Russian folk costume and its traditions are increasingly becoming a source of inspiration for modern designers. Fashion is constantly undergoing dramatic changes, turning to the past in search of new and fresh solutions. Shirts, skirts, dresses, sundresses are endowed with features of national dresses that came from mysterious times Ancient Rus'. What did the women, men and children who lived in those centuries shrouded in mystery wear?
Unique Features
The history of Russian folk costume has been going on for many centuries. Natural conditions, hard field work from dark to dark, religious rituals - all these factors influenced the appearance of national costumes. Peasant clothing was characterized by maximum functionality. Shirts, ports, sundresses provided room for movement, did not cause inconvenience, and effectively saved from the cold. Work suits were devoid of buttons; people wore sashes and used wide bosoms as spacious pockets.
Constructiveness, practicality and simplicity did not at all force the inhabitants of Ancient Rus' to abandon bright colors in clothing. Ribbons, lace, appliqués in the form of squares and diamonds, and embroidery with colored threads were used as decoration. Russian folk costume often involved combining fabrics that differ in color. The patterns on the elements of the outfit adjacent to the body took on the function of a talisman that protected against evil spirits. Sleeves, hems, and collars were decorated with ornaments.
Men's clothing in different regions was not much different; it was characterized by monotony, while when looking at a women's suit it was easy to guess in which part of the country its owner lived.
Colors and paints
Dyeing of fabrics in Ancient Rus' was done using natural dyes. This is precisely the reason for the mysterious popularity of red. In those days, madder grew in almost all vegetable gardens; it was this weed that provided the peasants with paint. Therefore, Russian folk costume evokes associations with the color red, and not with green. Green silks supplied by the East almost did not penetrate into peasant life, and there were no natural dyes of this color.
In addition to red, white and blue colors were popular, which popular rumor, like red, endowed with protective properties.
Shirts for women
It is impossible to imagine a Russian folk costume (female version) without a shirt. It was worn by representatives of all classes without exception. The product was called a camp, its length was up to the hem of the sundress. Models of original styles with gathered sleeves were in use. They were popular with nursing mothers. Special outfits were created for funerals and weddings; shirts were divided into festive and everyday ones.
The main materials from which this element of women's clothing was created were wool, flax, and hemp. Particularly interesting are decorative ornaments that had a special meaning. The drawings most often depicted birds and horses, the tree of life and plant designs that paid tribute to the pagan gods. Red shirts traditionally acted as mascots. It was believed that they ward off troubles and drive away demons.
Shirts for men
Men's shirts were not particularly diverse. They were a structure assembled from two panels that covered the chest and back. Quadrangular fabric cuts located on the shoulders were used as a connecting element. The cut of the shirt remained unchanged, no matter what class its owner belonged to. The financial situation could only be determined by the quality characteristics of the fabric. Satin and silk are for the rich, linen is for the poor.
Shirts were worn untucked and were never tucked into trousers. Such things could be made in various colors. Woolen and silk products served as belts (sometimes there were tassels at the ends).
Shirts for children
The first Russian folk costume for a boy was his father's kosovorotka; the baby was wrapped in it. For newborn girls, the mother's shirt served as such a diaper. When creating children's outfits, sections of mother's or father's worn clothes were often used. This was done not out of economy, but to please the belief that the baby is saved from the evil eye by parental power.
It is impossible to see the difference in the appearance of the shirts intended for children of different sexes - these are absolutely identical shirts, reaching all the way to the floor. Required decorative element- embroidery applied by the mother's hand. Drawings have always taken on the functions of protective amulets.
Reaching the age of three for children was marked by receiving a new shirt. Twelve-year-old boys were required to wear trousers in addition; girls were dressed in ponevas. In general, Russian folk costume for children was not much different from the clothing of adults.
Sundresses
When our contemporaries depict Russian folk costume, a women's sundress is most often seen. Peasant women began to wear this outfit from the 14th century; its final adoption in the wardrobe occurred only in the 17th century. The appearance of clothing depended on the region of residence; fabrics, colors and cuts differed. The most popular option is a wide fabric panel, gathered in graceful folds, straps, and a narrow bodice. A sundress was worn on a naked body or over a shirt.
