Before the revolution, when there was huge class diversity in Russia, men’s appearance varied enormously. Peasants, merchants, nobles, soldiers — here's how they all looked in the last years of the Russian Empire:
Portrait of an elderly man in a white hat, Nizhny Novgorod, 1900s
I. Ivanov/МАММ/МDF/russiainphoto.ruPortrait of four men from Saratov Province, 1900s
Unknown author/МАММ/МDF/russiainphoto.ruNon-commissioned officer of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment A.N. Sinyavin
Photo from the archive of Igor Cheradionov/russiainphoto.ruNizhny Novgorod merchant Sergeev, 1900s
Maxim Dmitriev/Audiovisual documentation archive of Nizhny Novgorod RegionPeasant from Chernigov Province (now Ukraine), 1900s
Kunstkamera/russiainphoto.ruGrand Duke Konstantin Romanov, 1903
St Petersburg State Museum of Theater and Musical Art/russiainphoto.ruWith the coming of Soviet power, nobles were stripped of their titles and fortunes. Then came the devastating Civil War and the Red Terror, followed by the short-lived New Economic Policy and relative freedom. During this time, there were lots of military men everywhere (in tunics without shoulder straps, since titles had been scrapped), as well as fancily dressed creatives.
Kuban Cossacks, 1927
Unknown author/МАММ/МDF/russiainphoto.ruLeading Silver Age poet Alexander Blok
Moisey Nappelbaum/МАММ/МDF/russiainphoto.ruRed commander Ivan Kashirin (left) and Komsomol member Alexei Pavlov, 1920s
State Historical Museum of the Southern Urals/russiainphoto.ruFilm director and maker of Battleship Potemkin Sergei Eisenstein, 1920s
Andre Kertes/Russian State Archive of Literature and Art/russiainphoto.ruPortrait of a fisherman, 1925
Mikhail Smodor/Kostromskaya Starina/russiainphoto.ruDriver at the Leningrad Fire Department
Unknown author/МАММ/МDF/russiainphoto.ruWhen Stalin came to power, collectivization and industrialization quickly gathered momentum, as did the Gulag camp system, one of the most tragic episodes in Soviet history. Photographers were sent to large Soviet construction sites to chronicle the “idyllic” lives of workers and collective farmers.
Iconic Soviet photographer Alexander Rodchenko at the White Sea Canal construction site, 1933
Anatoly Skurikhin/МАММ/МDF/russiainphoto.ruDonbass miner, 1934
Evgeny Khaldey/МАММ/МDF/russiainphoto.ruTest pilot Vladimir Kokkinaki before his next flight, 1930s
Ivan Shagin/МАММ/МDF/russiainphoto.ruPoet David Samoilov added the epithet rokovyie (“fatal”) to the word sorokoviye (“forties”), since in Russian they differ by just one syllable. It was a time of war, ongoing purges, hunger, evacuations, and inhuman living conditions. As for menswear, it consisted of military uniforms, greatcoats, and quilted jackets.
Radio operators in World War II, 1943
Arkady Shaikhet/МАММ/МDF/russiainphoto.ruPeasant Daniil Zernov with fellow villagers during WWII, 1943
Arkady Shaikhet/МАММ/МDF/russiainphoto.ruSubmarine commander and Hero of the Soviet Union Valentin Starikov in the conning tower, 1942
Evgeny Khaldey/МАММ/МDF/russiainphoto.ruMilitiaman in Crimea, 1940s
Evgeny Khaldey/МАММ/МDF/russiainphoto.ruComposer Dmitry Shostakovich, 1940s
Boris Fabisovich/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruIn the post-war 1950s, life slowly returned to normal; military overcoats were replaced by austere suits. Men returned to civilian professions, including farming the land and exploring far-flung corners of the Soviet Union.
Men, 1950s
Archive of Alina Bashmakova/russiainphoto.ruMetalworker at the Economizer plant and Stalin Prize winner Ivan Kartashev, 1953
Semyon Fridlyand/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruYoung construction worker at the Volga-Don Canal, 1953
Alexey Gostev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruComposer Nikolay Ozerov at the wheel of a Pobeda car, 1950s
Sergey Vasin/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruAll-Union motorcycling competition, 1951
Valentin Khukhlaev/Archive of Valentin Khukhlaev/russiainphoto.ruThe 1960s are invariably associated with the “Khrushchev thaw” after the harsh Stalinist regime: students, samizdat (self-publication of banned literature), smiles, and renewed construction of apartment blocks.
Moscow University students play the game “Guess who?”, 1960s
Vsevolod Tarasevich/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruBy the campfire on a hike, 1960s
Vsevolod Tarasevich/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruTwo students recite poetry, 1960s
Vsevolod Tarasevich/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruCult 1960s poet Evgeny Yevtushenko
Oleg Mertsedin/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruYouth, 1960s
Archive of Olga Shitova-Belova/russiainphoto.ruThe 1970s saw the arrival of trendy fops, bell-bottomed trousers, outlandish hairstyles, as well as cult Soviet films.
Komsomol members, 1976
Photo from the archive of Maria Deryabina/russiainphoto.ruCult Soviet actor and sex symbol Andrei Mironov, 1976
TASSPortrait of a man, 1970s
Kaskad Media Holding/russiainphoto.ruBy the sea, 1979
Mikhail Dashevsky/russiainphoto.ruToday’s 40+ generation is nostalgic about the 1980s, because it was their time! The Moscow Olympics, the first taste of freedom, hippies, oversized glasses, rock, and Freddie Mercury mustaches!
“Ejected in the last minute. Handball”, 1980
Vladimir Vyatkin/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruArtist Guram Abramishvili, 1987
Sergey Rumyantsev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruMoscow, 1987
Igor Mukhin/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruCult rock musician Viktor Tsoi, 1986
Sergey Borisov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruRockers, 1985
Sergey Borisov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruThe 1990s saw perhaps the most radical changes of all: the collapse of the Soviet Union, the birth of a new country, and the opening up to the West. It was a time of snow-washed jeans and bold experiments, including fashion-wise.
First President of Russia Boris Yeltsin on the court, 1992
Dmitry Donskoy/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ruPop singer Valery Leontiev, 1992
Yuri Abramochkin/Archive of Yuri AbramochkinMen at a Moscow swimming pool, 1990s
Getty ImagesFirst Western stereo system, Moscow, 1990s
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