Off the Wall, Behind the Wall

Yes, Fashion can be a Political Force!

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

Book Description:
East Germany may be most remembered for the activities of the Stasi, but now, for the first time, its secret short flirtation with fashion is revealed. For a short period the notoriously repressive bureaucrats who ran East Germany decided to bring some color into their otherwise drab lives. They commissioned two photographers, hired St. Pauli Girls as models, and chose the locations that represented their greatest socialist achievements—oil refineries, worker canteens, concrete office buildings, airports—to shoot their daring photographs. The result: cunning and original uses for tartan, little hats and jaunty caps, bold florals, and more swatches of pumpkin, tomato, and lemon yellow than you might find at a country fair. For years, these alarming examples of a zeitgeist unleashed have been hidden from Western eyes…but not anymore! From blindingly-bright mod go-go girls to demure peasant lasses posed with that most German of animals, the Llama, these images reveal another side of what went on behind the Berlin Wall.

Quote from One of the Customer Reviews: "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. "