To be honest, there were many such things, because even a short period of time brought its own thing. I’m not sure if “status” is the right word, but okay, I’ll call it that for now.

My favourite cousin brought me this T-shirt from Singapore. This cousin was 10 years older than me and I loved him so much that the first word I said was not Mum, but Syaasya – Sasha. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us. 

My cousin studied at a higher naval school and was above all a role model for me. And so he went on a training voyage (as a real sailor!) and visited distant countries that were inaccessible not only to me but to almost everyone in the Soviet Union at the time.

The T-shirt he brought me was a soft lilac colour with a picture of the city of Singapore on the front. In all the years of my life, I have only come across a t-short cotton fabric of such unrivalled quality a few times. This fabric was almost like silk, I bet. It also had sequin lettering on the T-shirt. The word SINGAPORE was written above the pic of the distant promised land.

And all this luxury against the backdrop of Soviet horror.  Those who lived there will understand me perfectly well.

My God, how happy I was, how honoured I felt. What a stylish fashionista I thought I was, how my head was buzzing with happiness.

It was summer. My friends and I met at Cafe Molodezhnoye for some kind of disco that took place almost during the day and not at night. I wore this fantastic T-shirt and expected a total triumph.

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But… it was in those hard times when specially trained Komsomol activists  stood at the entrance to youth discos and didn’t let anyone in who had things with inscriptions in foreign languages. They didn’t let people like me in so that they wouldn’t have a corrosive influence on those present, like the decaying West on the flourishing Sovok. Those who lived there will understand that too.

Exactly, I was not allowed to enter the hall in this T-shirt. I was told to go home and dress “normally”.

I had nothing to change into something more or less stylish. In general, I was so desperate that I can’t put it into words.

Of course, I later realised that clothes weren’t that important.  But back then, at the age of 12… it was so hard for a girl to shine at a ball if she wasn’t wearing stylish, non-grey dresses.

 So I had the opportunity to gain personal experience of what the Soviet Union was like back then. Of course, the so-called Sowok was total, but at the time I just didn’t see anything else, I took a lot for granted.

Now tell me what cool things you had as a kid!