Devuskha Style

As we've mentioned in previous posts, the Russian word for girl, ma'am, lady or waitress is Devushka. Devushka can also be an adjective used to describe the uniquely Ukrainian, hyper-feminine approach to fashion.

Note how I chose the word "hyper-feminine." I could have just as easily used the word "whorish" but I don't want to ruin my reputation for cultural sensitivity. It is the case that many wardrobe choices made by the average Kyiv twentysomething woman give off visual cues that are inextricably linked with streetwalkers in the west. Find me a westerner who denies thinking "I wonder how much she charges?" when a woman in a short skirt, fishnets and stilettos walks down Kryshatik at noon on Sunday and that guy is probably blind.

I will stick to my original word choice - "hyper-feminine" -- to describe Devushka style. "Ho" is a cultural construct to which I will not subscribe. Women who don't cover their heads in Muslim cultures are often believed to be whores, an assumption I find medieval. Along the same lines, if a Ukrainian woman wears a skirt that reveals her tampon string, it's just as medieval of me to assume she's a hooker. She just likes to show off her body. And, she would probably respond that western women dress like men. It's a draw.

Let's discuss the principles of Devushka style.

• There's no such thing as too tight, too sheer, too low cut or too short.
• Shoe angles should be at least 45 degrees, with heels no greater in circumference than an icepick;
• Accents such as ruffles, flounces, bows, puffy sleeves and lace are highly valued;
• Forget any differentiation between day and evening wear. Sequins, sparklies and rhinestones are just as appropriate standing in line at the aptek as they are at the smokin'-est oligarchical night club.
• Colors and fibers that appear in nature are verboten;
• Foundation garments, if they must be worn, should be viewed as accessories. Thongs, if undergarments must be worn, are meant to be seen;
• Intriguing shirts are those with non-sensical English phrases ("Punk It Up Rock Slacker") or coy witticisms ("Will Fuck for Coke")
• Nipplage is in.

The great thing about Devushka style is that it is appropriate for all ages and body types. Don't worry if your crop top reveals stretch marks from two pregnancies and a caesarian scar. Rolls of hipfat should not stop you from donning jeans with a three inch rise. Even drooping boobs want to be free.  Though, to be clear, there are a large number of Ukrainian women who can pull off low rise jeans and bandaid skirts splendidly.

Camel Toe at No Extra Charge

I've spent a lot of time thinking about why this fashion is so popular in the former Soviet Union, and perfected in Russia and Ukraine, but nowhere else. Is it a reaction to the drab pallette of the Soviet years, especially of their mothers? Most of the women who dress like this were grade schoolers at best when the wall came down, so I don't think that's it. Don't Ukrianian women, especially professionals, see any downsides to being perceived as a sex object first, a competant employee second or third? Uh, no. That's a whole other post. Are they ever going to outgrow it? Polish women dressed Devushka in the early 90's (and all the men wore white socks with their suits) but now most Polish women's style is indistinguishable from that of any other European woman and you never see a white sock. There's no evidence that the appeal of Devushka is waning here, however.

And don't think that foreigners can't fall into the Devushka trap. Spend enough time here, deprived of shopping options, and a top or a jacket in Metrograd (the mother ship for Devushka style, just like Wet Seal, but not as classy) can start to look "not that bad."

Until your friends say at lunch, "Uh, don't you think that cropped, crocheted sweater is a little Devushka?"

Comments

[Fretted bone]

Thank you for this post.
I wonder if, in search of the explanation for Devushka style, it would help to look closer at the situation in Moscow.

Warsaw, Prague or Budapest were all part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the Communist regime lasted shorter there, and they are also geographically more in the West.
So they don’t work as ideal comparative group (change of fashion style in these capitals over the past decade could be either followed or totally ignored by Ukrainian women).

Moscow, on the other hand, could do the trick.
Do the women in Moscow, after 15 years of exposure to Vogue and Cosmo and MTV and Fashion TV and well, any Western brands, still like to sport Devushka fashion? Does anybody reading this blog know?

Fretted bone

[Hans]

Ukrainian and Russian girls do not only dress much better than their average counterparts in Western Europe (especially: Berlin, Amsterdam. London)they also are much more relaxed on sending out sexual signals via their dressing.

In Communist time the so-called "moral" hang often pretty low, not to forget the free love attitudes of the system in the 20s, 30s, in war time etc. Sex was something nobody of the system could forbid (exept worried parents to their teenagers maybe) HIV did not exist then. So sex was just a pleasure and the roles pretty clear.

