During the Cold War, the Soviet Union didn't really have much access to Western fashion, unless you were one of the nomenklatura or otherwise well-connected. This is why Sergei in the novel is surprised to see a woman wearing a denim jacket and jeans (he asks "Where did you get those blue jeans?"), gladly trading his coat for it. Note, though, that this is a fairly overblown notion — while for a time in The '60s and early 70s the authorities tried to fight this "cowtowing before the West" (including cutting too-narrow trousers), by the mid-70s they finally relented and even started the domestic production of the most coveted items such as the blue jeans, as well as importing knock-off ones from Turkey and India. Still, it didn't have much effect, as not only was the quality often atrocious, but the mere fact that they were domestically produced made them not "true" and thus not worth it.
Since the collapse though, Russian women (and men) have grabbed Western fashions voraciously. Their upper and upper-middle classes are currently often found wearing several salaries on their person at once. In extreme cases, a driver's currently worn outfit can be worth more than his car. The vast majority of Russians, however, dress very similarly to the average person in the West.
This article, however, will focus on the items of clothing that are specifically Russian, or very common there. Note, that most 'traditional' items were outdated in USSR times or even earlier, and even in USSR times Russian fashion was heavily westernised.
Examples:
- Sailor Moon: Sailor Galaxia's headdress is similar to a Russian kokoshnik.
- Ghosts of the Past: Yelena Belova who, like in canon, hails from the Soviet-Russian Black Widow program, is taunted by an unimpressed Natasha. Yelena is offered a Right-Hand Cat and a white ushanka so she can look the part of the evil commie mastermind.
- The Price of Flight: After a long experience of flying at altitude in winter, the seasonal flying kit for the Air Watch now involves things like the vatrik, the padded winter overclothes, valenki felt overboots, a big comfortable shuba coat that can practically stand up on its own, and of course the ubiquitous ushanka fur hat with the pull-down ear flaps. Sam Vimes accepts this, noting the Watch badge is completely visible in the front crown of the ushanka and clearly identifies its wearer as a watchman. The fic is about Discworld's version of Russians.
- Ambience: A Fleet Symphony: Reshitelny, a Russian destroyer girl, dresses like she's from a well-off Russian family. The narration when introducing her even blatantly says she looks like Ilya, a character of Slavic descent.
- 3 Frați de Belea: Bizo wears an ushanka.
- The Ghost of Frankenstein: The creepy, nonspecific pseudo-Germanic country the movie is set hints its location by having its peasants wear babushkas.
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:
- The films portray the Durmstrang Institute uniform as the robe version of a Kosovorotka shirt accompanied by a fur shuba coat and papakha hats. Unlike the books, these items are brown, reinforcing the whole Slavic aesthetic of the school.
- Viktor Krum's dress robe is designed to remind people he's Bulgarian. It consists of a thick, Kosovorotka-style, red coat with a fur cloak over.
- Generation P: The Russian parliament approves a bill to give each citizen a basket of what they determine to be essential goods. It starts sensibly, with food items such as pasta, potatoes, and pork being included. Then, for no other reason than stereotypical patriotism, a padded shuba coat and an ushanka hat are also featured in the package.
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Durmstrang Institute is an Eastern European school of magic said to be located in a very cold place. It accepts students hailing from German and Slavic descent. Its uniform is described as a fur coat on top of red robes and a fur hat or ushanka.
- Otava Yo: The battered, dishevelled ushanka fur caps the band wear on stage and in videos, where the ear-pieces flap around loosely as if they aren't sure if they want to be up or down, are a part of the "Russian Hillbilly" look of videos like Sumetskaya, and essential costume for stage appearances. However, traditional Russian costume is also played very straight and is part of the idealised arcadian Russia of the videos, Alexei Belkin's "idealised world to be shared".
- Bloons Tower Defense: The commander of a First Strike Capability sub wears a distinct ushanka in place of the other subs' navy cap.
- The Curse of Monkey Island: If Madame Xima's whole Fortune Teller schtick wasn't enough to hint at her Romani origins, the babushka scarf on her attire would indicate also indicate it pretty strongly.
- Street Fighter V: Kolin, a fighter hailing from the now defunct U.R.S.S. sports a Soviet-era, fur-trimmed military outfit known as an afghanka, topped off with a classic ushanka fur hat.
- Drugs and Wires: Stradania is a fictional post-Soviet city that mashes up high-tech such as cyborgs with old russian fashion in the form of most peasants being clad in babushkas.
- Jreg: Centricide: Commie, the anthropomorphic personification of Soviet-inspired Communism, speaks a thick Russian accent and wears a shuba longcoat and an ushanka.
- Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: Sudarikov, a Russian arms dealer oligarch, wears an ushanka, or a Russian furry hat, even when he is in a tropical location.
- G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Ex-Czech Army officer (and current member of the Soviet Oktober Guard) First Lieutenant Daina Janack is clad in a white ushanka and a pink telagreika.
- The Ren & Stimpy Show: In "A Visit to Anthony", Ren and Stimpy are shown as living in Yugoslavia. Their wives are portrayed as babushka-wearing Ugly Slavic Women.
- Teenage Euthanasia: Baba is from an unspecified Eastern European country, which is signalled by the fact she always wears a babushka.
- Winx Club: Zenith's aesthetic is inspired by Slavic cultures, which is shown not only by the architecture but also by how some of the citizens (and the Winx when they visit) wear ushankas and Plash Palatkas.