vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #594 / Opinion / Reading article...

The traveler’s eye arrives in Vladivostok, Russia unprepared for the clothing it will find. It has been perhaps to such fashionably banal locales as Dublin, Ireland or Dublin, Ohio, and Meccas such as Paris and Milan; the unique countrysides of Austria and South Korea, and business and political capitals such as Manhattan and Beijing. But the Russian Far East’s largest port city, and therefore the nation’s Pacific trade center, can daily baffle and stun even a person with such eyes who months ago took up residence in the downtown area.

I am no reader of Cosmo and rarely have been known to leaf through the latest GQ (even out of the torturous boredom of a foreign-airport layover, where only magazines with pictures can help a person ride out the language barrier) – but on reaching the city limits everything I thought I understood about fashion is turned on its head, or wound back in time, or some strange combination of the two.

Modern Russian attire seems to bring together contemporary MTV and 1980s American fashion with styles of mysterious origins. Paris Hilton look-alikes stand side by side with dyed big hair and – on both men and women – an inordinate affection for bangs.

Now of course it would be foolish to deny the appeal of the highly fashionable, very attractive attire of so many of the ladies of Vladivostok, but that does not make it any less curious. The plunging necklines, low waists and high hems and heels certainly add to the appeal in their own way, and in fact the uncanny number of bold red shoes (especially boots) quickly draws this observer’s notice (while calling to mind an Oz-like cry to “get me out of this place!”). But the fishnet stockings worn by schoolgirls and teachers alike have rather an adverse effect reminiscent of a red light district.

The t-shirt and blue-jeans combo so often seen in the US is virtually non-existent among Vladivostok’s fairer sex. It is quite obvious that the city’s women indeed care about their appearance, and meticulous care is taken to ensure that everything is and remains perfectly placed (often by utilizing any reflective surface passed throughout the day).

The men are a different breed of fashion altogether. Businessmen essentially dress as they do anywhere else in the world – in suits and ties – and the Russian Navy’s winter attire has a commanding presence and a serene classiness (though the fact that 16 years after the Soviet Union’s collapse their belt buckles still sport the sickle and hammer on a red-star backdrop smacks of insincerity). But when it comes to differences with America in average daily dress, the perplexities are not balanced by a striking fashion sense.

The American reader will know the term mullet well, the hairstyle characterized by hair short everywhere except in the back, and will immediately think of a low level of civility. After all, it is most common in the United States among uneducated working-class men, especially those who do not actually work. The distinction is immediately noticeable in Vladivostok, where it is one of the more stylish cuts, even sported by one of Russia’s most popular pop-stars.

The mullet is of course one of the more jarring fashion differences, but by no means the only one. Hair is sometimes worn very short everywhere except in the very front, and tight jeans (a la the BeeGees) and long, pointed [elf] shoes are more popular than buttoned-up shirts (as opposed to open).

Vladivostok fashion also has its own variations on various American subcultures – goth, hip-hop and emo, among others, can be distinguished, but with a Russian twist. Knee-high boots (especially red) and stockings are very popular winter attire for the city’s ladies – since the skirts don’t get any longer, something is needed to retain a little body heat.

It seems strange when you get here, and that oddness lingers even over the course of six months residence, but after leaving Vladivostok to return to that familiar American fashion, somehow it stays a part of you – mullets and all.