Probably there can be found a lot of Devushka-style in Italy, Spain, Greece too.

It makes not much sense to me to compare and judge those different cultures and dressing codes as it is less about East or West, but more about accepted role schematas.

[carpetblogger]

Very interesting question there Fretted. In my experience, Moscow is ground zero for Devushka style. It's like it was invented there, and Kyiv is probably light years behind the fashions there.

But let's consider the influence of magazines. I've noticed that Russian Cosmo is much sluttier than its English language cousins. I think the market drives the content in Russian Cosmo and Vogue, rather than the other way around. Slavic women don't want to dress like men, so the relatively tame content of US Vogue or Cosmo or Elle wouldn't fly here.

But really, even US Cosmo and MTV show a lot of Devushka style, only in the west no one over the age of 20 wears them. If you can't dress slutty when you're 20, when can you? But but the time you have a real job, it might be time to strap down those boobies and add a 6 inches to the skirt.

[Anna]

When it comes to Russian women's fashion (only been to Russia, can't comment on the rest of the FSU) I always think their motto is a mistranslation of the Olympis motto: Higher, Shorter, Tighter, (and maybe Lower).
I even tried to blend into St. Petersburg once by wearing 3 inches spike heel boots (bought in the US, so tame by Russian standards) for a day that I ended up walking about 7 km. My feet have never hurt so much in all my life.
Once when I was in Budapest, on the Castle Hill, I could identify the Russian tour group before I heard them. Only Russian women can wear those stillettos on cobblestones and not break their ankles. Most of the Hungarian women I noticed, when wearing heels would have lower and wider heels. This was in 2005.

[carpetblogger]

Anna, if you read russian, www.snow-square.blogspot.com has some links on a footrace in Moscow, open only to those in the "national footwear" -- stilettos.

"This weekend saw a stiletto run, organised by glossy magazine, Glamour, in conjunction with department store GUM, Love Radio and Reso Insurance. The run (in central Moscow's 32 Celsius heat this Saturday) took the form of a 100m sprint, on stiletto heels of 9cm or over, for a first prize of RUB 100,000 (USD 3,725) of GUM vouchers, with other prizes awarded for most stylish runner, best shoes and will to win.

"In case readers missed this weekend's run, two further rounds take place in St Petersburg on 22 July and Novosibirsk on 23 July."

[`]

Glamour Stiletto Run on high Heels. Moscow. Red Square. 08.07.2006

http://my-web-info.com/Beautiful-Girls-from-Glam-Forum/

[Annie D]

My sister just returned from Ukraine. I also watch the Sopranos. So I am quite familiar with the Devushka. While I am intrigued by the women's fashion (which mirrors that of a little suburb called SeaTac), I am more interested in the male fascination with the MESH SHIRTS!!! Is this a true sighting? Or did my little sister drink too much Stoli in the Block?

[Al]

The male mesh sighting mentioned above was sadly no mirage. They are not as prevalent as they were a couple of years back especially in the larger cities but you can still spot them. Sadly, male fashion in Russia is nonexistent (unless you consider mesh shirts fashion). As far as devushka style, I've noticed a strong correlation between how a provincial a town is and the extent of devushka style. For example, Moscow has more girls now that look casual or dress in business style, while the smaller resort towns (full of locals or girls from Ekaterinburg or Chelyabinsk among others) are dressier.

[Mike Martlet]

Your use of the word "West" as in "Kyiv twentysomething woman give off visual cues that are inextricably linked with streetwalkers in the west" is problematic! You mean “America” and specifically the USA not "the West".

You can find young British women dressed this way every night of the week, but particularly Friday and Saturday nights, in most large cities and towns in the UK (particularly Northern ones). Many of my university students (BA Business Studies) dress this way in the evening, though not usually for lectures etc.

As to 45 degree ice pick shoes, my 50 something wife wears 3 or 4 inch stilettos every day for her work as a college lecturer; she has an Master of Science Degree in Information Systems in Management! My boss, the Faculty Dean (PhD, MBA etc..), also wears 3 inch stilettos most days as does the Pro-vice Chancellor of the University. These are successful women and don't need to shed their femininity to get on.

Don't confuse your sometimes rather quaint and outmoded Mid-West USA attitudes (no doubt propagated by your curious anachronistic continued addiction to religion) with those of secular Western European nations.

