Episode 2 — Fifties Fashion, GDR Style: Part I

Hello and thank you so much for tuning into this week’s episode which you can also find here

As promised, you can find my bibliographic references and images to accompany this week’s episode below.

I’ve received a lot of great feedback — one which recommended adding German — English terminology mentioned so I’ve added that below as well.

The 1955 Contest in the Culture of Dress, held in Berlin, Die Bekleidung, East Berlin (1956, no. 2) Source: Fashion East, Bartlett.

Aleksander Srnec, graphic designs for Svjet, Zagreb, February 1954 Source: Fashion East, Bartlett.

Bormann Magdeburg, dress design, Sibylle East Berlin (1956, no. 2) Source: Fashion East, Bartlett.

Terms/Translations & Show Notes

Deutsche Demokratische Republic (DDR)/ GDR German Democratic Republic (GDR)

Dederon: East German rebranding of Perlon also known as Nylon

Sozialistiche Einheits Partei/Socialist Unity Party: East German communist party

Instituet fuer Bekleidung Kultur/ Institute for the Culture of Dress (IBK) founded 1952: responsible for everything from design to mass production of clothing and fashion accessories. The IBK was renamed the Deutsches Modeinstitut/German Fashion Institute in 1957

Berlin Fashion Center/Modezentrum Berlin founded 1953:campaign to restore Berlin (East) as the dynamic fashion center it once was before World War II. This was to develop from Hausvogteiplatz to Spittelmarkt into a thriving Konfektionsviertel/ready-to-wear district-quarter.

Key Figures

Heinz Bormann — known as the Magdeburg-based “rote Dior/red Dior”

Eli Schmidt — having had experience working in Berlin’s fashion industry in 1920s and being a loyal party member with positions like heading partaking in the executive board of the Democratic Woman’s League of (East) German/Demokratsicher Fraunbund Deutschlands (DFD), Schmidt was appointed head of State Commission for Trade and Supply. After the June 1953 uprising, she was dissmissed and appointed director of the IBK. In 1955 she asked the Ministry of Light to create a new fashion magazine, Sibylle. Sibylle which published its first issue in August of 1956.

East German Periodicals

Die Bekleidung [Clothing], bimonthly fashion magazine

Berliner Zeitung [Berlin newspaper], daily, 1950s

Frau von heute [Woman of Today], 1940s–1950s

Neues Deutschland [New Germany], daily, 1950s–1960s

Sibylle [fashion monthly], 1956–1989

Episode 2 References

Bartlett, Djurdja. Fashion East: The Spectre That Haunted Socialism. (Cambridge, The MIT Press, 2010)

Lin, Summer “Charting Christian Dior’s Most Iconic Looks Throughout the Years”. January 21, 2018 https://www.crfashionbook.com/fashion/g15391269/christian-dior-most-iconic-looks/

Scheffler, Ute. Chic im Osten: Mode in der DDR (Leipzig: BuchVerlag fuer die Frau GMBH, 2010)

Stitziel, Judd. Fashioning Socialism: Clothing, Politics and Consumer Culture in East Germany. (New York: Berg Publishers, 2005)

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone and if you’re looking for a good weekend read, feel free to check out Got a Haute Minute? Where I’ll be reviewing Fashion East: The Spectre That Haunted Socialism by Djurdja Bartlett, here.