ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the lifestyle and the formation of class identity amongst the Russian middle class by investigating its consumption of clothing. By drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in St. Petersburg during 2009-2011, it explores how clothing consumption has changed over the past few years and how Soviet ideas of consumption continue to inform contemporary practices. The chapter deals with an overview of the literature on consumption and the middle class in socialist and post-socialist contexts. It discusses the empirical findings concerning the lifestyle, clothing consumption and identity formation of the St. Petersburg middle class. During the Soviet era, conceptions of the body and of the middle-class fashion were framed by the notions of culturedness and Soviet taste, while during the 1990s, they were framed by 'culturedness' and 'civilisation'. Consumption is often considered the province of the middle class and a central element in that group's self-identification.
