Staff profile

Current Research

Clothing, Society and Culture in Eighteenth-Century Russia

This project examines sumptuary and appearance regulations, related practices and visual and literary representations of dress, in order to explore the ways in which Russian sovereigns harnessed practical and ideological meanings of clothing and appearance to promote social and political changes and implement new normative expectations. The project also studies the ways in which the population of Russia received and responded to these changes, and the extent to which various social groups challenged, internalized and transformed these practices. As a part of the project, I look closely at the role of sartorial discourse in cultural debates around questions of identity and changing social and gender roles.

• Material culture
• Peter I, Catherine II
• History of cultural import
• 17th, 18th-, early 19th-, and early 20th-century Russian literature and culture
• Dress culture in imperial Russia
• Pushkin, Nabokov
• Gender studies

• Durham Students' Union Teaching Award Nomination, 2013
• International Conference: Dress Culture in Imperial Russia (29-31 March, 2016)
• Talking History with Patrick Geoghegan: Alexander Pushkin: A Life
• The Forum, BBC World Service: Catherine the Great of Russia

• 2017: BASEES Women's Forum Article/ Chapter Prize: "Catherine II as Female Ruler: The Power of Enlightened Womanhood"
• 2014: Durham Students' Union 'Closing the Loop' Teaching Award:

Book review

• Ivleva, Victoria (2017). Poetry and film: artistic kinship between Arsenii and Andrei Tarkovsky. Slavonica 22(1-2): 95-96.
• Ivleva, Victoria (2014). St. Petersburg and the Russian Court, 1703-1761. Slavonica 20(2): 135-36.
• Ivleva, Victoria (2010). Shchegoli i vertoprakhi: Geroi russkogo galantnogo veka. The Slavic and East European Journal (54.1): 189-90.

Chapter in book

• Ivleva, Victoria (Published). 'Kleidung in der Körperpolitik des katharinäischen Russland: Von Regimentskleidern zu regionalen Uniformen'. In Weibliche Herrschaft im Vergleich: Maria Theresia und Katharina II. Braun, Bettina, Kusber, Jan, & Schnettger, Matthias Bielefeld: Transcript. 375-406.
• Ivleva, Victoria (2023). In Between the Global and the Local: Silk in Seventeenth- and Early Eighteenth-Century Russia. In In-Between Textiles, 1400–1800: Weaving Subjectivities and Encounters. Marín-Aguilera, Beatriz & Hanß, Stefan Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
• Ivleva, Victoria (2014). Frills and Perils of Fashion: Politics and Culture of Eighteenth-Century Russian Court Through the Eyes of La Mode. In Eighteenth-Century Thing Theory in a Global Context: From Consumerism to Celebrity Culture. Ionescu, Christina & Baird, Iliana Burlington, VT: Ashgate. 113-132.

Edited Journal

• Ivleva, Victoria & Murphy, Amanda (2016). Special Issue: Dress Culture in Imperial Russia. Clothing Cultures, 3 (3): Intellect.

Journal Article

• Ivleva, Victoria (2021). Production of Uniform Cloth and Military Uniforms in Russia (1698–1762). Textile History 52(1-2): 101-121.
• Ivleva, Victoria (2020). From Catherine II's Coup to Alexander Pushkin's "The Captain's Daughter": A Reflection on Sartorial and Spiritual Searching in Russian Culture. Vivliofika: E-Journal of Eighteenth-Century Russian Studies 8: 85-128.
• Ivleva, Viktoria (2019). Catherine II: Uniform Dresses and Regional Uniforms. Costume: The Journal of the Costume Society 53(2): 207-230.
• Ivleva, Victoria (2016). Social Life of the Caftan in Eighteenth-Century Russia. Clothing Cultures 3(3): 171-189.
• Ivleva, Victoria (2015). Catherine II as Female Ruler: The Power of Enlightened Womanhood. Vivliofika: E-Journal of Eighteenth-Century Russian Studies 3: 20-46.
• Ivleva, Victoria (2013). The Locus of the Fashion Shop in Russian Literature from 1764 to 1806. Eighteenth-Century Studies 46(3): 363-383.
• Ivleva, Victoria (2009). Functions of Textile and Sartorial Artifacts in Russian Folk Tales. Marvels and Tales: Journal of Fairytale Studies 23(2): 268-299.
• Ivleva, Victoria (2009). A Vest Reinvested in Nabokov’s Gift. Russian Review 68(2): 283-301.
• Ivleva, Victoria (2006). Literary Theory in Practice: Rethinking Tynjanov’s 'The Wax Figure.'. Russian Literature 60(2): 127-157.