In great shape: 7 designers and artists who worked on military uniforms
The controversy surrounding the Russian army uniform, designed by the fashion house of Valentin Yudashkin, has not stopped since its appearance, and Sergei Shoigu, having become Minister of Defense, only intensified the criticism. In this article, FURFUR looks back at seven designers and artists who developed military uniforms and talks about what they came up with.
Yudashkin for the Russian army
The uniform, approved by President Medvedev in 2010, is in the popular mind associated with the name of the fashion house of Valentin Yudashkin, but he himself has only an indirect connection to it: the samples created there (according to both sides, absolutely free of charge) were greatly changed by officials of the Ministry of Defense. It was at the finalization stage that the uniform was simplified, shoulder straps were moved from the shoulders to the chest (an innovation especially hated by officers) and it was decided to use cheap Chinese fabrics for its production, which caused an increase in illnesses due to hypothermia among conscripts.
This fact was not advertised until they tried to pin the blame for all the shortcomings on Yudashkin (Zhirinovsky even accused him of not serving in the army - in fact, of course, he did). But according to the results of the investigation of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, all responsibility for them lies with the Department of Resource Support of the Ministry of Defense. And the designer even published photographs of the model in the original form on his Twitter. Judging by them, the only significant similarity between his sketches and the result is the pixel camouflage that replaced the traditional “Flora”.
Hugo Boss for SS
The Wehrmacht uniform, contrary to popular myth, was not created by Hugo Ferdinand Boss. However, the founder of the fashion house is still related to the uniform of the Third Reich. At that time, he was the owner of a clothing factory, which went uphill thanks to a government order to sew uniforms for stormtroopers, the SS, the Hitler Youth and other paramilitary forces of the Nazi Party.
Having earned trust in the pre-war years, in the early 1940s the Bossa factory, already in the status of an important military enterprise, received a large government order for the production of uniforms. When there was a shortage of workers, vacant jobs were given to residents of Eastern Europe and French prisoners of war who were taken to the Reich for forced labor. And yet it is difficult to make an evil Nazi out of Boss - documents have survived that testify to his attempts to improve working conditions and better accommodate forced laborers. Nevertheless, in 1946 he was recognized as an active collaborator of the Nazis, deprived of voting rights and the right to conduct business, and also paid a huge fine for those times of 80 thousand marks.
Vasnetsov for the Red Army
One of the first experiments in attracting artists and fashion designers to the development of military uniforms dates back to 1918, when by order of the People's Commissar for Military Affairs Trotsky, a temporary commission was created to create a new uniform for the Red Army (Workers' and Peasants' Red Army), whose fighters had previously worn the imperial uniform army.
The commission announced a competition to develop a new form, in which Vasnetsov, Kustodiev, Ezuchevsky, Arkadyevsky and other artists participated. Most of them already had experience creating costumes from working in the theater. The competition did not have one winner - the commission developed a new form based on several proposed works. Those uniforms are remembered mainly for their lack of shoulder straps - a visual expression of the abolition of military ranks and officers. The same form also included the budenovka - a new helmet reminiscent of the uniform of an ancient Russian warrior. True, it was still manufactured for the army of the Russian Empire, but it never had time to enter service before the revolution.
Michelangelo for the Swiss Guard
One of the most common myths in the field of uniform design is associated with the Vatican Swiss Guard (full name - Infantry Cohort of the Swiss Sacred Guard of the Pope). Wikipedia, tour guides and even some art historians persistently attribute the sketches of this form to the brush of Michelangelo. There are indirect reasons for this, because the Swiss Guard was founded in 1506, during the highest rise of Renaissance culture, and its red, blue and yellow camisoles have a typically Renaissance style.
But there is no evidence of Michelangelo's authorship. It is interesting that the official Vatican website, while refuting the version of Michelangelo, nevertheless notes that another titan of the Renaissance, Raphael, influenced the form of the Swiss, as well as the fashion of that era in general.
Armani and Valentino for the Italian police
A very similar story connects two great masters of the 20th century. The fact is that there is a very popular belief on the Internet that the modern uniform of the Italian police was developed either by the house of Armani or Valentino. Like any other, this legend has several editions and versions - for example, that both fashion houses sewed for the police, but for its different units (the uniforms of Italian law enforcement officers differ significantly).
Authentic Apparel x US Army
In November 2013, it became known that Authentic Apparel Group was releasing a men's clothing collection inspired by military uniforms and officially licensed by the US Department of Defense. For the first time in its history, the Pentagon gives permission to use the US Army branding and name.
This is not a franchise, but a real collaboration: representatives of the ministry checked each element of the collection for compliance with army standards. And part of the amount raised from sales of the first collection will be donated to a program to help military personnel, veterans and their families.
Text: Grigor Atanesyan
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What is the SS form?
History of the SS
(Schutz Staffeln - security detachments) begins in the early 1920s, when a group of bodyguards for Adolf Hitler was formed within the SA (Sturmabteilungen - assault battalions).
By 1929 the SS
numbered less than 300 men, but by 1933 it had grown to 30,000 men.
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V. Yudashkin: I didn’t receive a penny for the development of military uniforms
V. Yudashkin said that he spent a lot of time and effort working on the military uniform, but the defense department decided to redo everything in its own way. “We have letters in which the Ministry of Defense states that it independently modified the winter and summer uniforms according to its own codes. We cannot be responsible for the quality of clothes that we don’t even know who made them,” the designer emphasized.
The Russian couturier was horrified when he learned about the new uniform from the Dolci and Gabana military. “What I heard is that in one set the trousers are one color, the jacket is another, the fabric is different. This is unacceptable,” said V. Yudashkin.
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“I turned on the TV one day and saw on the news a soldier with an epaulette on his chest. I thought: what kind of nightmare? Removing the shoulder straps from your shoulders and hanging them practically on your stomach - where is the logic? People are proud of their rank, shoulder straps, they get them so hard, but they hid them somewhere, and it’s unclear why. I have never seen shoulder straps on the chest in any army in the world. In our samples, the shoulder straps are where they are needed—on the shoulders,” the fashion designer noted.
“Then, all the unique accessories that we so carefully arranged - special buttons, special things that do not melt, various convenient little things - all this was removed and replaced with some other things,” complained V. Yudashkin.
According to the couturier, he tried to discuss problems related to the new uniform with the Ministry of Defense, but representatives of the department did not want to make contact with him. At the same time, V. Yudashkin does not want to sue the War Ministry, since he considers this an ugly and wrong act.
He has no complaints against ex-Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov; V. Yudashkin simply wants to restore the good name of his fashion house. In addition, if the new head of the Ministry of Defense Sergei Shoigu invites him to work again on the military uniform in its original version, the fashion designer will most likely agree.
“This is my country, I spent years of my life developing the uniform. Therefore, we, of course, are ready to help understand the intricacies of creating a military uniform, because research has already been carried out, there is developments on this topic, prototypes are in warehouses. This is a work process that has been launched and which can be used for the benefit of the army,” noted V. Yudashkin.
Let us recall that the day before, on November 20, it became known that Sergei Shoigu ordered the abandonment of the uniform made for military personnel according to V. Yudashkin’s sketches. The new uniform of Russian military personnel will contain a number of elements characteristic of the equipment of EMERCOM employees.
