The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-11-18
Wy JULIA BtAANBhAKD etaff Writer for NEA Service and The Democrat, Sent to Soviet Russia Especially for
 Tffa HArfaa

Bugsaa Especially for
 This Series
 tcopyright 1881 NEA Service. Incl
 If you lived in Russia
 What the well-dressed woman is wearing in Paris. how she fixes her hair and makes up her face would make little difference to you.
 You can wear anything you have. Everybody does. Moscow ,has no fashion seasons and only two kinds of clothes--clothes for lhot weather and clothes for cold. Frost came one night late In Sep- .tember and Miss Sophiana, a ,neighbor who the day before had gone picnicking with us, dressed in her sleeveless white dress and no hat, stopped in to see me. She looked like an utter stranger, sdressed in tall, black astrakhan cap, long. worn fur coat and high shoes. This is her September-to- May costume. She has no in-be- tween things.
 If you lived in Russia, you would not care whether you are fat or thin. First signs of the boyish form invaded Moscow this year. .Brassiere salesmen appeared on the street. You might see one of them trying on a brassiere over fat woman's heavy coat and hear him tell her, "It's perfect ft." They lwere white muslin, machine stitch ed. and they cost two rubles (50c).
 Nowhere in Russia do you see n smartiy dressed group of women. Once q year the foreign office gives a formal reception when everyone Invited has to appear in evening attire. The experimentation of old and new styles makes 1t safe for you to wear any color, any length, any lines. any style.
 Russia has no fashion magazines nor are there any style or beauty articles in the daily papers. No store advertises clothes. Radio hours for women never touch any thing as inconsequential as per- ,sonai appearance. They explain for more cooperative kitchens to release home women for industry, or give the latest figures on pro- duetion from the Stalingrad trac- tor plant. which thrills all Russia. Qay, embroidered peasant blouses. traditionally Russia, are yffissing from the Russian scene. 1 had been there a whole month be- fore saw one. Mikitina. a Ukranian girl student at a college near Moscow. wore 1t as she sat in the yard studying. We stopped the car and approached. ''See if she win trade that blouse for some- fhing," l requested the correspon- dent with me. He told Mikitina that the American woman admired her blouse. f
 I raised my white dress and showed her an apricot colored slip with lace edging. She registered immediate interest and when sug- guested adding silk stockings, it was a bargain. We went into her dormitory, and while IS girls watched the trade. peeled off my dress and gave Hikitina the slip and stockings and she took off her blouse and gave 1t to me.
 Russian women would always prefer goods in trade, rather than rubles. There is an actual scarcity of practically every kind of apparel and material. Their rubles can buy little. A gift or trade of foreign clothing is so welcomed.
 froDuDiy you Woulu not wear silk stockings If you lived in Rus sia to-day. Most women wear the Soviet-made, rather sleazy cotton ones, usually light gray. beige or dead white, or the heavy-ribbed black ones. They don't know the difference between the cheap rayon and the full-fashioned silk prod- net. But they are fond of any "silk." Rayon hosiery cost about IS rubles ($0) a pair. You can't buy full-fashioned silk ones for any price. Rayon bloomers are the