vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #574 / Arts and Ideas / Reading article...

Women serving their prison terms in a female penal colony near the village of Gornoye, Nadezhdinsky County in southern Primorye, have recently staged a fashion show as part of celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of the colony’s founding. Of the two collections shown, one was entirely made of simple fabric used for making men’s boxers.

The collection, named ‘Summer 2007,’ featured skirts, shorts, sun-dresses and tops sewn by convicted women whose daily dress is a prison uniform.

“I took the idea from Burda fashion magazine. I wanted to make something unusual,” says Anna Kamyanskaya, who serves imprisonment for murder. According to her, it took her two days to sew her costume.

The second collection was called ‘Carnival,’ and women were allowed to use silk, foil and satin which they received from their relatives.

The prison models made dresses of an empress, mermaids and space rangers. One woman turned herself into a Japanese lady wearing a self-made kimono.

The female colony currently has 1,115 prisoners, 480 of them being involved in sewing more than 1,200 various clothing items ranging from handkerchiefs to military uniforms for special forces. Other women work as welders, technicians and carpenters receiving an average month salary of 1,110 rubles ($42).

“Currently, our women are sewing 3,000 jackets for the Pacific Fleet officers,” director of the colony’s adaptation center Alexander Sedov said. According to him, in 2007, the colony plans to manufacture goods worth over 21 million rubles ($807,700). Last year, a total of 2.3 million rubles were allocated from the federal budget to buy new sewing equipment.

According to the prisoners, they are allowed to look feminine in the colony – every day after breakfast they have 30 minutes to put on daily makeup. A hair-do at a local hairdresser’s may cost 50 rubles ($2). However, cosmetics containing alcoholic ingredients and footwear having high heels are not on the allowed items list.