I. YAKOVLEV CHUVASH STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY BULLETIN

transformation, thematic guidelines, Russian women’s magazines, foreign women’s magazines, fashion, images, standards.

This article considers the transformation of thematic guidelines of Russian women’s fashion magazines in Imperial Russia, Soviet Union and modern Russia. The authors reveal the main characteristics of fashion magazines.  Up to the middle of the 19^th century the educators reflected more on the themes of the importance of fashion and its influence on young women’s minds. The general tone of the materials was educational and ironic towards fashion. The peculiarities of the magazines in the second half of the 19^th – early 20^th centuries are related to the growth of women’s social activity and the change of women’s magazines alongside with their target audience. The Soviet press had a negative attitude towards the Western fashion and its guidelines, so women’s magazines formed the Soviet women’s way of life in the spirit of socialism, where simplicity, moderation, and functionality were most important. The article pays special attention to the thematic guidelines of the glossy magazines in the post-Soviet Russia. The connection between the famous women’s Russian-language publications and the fashion industry explains their approaches to the female audience. These publications, telling about a successful, luxurious and beautiful life, form a certain lifestyle of their readers. The authors of the article show a shift of focus in the editorial policy of influential women’s magazines about fashion for more than two centuries. In particular, it shows a shift from cultural, educational and propagandist reference points towards commercial and entertaining ones.