[Oleg]

Well as i see "Devushka" style anyway better than So Loved by Americans
T-Shirt and Sweatpants with big letters across the ass style, if you can call it a style.
Woman in Europe know how to dress, and be attractive.
I think people here in US should be little be more outgoing and curios about style.

[le poulet noir]

Mike Martlet has missed the point. British women can and do dress like tarts, but their enthusiasm for revealing clothes is both less extreme and less frequent than in Moscow.

One theory I heard from a friend living in Riga, Latvia, is that ex-Soviet bloc women have inherited the fashions that came about after the sexual revolution in the West in the 1960s but not the political awakening that went with it. So in the West women dress how they want as an expression of freedom, which entails a freedom not to be treated as a sex object. In Moscow or Kiev, the right to dress like a tart was not won in a gender battle, but as part of a broader economic one.

[Mr. European Vanity]

My, my, aren't the Euro-whiners here a touchy bunch.

Upset that the article left out how masculine your women look, too? High heels may be feminine, but no amount of altitude will make your gargoyles look hot.

This is gonna hurt, but here goes: The average, healthy, sane male would NEVER go to Europe to find a woman. Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe--yes. But never the spoilt, abrasive, ghastly beasts of your side of the continent.

Soon, though, the hijab will improve their appearance.

[Sweden-sucks]

..where men are men and women are women. I live in the country where everything is made equal (Sweden), in a disgusting way. And so the women here are wondering why they are met like a beerbuddy: they look like and they are like. Maybe I should move to Ukraina.

[Skafandr]

Right. Now just try to compare American and Ukrainian fashion. Most women try to wear the last examples of the contemporary European designers. Sometimes this may look stupid for representative of the Jeans, T-Shirt, and Big Truck with a Big Trunk nation. But for me staying in US and observing American girls in absolutely unfemale clothes was neither funny. Ukrainian girls mostly have beautiful bodies and have less to hide unlike most of American girls who usually wear baggy style clothes that will never show them from the pretty side. Highly developed feminism led your country to the edge. Unisex clothes are never more fashionable or good-looking than things designed for girls. Also you'd better divide Kyiv fashion and village fashion of girls coming to our town on tour or just for few days they do often look stupid, I agree.

Here you can see some examples of how do kyivites look like:
http://www.fak.org.ua/
, this will probably cure some misunderstandings. It is always pleasant to know when people from other nations understand and make their suggestions referring to something more sophisticated than just a first impression.

[fromnice]

i went to ukraine, in kiev at summer 2005. i felt impressive about girls look. the sluttiest one can imagine... i saw something...i tought about a pornstar contest ? that was exiting of a technical school. that go up to platform, stiletto heeled shoes. i saw more and more during my journey. i even saw girls tanning naked around a small pond surrounded by 15 store towers...surrealistic. but i'll just describe the most impressive : buying some foods in a small supermarket, i crossed a mother, young son and 12, perhaps 13 yo daughter. very nice blond haired girl with still a really baby face. i got surprised seeing this girl wearing crop t-shirt, tight, no more than 15 inch long mini skirt and most of all 4 inch stiletto heels sandals. not so common for a girl that age, even in kiev. the best (?)is to come : 2 days later, coming back from downtown kiev at 10 PM i advise walking down to us a young woman and 2 teeny girls. i hardly recognized in the girls the one from the supermarket, this time not only wearing the same high heeled sandals, but a denim micro skirt that time some 10 inch long -i saw after crossing that it left exposed the lower curves of her cheeks- and a midlong sleeves, jogging style tight sweater that ended just under the chest. furthermore, she was heavily maked up and was smoking a cigarette ! i won't forget that for a while, among lots of arousing girls. what made me raher surprised is that boys always didn't care about such provocative looking girls.

[cvitnu]

re:"Don't Ukrianian women, especially professionals, ee any downsides to being perceived as a sex object first, a competant employee second or third?"

Jesus, this phrase is a typical template that is to be put in an average head of an average fat MTV kentucky girl, so that she doenst feel uncomfortable eating another 3000 calolries per 3 hours while there are lot of pretty, successfull and intelligent women in the Europe, who dont afraid of still being the woman and can successfully combine sexy look with intellect.
there is even no need to read further.

