The Colors and Styles of Russia

When I adopted my daughter from Russia, two trips were required…six days each and one week apart.  While I was preparing for my first trip, I was a little stumped on how to pack.  My adoption agency provided me with the essentials I would need to take, like money, gifts, and supplies for the orphanage, but I still had to figure out how to pack most efficiently and with the least amount of luggage.

It was summer time in Russia so the clothes I would need to pack would be significantly less than had it been winter.  My adoption agency did give me some guidelines on what to wear during my visit.  Besides packing minimally, they suggested wearing neutral and dark colors, because the Russians tended to wear drab colors and if I wore bright, vibrant colors, I would stand out in the crowds.  Apparently, they didn’t want me to be an American beacon in Red Square.

So, I did as they suggested and packed jeans and shirts, in black, grey, and olive green.  The brightest color I packed was white.  My mother traveled with me, and after 14+ hours in transit to Moscow, we were pretty wiped out as we stood in line to clear customs.  But, we weren’t so tired that we didn’t notice what the women of Russia were wearing.

The first glimmer that our agency may have been wrong about the Russians and what they wore was when we stood in line to clear customs.  A young customs agent walked across the room wearing the highest heels and shortest skirt I have ever seen on a woman.  She was wearing the customs uniform, but she must have had some alterations done on the skirt to make it that short.  Surely that wasn’t the standard length for a uniform.

After stumbling out of the airport and heading to our hotel, Mom and I continued to see women on the streets of Moscow in very high heels, short skirts, and bright, colorful dresses.  Where was the drab and dull fashion we were lead to believe we would see?  Even when we were in Kursk at the orphanage, we continued to see short skirts, heels, and bright makeup on every woman we saw.  To this day, I can still remember seeing a woman walking in Kursk, with a field of cows behind her on the way to the bus stop, wearing the brightest, hot pink dress I have ever seen.  It was beautiful and as I looked down at my own pair of jeans and shirt, I felt dowdy and dull.

So much for drab, dull Soviet Russians…but then, maybe they did dress this way before the fall of the Iron Curtain.  All I can say now is post-Soviet Russia is colorful, bright, and wearing the latest fashions from Paris and New York.  So if you are packing to visit Russia soon, you might leave out the olive drab, and throw a little color into your suitcase.  You will feel better about yourself.

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