a foreign magazine and when our authorities saw this picture she was harassed interrogated by the police and then finally she was forced to leave the country. in the one nine hundred sixty s. when the a commuter on the boat began to attract attention the career of a fashion model in the soviet union brought neither money nor fame. in one thousand nine hundred fifty nine moscow hosted the first guest fashion show since the end of the second world war. do your models arrived from paris to promote the shows they staged a photo shoot in the heart of the soviet capitol. all the seats for the fashion show quickly sold out eleven thousand tickets were snapped up by the communist

elite while ordinary citizens could only read about the show in newspapers. borzois fashion makes a woman with high heels which makes it difficult for her to walk without someone to support them. why make such open dresses out of think wolf it's totally impractical but people who live in a cold climate. for dresses are too short it won't make the short and stout look any better. than in the the so. in a fashion model is regarded as a worker of the lowest category and therefore receive the smallest possible salary but at the same time i worked with the americans and the french and they estimated one hour of my work at two thousand dollars and that was back in one thousand nine hundred sixty six. the western idea of a cover girl did not fit the rule of a model soviet citizen who was supposed to work fulfill the state plan bring up

children and keep the house in order to that end she did not need beautiful dresses make up or manicures the guiding principle behind making clothes in the soviet union was as much and as fast as possible the result was that all clothes ended up looking the same and were absolutely tasteless soviet authorities restricted imports prompting the growth of an underground economy one could get their hands on beautiful high quality clothes brought from abroad illegally by black marketers these entrepreneurs became the first to nouveau riche of the soviet union operating outside the law. in the late one nine hundred seventy s. alexander moore's off studied at a medical institute to become a pediatrician when alexander came to moscow for the first time to buy a pair of fashionable jeans he quickly realized that it was much better to buy two

one and made a profit selling the other at an inflated price when he returned from moscow the second time alexander had two bags full of jeans and in his provincial hometown they were sold off immediately. dangerous because it was illegal in the best case scenario they could expel me from the university. could also be charged with. criminal offense and serve time in jail we will go all over the government in the course of one day alexander managed to visit a dozen embassies and university dormitories where foreign students lived he could always find someone selling sought after goods from abroad. by the way this is a pretty famous university and one of the main places where we purchase things i don't cite the university building of course but in the door trees where foreign

students lived and. alexander always arrived without making any recordings in advance telephones could have good bugged by the k.g.b. and both he and his clients would end up being caught red handed. they left on this with the on the back of the old foreign students were watched to a different extent. most of them were selling jeans and they knew the police kept an eye on them so they faced problems from time to time we were going in order to solve them they sometimes ratted out the black market or steal the police. it was a huge risk but who is that one trip to moscow alexander moore's off the student more money than a university professor could earn in six months. anyone who broke the law on illegal trade could land behind bars for up to seven years old

black marketers fear the system and were aware that they could easily lose everything money freedom or even their life. in one thousand nine hundred sixty one a show trial of a group of currency dealers took place the police had caught a group of young men who were exchanging money with foreigners initially the court sentenced each of them to five years in prison when soviet leader nikita khrushchev was informed of the case he was a furious. secretary crucial of pushed for two of the men to be put in front. in the firing squad the men pleaded for mercy wrote letters of repentance with assurances that they would never perform that kind of crime again and would serve soviet society but khrushchev remained adamant and the men were put to death. designers love as i said was that rebellious nature was not appreciated in the one nine hundred sixty s. after graduating from college he was sent to an experimental factory to so close.

the first collection by the young soviet fashion designer shook the world in one thousand nine hundred sixty five vogue magazine named as. russia's christian dior he was asked to create collections for international cam walks and invited to work abroad sadly designed so it was kept behind the iron curtain forced to serve the soviet elite but he never gave up his dream that one day ordinary women would wear his designs despite his talents his clothes did not go into mass production they were considered too bright and impractical and therefore completely useless for a hard working soviet woman he had to believe that was very sad because all wrong to scrape it wonderful designs but any design was approved for a factory the process was greatly simplify it twenty minutes for a dress three holes and two seems no details were there but as the minutes were given for a coat. as made if they call in cloth for the piece of coal and i was it or.

a metro never was first model and she wore his clothes on the catwalk for many years. even now his dresses fit her perfectly hourglass figure has remained practically unchanged since the one nine hundred sixty s. because ninety sixty ninety centimeter measurements acknowledged around the world. were not favored by the soviet union was supposed to look like and. then one hundred centimeters might know more than one hundred sixty eight centimeters. were not accepted anywhere i was one of the tallest. but for his shows. it looked much more glamorous on stage.

