Fashion throughout Tereshkova’s life and responses

 When producing a range of initial research regarding Tereshkova and her life it’s important to look at specific elements which will make the narrative which I am aiming to create believe and factually correct to the reader. Therefore, I want to look specifically at the different fashion throughout Valentine’s life as this will help me create an overall style for the character. 

Firstly I wanted to start with her childhood, looking at the fashion and how she would have dressed during  the time as a little girl during the 1940’s. The Picture above shows an example of six different style dresses all of which could have been worn during this time period. From this picture we see there are a range of frilly collars, floral fabrics and puffy under coats. The colours are pastel tones and lots of royal blues. I would like to create a range of detailed responses inspired by these dresses to help create a dress/outfit that really communicates the personality of Valentine’s Character. 

The second time period I wanted to look at which I feel plays a key point of Tereshkova’s life is the 1950’s during Valentina’s teenage years. Valentina left school at age sixteen with no qualifications and bags working in a cotton mill factory as a loom operator. This job allowed her to study during the evenings to study correspondent courses. The image above gives an example of a loom operator during the 1950’s therefore gives an example of something that Valentina would have worn. In this we see the lady wearing a smarter shirt tucked into a long pleated floral skirt, This was a very common look within these times and therefore something for me to develop on. 

As well as the classic work wear, Valentina also spent her late teens often in jumpsuits due to her love for parachuting. The parachute jumpsuit is a simple design and has not developed much over the years therefore does not require a range of research specifically looking at a time period.

The third time period is based around and after Valentina’s trip to space in which she dressed very smartly for her range of publicity and profession work appearances. Therefore when researching this I wanted to look at smarter wear choices for women’s during the 1960’s. I chose these two images above as they were specifically ;inking to the Russian fashion during this time. I particularly like the smart double breasted blazer which is aired with the tighter pencil skirt which often sat just above the knee. The key colours in both of these reference images seemed to be strong navy blue pared with warmer tones such as reds and mustards. As well as colours there also seems to be a key theme of bold patterns as in the first image we seem he work wear matched with strong 60’s florals whilst in the second the blazer is covered in a strong checkered print. he second one is definelty my favourite and feel this outfit is something i could have seen  Tereshkova wearing using one of her many appearances. 

Moving forward from this initial research I would like to create some responses which i feel really communicate Valentina’s character. Therefore I will create a range of illustrated outfits which I will develop further towards the finalising of my character.