# Yuri Andropov: Hip to be square **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 17, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875 "2016-10-17T21:03:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/1 "2016-10-17T21:03:42Z")
Soviet head honcho Yuri Andropov was a real square, but man did he ever have [a snazzy-looking necktie](http://upyourpic.org/images/201310/lt1fm5ba25.jpg). Anyone know where I can get one like it? (I’m guessing the answer is “no”.) While y’all are scouring your local yard sales for me, I thought we might have a discussion on what other decidedly unhip historical personages happened to be blessed with a genuinely cool sense of fashion. Anyone want to get the ball rolling? (Please don’t let anyone say Muammar Gaddafi.) ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/2 "2016-10-17T22:33:40Z")
Harry Truman would rock the wide-lapel double-breasted suits, often with a bow tie, and liked his hats well into the 60’s after men had long abandon them for daily wear. Of course, he owned a haberdashery before he got into politics. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/3 "2016-10-17T22:45:33Z")
You might find this interesting, it is [Every US President’s Style, Ranked.](http://www.racked.com/2014/11/4/7570383/presidential-style-ranking) ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/4 "2016-10-18T19:23:41Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Soviet head honcho Yuri Andropov was a real square, but man did he ever have [a snazzy-looking necktie](http://upyourpic.org/images/201310/lt1fm5ba25.jpg). Anyone know where I can get one like it? (I’m guessing the answer is “no”.) On a sidenote and something I’ve wondered about those Soviet era pictures, is that a photo so heavily retouched it looks like a drawing, or an actual drawing? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/5 "2016-10-18T19:42:57Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > On a sidenote and something I’ve wondered about those Soviet era pictures, is that a photo so heavily retouched it looks like a drawing, or an actual drawing? I’m pretty sure it’s a photo. A Google Images search brings up other photos from the same shoot, such as [this one](http://www.independentamericanparty.org/wp-content/uploads/Yuri.jpg). It looks much less retouched—and look, there’s that swanky tie again! ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/6 "2016-10-18T19:49:24Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > You might find this interesting, it is [Every US President’s Style, Ranked.](http://www.racked.com/2014/11/4/7570383/presidential-style-ranking) Thanks for this! With the exception of Clinton, I can’t say I disagree much with their rankings. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/7 "2016-10-18T20:15:30Z")
Soviet retouching was usually to disappear someone who had fallen out of favor. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/8 "2016-10-18T21:46:28Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I’m pretty sure it’s a photo. A Google Images search brings up other photos from the same shoot, such as [this one](http://www.independentamericanparty.org/wp-content/uploads/Yuri.jpg). It looks much less retouched—and look, there’s that swanky tie again! Ah yes, thank you 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/9 "2016-10-19T02:24:51Z")
That’s not just a swanky tie, but impeccably knotted as well. Looks like a full Windsor. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/10 "2016-10-19T03:57:44Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Soviet retouching was usually to disappear someone who had fallen out of favor. Or to make some official appear much younger and handsomer. Stalin, f’rinstance, had a pockmarked face that was never seen in photographs. He and others like Brezhnev and Chernenko never aged much in any of their official photos, either. If you look at photos from publications like _ **Pravda** _, a lot of them are obviously composites cobbled together to make, e.g., a rally look more impressive. Some, like Yuri Gagarin being mobbed on Red Square, are downright hilarious. The same is true of Chinese propaganda photos under Mao, often even more so. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/11 "2016-10-19T04:05:44Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Soviet retouching was usually to disappear someone who had fallen out of favor. And yes, [there’s a Wikipedia page for that](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_images_in_the_Soviet_Union). The Nikolai Yezhov image is arguably the most famous of these. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/12 "2016-10-19T04:26:51Z")
A good book on the topic: [Amazon.com](https://www.amazon.com/Commissar-Vanishes-Falsification-Photographs-Stalin%C2%92s/dp/1849762511/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1476851191&sr=8-1&keywords=commissar+vanishes) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/13 "2016-10-19T04:34:13Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Or to make some official appear much younger and handsomer. Stalin, f’rinstance, had a pockmarked face that was never seen in photographs. He and others like Brezhnev and Chernenko never aged much in any of their official photos, either. Well, with Chernenko they just re-used the same embalming process they’d perfected for Lenin. He entered office mostly dead anyway. Anyway, yeah, that first photo of Andropov is pretty uncanny. It’s the Cold War-era version of an overly-airbrushed supermodel portrait. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/14 "2016-10-19T07:59:15Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Soviet retouching was usually to disappear someone who had fallen out of favor. The practice seems to have largely died out with Stalin. After that, as **Derleth** notes, the most egregious examples involve “beautifying” leaders for their official portraits. This isn’t any different from the western press’s routine and longstanding practice of airbrushing magazine-cover models. In addition to the airbrushed [Andropov](http://upyourpic.org/images/201310/lt1fm5ba25.jpg) of my OP, we can also find plenty of airbrushed [Brezhnevs](https://blogs.miamioh.edu/havighurst/2015/10/07/the-case-for-brezhnev/), [Chernenkos](http://slavyanskaya-kultura.ru/upload/wysiwyg/ddacacd4f150a8c65fcd1a9695a108e6.jpg), and [Gorbachevs](http://cultureru.com/gorbachev/) in exactly the same style. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/15 "2016-10-19T08:01:51Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Chernenko never aged much in any of their official photos, either. There’s not much aging you can do in 11 months. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/16 "2016-10-19T09:10:43Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > There’s not much aging you can do in 11 months. 🙂 He was a member of the government much longer than he was head of the Party. One of my Pol Sci professors in grad school had a whole slew of official portraits on the walls of his office. Not one of the \*Sovki \*had aged a day in the previous thirty years. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/17 "2016-10-19T09:12:48Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Well, with Chernenko they just re-used the same embalming process they’d perfected for Lenin. Actually, I believe he was cremated. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/18 "2016-10-19T09:36:53Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Actually, I believe he was cremated. I meant while he was in office. It was a joke. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/19 "2016-10-19T10:02:43Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > I meant while he was in office. > > It was a joke. The first episode of _Spitting Image_ had a pretty good take on this: [Chernenko’s first speech](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NXwh-5NaBc). (This was the first of many sketches involving the Soviet government. I love it how, in their universe, almost every single Party functionary is a Brezhnev clone.) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875/20 "2016-10-19T11:07:02Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > The first episode of _Spitting Image_ had a pretty good take on this: [Chernenko’s first speech](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NXwh-5NaBc). (This was the first of many sketches involving the Soviet government. I love it how, in their universe, almost every single Party functionary is a Brezhnev clone.) Good one. Now I don’t feel so bad for being [the genesis of a land of confusion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHmH1xQ2Pf4) in this thread. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yuri-andropov-hip-to-be-square/768875.md?page=2)