he made. a job offer to. fifty years have passed since then. with the. young girl again. as we never. they rarely see each other nowadays he has a tight schedule of foreign trips shows. he is retired because of her poor health she rarely goes outside and most of the time stays at home but. again they remember the soviet times with a smile. promised. she would walk on a catwalk in one of his new dresses. i received an invitation to go to america. in the big cities in america

basically a year's contract to work there and also london and paris. they didn't even say anything about it to me or slava. even that with we all rushed to the kremlin like crazy and addressed to him saying that it was a great opportunity to promote all fashion to the world. but they made me leave the room and told me to keep my mouth shut if i wanted to continue working but. today there are a lot of ways to distinguish yourself from the crowd you can become a broker a poster punk or even an emo haircut nobody bans anything the only question is how exclusive your style is.

in one thousand nine hundred fifty seven moscow hosted the international festival of youth and students the capital attracted to thousands of young people with so-called leftist views from around the world it was the first instance of u.s.s.r. letting in so many foreigners at one time visitors brought lots of exotic things which in the soviet people had never laid eyes on before during the festival the public was exposed to rock n roll sneakers and of course denim jeans from that point on for several decades jeans became more than just a piece of clothing for the soviet youth was a cult the form of i wanted to be fashionable i wanted to feel close to the west starting with jeans and ending with rock music i was a very big fan of the stuff so selling what you like is the right thing i think. but. trousers were lucrative items on the black

market any person trying to keep up with the times was ready to pay two monthly salaries for a pair. medical student alexander became so involved in the business that his eye for denim was. then for the human anatomy. every pair had its own specific seam could be either yellow or yellow with a blue thread and. when you look at jeans every day. tell but notice all the small details. of the black marketers were often an advertisement of the goods they sold the entrepreneurs. they were wearing at the time they were labeled parasites by soviet propaganda. even with you know the theme of my topic today is this. the style. dancing to western music such things were regarded as the western plague dangerous

and destructive for progressive young people in the soviet union it was their form of protest. i felt different and i like but yes to some extent it was because when you're dressed up in expensive clothes while others are not you think you're cool. only the chosen few have the opportunity to wear cool expensive clothes the meager salary of model. could not afford the clothes sold on the black market while her sense of style stopped her from buying them in stores. in one thousand nine hundred forty eight my mother was lucky to buy some english the war. and she made a coat out of it. at the beginning of the seventy's we were members about this coat

my mother took out the stitches and then made another one this model. year i'll be wearing this until the day i die. he committed on of his colleagues often travelled abroad party officials took the fashion collections of the country's largest fashion house overseas it was done for the sole purpose of showing that soviet designers could also create exquisite clothing vaiko however has never been abroad she was considered politically unreliable because of her mother's nobility while her father had faced political persecution.

it was one of the most beautiful soviet models of the one nine hundred sixty s. even though she showed off in the very best of high fashion on the catwalk. to so everyday clothes her self soviet shops offered no trendy styles nor decent underwear for beauty care products. the names of soviet models remained unknown

even in the motherland their pictures were used without their knowledge or consent and they didn't earn a single penny. timms the shop window where my full length picture going up twenty one year. i used to visit them going to parchman store often not to buy things because it was simply impossible however the ice cream well it was always perfect in fact the same kind is still on sale today. the state department store red square was the major shopping center in the u.s.s.r. . but people mostly came here to remind the interior as if it were a museum. quality imported goods were extremely rare here as well. there were times when there was a lot of hype around for example like when something had come in from say poland

or czechoslovakia for example people they would line up in three or. spending hours here or even days. when the french are models in sophisticated outfits came to moscow in one thousand nine hundred fifty nine ordinary people were in shock the bright colors of their clothes and their laidback demeanor amazed the soviet people who were all used to thinking and dressing the same way. and in conspicuous in the soviet union the main requirement for clothes was practicality this manifested itself in countless dusty colored skirts dresses looked more like gowns which were perfect for women working out in the fields. visiting your models not only advertise the clothes they promoted and altogether different way of life and attitude for women. the consumer industry produced could be

found in stores. but as the saying goes you lost all your adrenaline that the soviet store the best white people who thought they were out of the ordinary never wore clothes made in the u.s.s.r. . and fake flannel dresses they looked at them with. these female outfits of the past now belong to one man fashion historian alexander. alexander was given all the exhibits of the unique collection fashion behind the iron curtain by various soviet stars wives of the elite and their inheritors. let's look at the speaking of famous dresses the red balm dress of soviet actress clara looks call was made of nylon and she wore some can which is surely worth mentioning. let me this was an american dress. but by one nine hundred sixty s.

