Fashion – Washington, D.C.

It’s circa early 1970’s in the Soviet Union and a young Tatiana Kolina aka “Tati” is introduced not only to fashion, but also to the joy of standing out with individual self expression. Life behind “The Red Curtain” was more cookie cutter and each person lived virtually the same life as everybody else. Not only was personal fashion and style uncommon, it was shunned by those in Soviet society that saw individual expression as grim reminders of the dubious capitalism of the west. One day, Tati was out running errands with her mom. Her mom was wearing a paper jacket, a present from a friend who traveled abroad. Tati was so proud of her mom wearing the jacket because it was something different from the drab clothing options of the time period but she had no idea how much attention it would draw. While moving about through the streets of Saint Petersburg the paper jacket drew all kinds of attention. Most liked the creativity of the jacket while others frowned on the rebellious break from the social norm. For Tati, this was her first introduction to the joyous feeling of standing out and drawing attention because of her creative expression. It was all because the social rebelliousness of that paper jacket.