[tania Morgan]

Hi,
Saw this comment by chance and was in shok.
It seemed for me ( do not take me wrong ) as it was written by complete looser who in normal life even would be affraid to talk to pretty girl but using power of internet to slug everybody.
To be honest I have been out yesterday in Nottingham. few days ago in London, Amsterdam.
I wish I took camera with me to make pictures of local beauty queens .
They imiges are complete disaster.
Ukrainian the fatest pregnant women will look better than half of them!!!
To be honest I would like to bet auther of this article for 1000£ that if I take pictures and will compare them with provided by him - he will look like complete full sluging ukrainian love to beautiful body and summer clothers.

[SMART ASSES!!!]

What the heck??? Honestly why you got to be so freaking racist??? do you have nothing better to talk about??? Look at what is going on in america and let me tell you that its not sooooo much better! In ukraine there are plenty of women who dress very fashionable, and many business looking kind of women!!! Whos fault is it that you had nothing better on your hands than to take pics of such women, anyone can go to some place and find slutty looking women and making horrible generalizations!!! How much better is hollywood????

[Nikitka]

I am ukrainian. I bad speek english.

So. It is real problem of Ukraine. Girls are going crazy in aspiration for men. They have incorrectly opinion, that men want a nude wooman. Logic is simple - I show my leg, he marry me. It is stupidous competition in topless.

Every day in fixed-run taxi it repeats. Is she fat, thin, she doesn't care.
In future, I think, they would dress nothing to increase attention. Tendency.

But. Not everybody go crazy. I don't want whorish девушку.

P.S. Девушкин стиль - not exact words. It is hyper-feminine style.

Девушка - old word, that contain decency, restraint...

[Elena]

My my my! So much steam over the Ukrainian devoushki fashion style! I want to point something important out. In the West, most relationships are based on superficial sex and so women dress according to their desires. ie: I want to make money for sex, I dress like what my culture perceives as a prostitute. Or, I want to be considered a stay at home mom who has already landed a husband, I put on the sweats and baggy t-shirts.

Before you start debating on devoushki dress style, you need to understand what devoushkism actually is. It is not a ploy or plan to mate or make money through sex. It is a style that a woman can really express who she is from the inside out not from the outside in like Western women.

There are as many devoushka fashion styles as there are devoushki. Please don't lump trashy devoushki in with the REAL ones!

[SIster Des]

Sorry, greece and italy has high fashion style/ casual style, no women that can be mistaken for slutty circus clowns. Moscow was amusing, Petrograd was worse.

[Boxy]

Rocco, that link was an interesting read but the guy comes off as a complete and total tool. Why must expats be so uncoth and hypercritial about everything (US, FSU, girls fashion). From the US to the FSU to Turkey - where is his next stop, outer Mongolia? He likes to collect carpets, small dogs and comments on Ukrainian girls fashion like an amped up drag queen - he mentioned he has a wife who doesn't live with him, that is such a surprise - shouldn't he be in Thailand? :)

[Crouchy]

Wow!

I am amazed at the criticism of the Devushki style. Women here dress as women.

They all have fantastic bodies and obviously love to show it off. In Ukraine we have saying, the average Ukrainian women is stunning. I work with girls that are more beautiful than most models but they are accountants or lawyers

Also as men here are used to it, they would be more suprised if a woman would dress in the boring conservative style you see in the West.

To foreigners it many appear strange but to Ukrainians it isn't. I remember being in London with my wife, whom dress conservatively for a Ukrainian women, ie skirts to the knees and proper blouses, and all she could say was how boring women dressed in London.

But then again you can also go out in London, especially on a Saturday night, and see the same sort of style, minus the 6 inch stilettos of course as only Russian and Ukrainian women can handle them (even seen them walking down an ice covered street in the middle of winter without falling over).

The difference is the the Ukrainian women look better for it as they just have better bodies. They really do take pride in their bodies, my wife got upset with herself that she got uo to 61kg(134 pounds) over the winter, she is 177cm (5.8ft) tall. This puts her still at the low end of normal in BMI.

[beautiful ukrianian]

Maybe I should start a forum "a woman - no- style" and enclose the pictures of some overweight American women with no style whatsoever? :) Maybe a person writing this nasty story that is just not real at all ]is one of them?

This says it all

http://bsornot.whipnet.net/images/Gallery/images/europe.vs.america.jpg

Got a point? :)

[Erica]

Interesting article....gross imagery about the stretch marks