Back in the USSR, there was always a shortage of everything. Finding clothes to wear, just any clothes, was always an adventure. The city of Donetsk where my aunts used to live once somehow got a batch of imported lingerie. The concept of lingerie was, of course, not familiar to Soviet people. Beautiful red, pink, and white lacy babydolls and matching chemises were something that poor Soviet women from the mining region had never seen. It could not have possibly occurred to them that such stunning, sexy pieces of clothing were to be worn inside. As a result, they decided these were regular outfits.
It became the height of fashion in Donetsk to don your babydoll and your chemise, get into stiletto heels, do your makeup and hair, and go downtown to parade your new outfit where everybody could see you.
My aunt decided to share the joy with her sister and got her a coveted babydoll.
“I’m sending you this beautiful imported gown,” she told my mother over the phone. “They are almost impossible to get because everybody wants one but I got one just for you.”
When the package arrived, my mother was perplexed.
“I thought your aunt was sending me a gown,” she said. “But this is sleepwear. The gown must have been stolen by the postal workers.” (Soviet postal workers always went through packages and took whatever they fancied.)
A similar thing happened with Soviet women and imported bathrobes. Poor women couldn’t conceive of such wonderful, beautiful things being worn inside. So they wore the bathrobes as coats. Imagine crowds of women prancing around in babydolls and bathrobes, convinced these are regular outside clothes.
Clarissa's Blog 
That is definitely very funny!
So since I know no one in russia, is it similar today in terms of lacking these goods or would the majority of people now have pretty regular access to these middle class but certainly not wealthy goods? Just trying to get a level set! thanks
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Today, in the post-Soviet space it’s just like everywhere. You can buy anything you want. And people love going to IKEA or a hypermarket or a mall on weekends, as an outing.
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Yeah, you see that here the other way around, European jams, crackers, tea, etc., that were only available from certain chains or specialty stores in big cities when I was a child are now available in my home town, The Gateway to the Gateway to the Sierras, from discount chain stores and the like.
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I love it when you tell stories from the Soviet past. I find them so interesting and eye opening!
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“Finding clothes to wear, just any clothes, was always an adventure.”
It wasn’t that bad in Poland since some private businesses were able to operate. But still, clothes were expensvie and it was hard to find nice things that fit (there was also an extensive network of barter). The expensive part continued well past the end of communism.
For women this mostly meant giving up on any idea of coordinating or matching different parts of clothes and so they took an atomized approach – find nice shoes, find a nice skirt, find a nice blouse and don’t worry about how they look together. The results could be on the strange side.
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