it already looked a little old fashioned in the west. look at all but it was red. and she looked very extravagant and very attractive. however the sixty's were a time of mini skirts in the chanel style and it was a time of narrow silhouettes. only the cream of the u.s.s.r. could afford to wear trendy threads from overseas. is all too familiar with soviet high society as he was the son of a famous actress and folk artist. they always made fun of soviet women nobody saw them and when they did see them it was in quite unflattering photos. the first elegant soviet women were touring performers with. the ballerina. was the first women whose portrait was published in vogue she was reprimanded by the ministry of culture for that with the many years later.

presented alexander with her chanel suit mademoiselle coco gave it to my or herself during the tour in france the world famous soviet ballerina could not afford such a purchase on her soviet salary. their salaries were very small models were literally exploited. my father was a famous artist you travelled abroad but the embassy took ninety percent of his income it was robbery the bolsheviks robs the people mercilessly. when he was twenty four alexander fully realized that his love of beauty and originality was doomed in the soviet union so in one thousand nine hundred two he got a sham marriage with a french woman and emigrated leaving his relatives and friends behind in paris he created sets and costumes for different theatres he was only able to come back home after the collapse of the soviet union. or. maybe hate the

bolsheviks even more. in the one nine hundred seventy s. a conflict with soviet authorities deprived. of her bread and butter many officials from the party elite often patronage to beautiful girls for their love. always cut short any harassment attempts one day one of the top ranking officials whom she rejected it decided to take revenge on the feisty model. as a result she was out of work for almost two years wherever she applied there was an instruction from on high not a higher number on the. activist they wanted me to be obedient to act as an escort girl. i was not amused and then they replied they were comrades so i said there of never been force in my family and this will never be the case. when she was twenty seven years old

the ogre met her first great love at the moscow fashion festival he was a photographer called and thomas initially the two did not have a chance to get to know each other. all not one of we had very strict instructions not to talk to anyone we were only supposed to put on a dress and go hello goodbye yeah i noticed a young man elegant with long hair dressed in a silver suit i looked at him and he looked at me we cannot reach out to one another it was from didn't forbidden can you imagine. what a nightmare that is. they both saw one another as foreigners it was only three years later that they met once again by chance their relationship lasted for two and a half years and then disappeared their call was told that lithuanian nationalists

threatened his life if he continued his relationship with the muscovite she has never seen him again and failed to meet another man she would like to marry and have children with. oh my dear. at the end of the one nine hundred eighty s. the iron curtain collapsed the borders were opened and a wave of imports surged into russia the quality often left much to be desired many black market traders became legitimate businessmen. the soviet system with its limitations and prohibitions became a thing of the past. but

a greater sell said we're going to see those guys they're free to wear what they like in a play with a reform that would have been simply impossible in the one nine hundred fifty six or so i think everybody heard those stories by party members touching the fashion bug and being reprimanded at meetings. after graduating from medical school now examiner's office no longer engaged in illicit trade for six years he worked a regular job but in the early ninety's he had to quit doctors were paid peanuts during those strike up he moved to moscow but never sold jeans again now he sells at senior managers alexander is a professional headhunter now. he works for a company ranked among the top ten companies in executive search management in the world his job consists of finding professionals with salaries starting from fifty thousand dollars. for the black market for preserved

my fashion habits. i still give all the impression of a man who likes to show off for a couple of good to look at my earring for example. trade in the black market to be very relaxed with money it's good for a man but on the other hand far from being the best manager of my own expenses we're probably. now lives on her retirement pension which comes to a little more than four hundred dollars a month she still has never been abroad her pension is just not enough to make such a trip. today is a special occasion for you her friend and favorite designers love his lights if it is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of his artistic career. it happened to so

in that same concert hall in one nine hundred sixty seven and saw her first most of the lithuanian photographer on tonight's. before going on to face the crowd feels just as nervous as her first time on the catwalk but after just a few steps she slipped back into her old style effortlessly. they did not reach the same level of stardom as christian dior or audrey hepburn but back in the one nine hundred sixty s. and. opened up soviet fashion to the west. it was the first to start using russian ethnic designs he made them look modern and trendy together with his model. he was not afraid to oppose the ugliness of the soviet system today it seems that there was a reason why they both were born at a time when the soviet union lacked freedom and beauty.