Off the Wall: Fashion from East Germany, 1964 to 1980

"Off the Wall: Fashion From the German Democratic Republic" is a nightmare fashion show from the former East Germany, which judging from this book was actually just east of Mars. Westerners (generally correctly) associate Soviet Bloc countries with dowdy, poorly-made, gray, utilitarian clothes, but this book shows the results of East Germany's attempt at fashion. Most of these photos require sunglasses for viewing, and the designs, patterns, and color combinations are jaw-droppingly insane. The photos were taken by Gunter Rubitzsh (does that rhyme with "rubbish"?) and were largely taken around industrial sites and famous landmarks, although there are some nature and beach shots as well (I particularly love the otherworldly bikinis). Some of the photos were taken in the Soviet Union (the Kremlin is hard to miss), and some are just strange: why are there women with a camel? If you thought babushkas couldn't be fashionable, think again. Well, actually don't, but the government of East Germany certainly found them to be the fashion accessory every socialist hottie needed! Mylar, bold prints, suspenders, and overalls also predominate in this book of fashion madness. I have no particular interest in East German fashion or design, but after perusing this book, I realized it was a unique treasure. Where else can you see women looking coy on a tractor or fashionistas on the roof of a power plant?

I got this book for a couple of reasons. The first is that I'm a photographer and I enjoy researching "off the beaten path" materials. Soviet era Russia and East Germany are so mysterious to Americans. We knew so little about what was going on behind that wall when these images were taken. It's just so foreign. Having said that, some of the images look like they could have been pulled from W, V, or Vogue magazine yesterday. It's very bizarre. Another reason is that I'm fascinated by Russian culture and history and to some extent East Germany. Don't be fooled, some of the images taken in this book were done in Russia. It's a neat look into a rare social, marketing, and fashion oriented aspect of Soviet life that we so rarely see. Would have given 5 stars but the book is on the small size for a photography book and the quality of the binding isn't great, but the content is really top notch.

Beth Fox gave a fabulous and serious review above, and I'll add to it just to say that almost all of the photos in this book were taken from one photographer, so it's really just one person's limited view of the fashion from that era. But it's very, very entertaining nonetheless.

For a short time the bureaucrats who ran East Germany decided to bring some style into their lives, hiring professional photographers and models to represent fashion and socialist achievements. OFF THE WALL: FASHION FROM EAST GERMANY 1964 TO 1980 documents these daring images, adding a set of intriguing color photos rarely seen in the West to the chronicles of world fashion history. Some of the Republik's most daring fashion experiments come to life under the hand of photographer Gunter Rubitzsch, who hired local models and chose socialist-inspiring backgrounds to display fashion.

"East German Fashion"? Get your migraine pills and get ready to stare open-mouthed at some of the most blinding creations of the "Workers' and Peasants' State." My interest in East German fashion was piqued by reading sociological surveys of East Germany and watching the movie "Heisser Sommer," where you can see some of that fashion at its not-quite-worst. East Germany differed a bit from other Warsaw Pact states in that the rulers attempted to provide their subjects with more consumer goods than found elsewhere. Whether this stemmed from the rulers' professed belief that socialism should improve the lives of ordinary people, or their fear that the knowledge of West German standards of living would make the populace restless, is not important. What is germane is that East Germany had more consumer products than other eastern-European countries (although this is damning with faint praise) and the rulers paid some attention to providing "fashionable" clothing. The question, of course, is: what is "fashionable"? The clothing in this book was clearly an attempt to ape the wilder western fashions of the late 60s and early 70s. However, the clothing is much more cheaply made, and it shows: patterns do not match at the seam line, the colors are garish, and the execution of design is poor. Luckily (for the citizens of East Germany) this was considered to be cutting-edge fashion, and not day-to-day wear. This stuff is far worse than what you would see in a Sears catalog of the same era. But this is really not a book for the tiny niche who are interested in the fashions of East Germany. If you really care, see "Fashioning Socialism: Clothing, Politics and Consumer Culture in East Germany," by Judd Stitziel. This book is a side-splitting look at the worst of the worst of 1960s and 1970s Communist fashion, with more orange than any one person can stand. I was rolling on the floor laughing my a** off. For $10, you can too.