There is an opinion, according to which all immoral and base things have
been imported into our country from the decadent, materialistic West. This
opinion, whose roots date back to nineteenth century Slavophilism, was
painstakingly promoted during the Soviet era, while nowadays it is maintained
by the Left-wing media and some religious activists. The issue has always
enjoyed much attention and popularity since many of us, while ignoring
the facts, like to think of ourselves as a model of spirituality and morals.
One of the most frequently cited examples of negative western influence
is modern young people's fashion. This fall I had a chance to visit some
of the countries, whence this corrupting wind blows at us. I must admit
I was in for quite a few surprises there.
To begin with, you will easily recognize your fellow countrywomen in
any cosmopolitan crowd of tourists and locals. You ask why they stand out
- is it the modest or poor clothing they wear? No, on the contrary, compared
to Ukrainian women, foreign ladies, especially young ones, dress rather
simply, I would say even ordinarily. During the day, you will hardly see
a woman (except, of course, for our compatriots) on the street dressed
up for a ball or a restaurant. There, you are also not likely to run into
a young woman wearing a decollete all the way down to her waist, a mini-skirt,
or something that simply exposes her abdomen. (Incidentally, I would like
to note that I have no objection to any exotic outfits - they are merely
a matter of personal style, which does not hurt anyone).
I was also surprised by women's swimwear on resort beaches - it is very
traditional compared to those pathetic pieces of fabric (much smaller than
fig leaves) that Ukrainian beach Venuses sport. If we add to all this the
fact that in some countries it is simply unethical to wear leather and
fur products (according to the Greens' slogan, "Only animals have the right
to wear fur!"), we get a full picture of our "proletarian modesty." I will
cite another observation, which is not at all new: some of those outfits
that our young women so naively fall for are treated in the West as some
sort of uniform indicating a representative of the oldest profession.
So what do western women wear? Nowadays, they have one general guiding
principle: maximum comfort of an outfit and its appropriateness for the
given setting. Most, regardless of age, prefer clothes that do not require
special care, for example, ironing. I got the impression that women there
do not view clothes as an integral part of their personalities. They are
confident that a woman can be shapely, stately, and attractive irrespective
of the clothes she wears. "These rags I am wearing are not really me,"
a student from Vienna once told me. For this reason, you will rarely see
a woman or a girl fixing, tucking, or tightening something on herself in
public. Instead, what is much more important is a smile, natural manners,
and a light, relaxed walk. As far as footwear, the comfort criterion is
even more enforced - everyone wants to feel both shod and barefoot at the
same time. And if somewhere in the crowd at a train station or an airport
you happen to see a luxuriously dressed lady limping on high heels and
dragging along an enormous suitcase, you can be dead sure it is a Ukrainian
woman.
I do not want the readers to get the impression that I am trying to
idealize the West, which, just like we do, mixes both the modest and the
shameless, high-style and cheapness. And not only in fashion. For example,
along with pop music, there are a great number of opera houses and symphony
orchestras that are totally inaccessible to us. Or, say, books. Never before
had I seen such exquisite bookstores as in Germany, offering such an unlimited
choice of books. They are not stores but rather large academic libraries,
where you can sit in a comfortable armchair and read a non-purchased book
all day long. We, however, sometimes notice and borrow other things, for
which we later blame our western neighbors.






