Stilyagi

Common card · No. 496845

Stilyagi (стиляги, Russian pronunciation: [sʲtʲɪˈlʲæɡʲɪ], lit. "stylish, style hunters") were members of a Soviet youth counterculture movement from the late 1940s until the early 1960s. A stilyaga (стиляга) was primarily distinguished by snappy clothing—preferably foreign-label clothing acquired from fartsovshchiks (black market sellers)—that contrasted with the communist realities of the time, and a fascination with zagranitsa, modern Western music and fashions corresponding to those of the Beat Generation. English writings on Soviet culture variously translated the term as "dandies", "fashionistas", "beatniks", "hipsters", or "zoot suiters".

Read on Wikipedia · Image Thomas Taylor Hammond (1920-1993), CC BY-SA 4.0