#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The initiator of the first beauty contest in Norilsk in 1989 was the city Komsomol committee, and the money was given by a cooperative society with the self-explanatory name Sponsor.
68 beauties came to the podium, which was specially installed in the Arctica sports palace, and the jury, headed by a specially invited film actor Aristarh Livanov, was to choose Miss Shining of the North.
Participation in the competition was paid: each beauty had to pay for classes with a choreographer and for the services of a cosmetologist, who was also specially invited from Moscow, since there were no specialists of the proper level in Norilsk.
The first beauty contest caused an unprecedented excitement in the city, ticket offices were taken with a fight. The main intrigue of the event was the question, if the participants would defile around the stage in swimsuits as it is done at other charm shows? They defiled!
The most beautiful Norilsk woman was chosen out of six finalists: a 23-year-old accountant of the Dastarhan cafe Irina Kolchina: height – 181 centimeters, weight – 65 kilograms, legs length – 110 centimeters. The winner was presented the crown and a special prize from the Sponsor cooperative – 1 500 rubles.
Probably, from that time on, Norilsk began to actively liberate itself. For example, in the same 1989, the first variety show was opened in the Norilsk restaurant.
And five years later, the sexual freedom of Norilsk residents reached its peak: in 1994, the first adult paraphernalia store opened in the city.
Prior to that, goods for the specific purpose were sold in the Medmarket store. But it was not a full-fledged sex shop, because sexual goods were sold together with toothbrushes and baby powder. In addition, adolescents and schoolchildren could easily visit it.
A new store named Intim was distinguished, firstly, by the paid entrance – 500 rubles, and secondly, by the assortment ‘just for special purpose’. In addition to sexual goods, customers were offered to view magazines and videos – also paid – and catalogs of Russian companies offering similar products.
Oddly enough, the overwhelming number of visitors to the first sex shop were people of retirement age. They looked at exotic sexual devices with great interest. The city satisfied its curiosity that way.
In previous issues of the History spot photo project, we talked about the opening of the Karat jewelry store in Norilsk instead of the monument to Sergo Ordzhonikidze.
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Text: Svetlana Samohina, Photo: Nornickel Polar Division archive