There were festive and everyday options. The first ones were worn at wedding feasts, they held church holidays, and visited folk festivals. The bride's dowry had to include at least ten sundresses, made in different colors. The quality of the fabric depended on belonging to a certain class. Silk and velvet are an option for the rich. Such an outfit, generous decorated with lace, braid and embroidery, spoke of the high social status of its owner.
The Russian folk costume - a women's sundress - was also interesting for its weight. The holiday versions were incredibly heavy, and the everyday versions were not far behind them. The most common household outfit was called “sayan”; it looked like a satin product gathered on the sides and back. Color solutions depended on age. Older ladies preferred black and blue models, while young girls preferred burgundy and red tones.
The peasant woman's sundress told literally everything about her. Does she have a husband and children, what mood is she in (there were even special outfits “for sadness”).
Caps
It’s hard to imagine a Russian folk costume (men’s version) without a perky cap. This headdress, with a visor, reigned in the national wardrobe in the 19th century. Summer versions were made of velvet, plush, and cloth. The visors were covered with fabric or leather, made in an inclined, semicircular, direct form. Options for the holiday were decorated with beads and ribbons, flowers (real and artificial).
This headdress gained the greatest popularity among retired officials, managers, and village landowners.
Ports
Men's ports were made from pieces of homespun cloth or canvas; the connecting part was a rhombic piece - the fly. Such trousers were gathered at the waist with a gasket. Russian folk costume for boys included ports from the age of 12. The colors were varied, the products were made from motley fabric, home dyeing, and homespun. Higher quality fabrics were used to create “output” options, or vertical patterns were used to decorate homespun fabrics.
A little later element holiday wardrobe became pants without a fly, with wider legs, a belt and buttons. Pockets were often present. The appearance of pants gave ports the function of underwear.
Ponevy
Poneva can be called a great-great-grandmother modern skirt. This element of the wardrobe is older than the sundress that appeared later; it was traditionally worn over a shirt and complemented by an apron. The ancient “skirt” was present in the wardrobe of adult women. Russian folk costume for girls included it only upon reaching puberty. Most often, poneva was made of wool and consisted of several sewn pieces of fabric.
Colors and styles depended on the area of residence. There were blind models, open on the side or front, hinged, with stitching. Gradually, they were almost completely replaced by sundresses.
Kokoshniks
From the ancient Slavic language “kokosh” is translated as “rooster and hen”. Kokoshniks were made on a solid basis and could take a wide variety of shapes. Their jewelry was very interesting - beads, pearls, beads, brocade. Wealthy ladies wore kokoshniks with precious stones. Kokoshniks cannot be seen when studying Russian folk costume for girls, because they were considered the exclusive prerogative of married women. Unmarried people wore the great-great-grandmother of today's bandana - the magpie.
The comb of the kokoshnik indicated that the woman belonged to a certain province. In the Siberian region, crescents have become widespread. In Kostroma, Pskov, Vladimir - arrowheads. Kokoshniks were regarded as family heirlooms and were inherited by the daughter from the mother, and were necessarily included in the dowry. They were not considered as an element everyday wardrobe. These headdresses were intended for holidays; even brides wore them at weddings.
Kokoshniks are also known as a national talisman. They were decorated with symbols of fidelity and fertility.
Shoes
Russian folk costume - for children and adults - includes bast shoes, known as the most common shoes. Lapti were festive and everyday, worn at any time of the year with white cloth onuchs and canvas. The role of fastening was played by ropes, wrapping the shin crosswise over the ankles. Leather boots and felt boots were available to wealthy peasants.
The dream of young people and rich people was patent leather boots with hard tops in the shape of bottles. Soft tops, gathered into an accordion, came already in the 20th century. Women's and men's shoes there were no special differences.
Modern look
Interest in the history of national costumes and the predominance of ethnic motifs can be clearly seen in modern fashion. Do-it-yourself Russian folk costume is created for carnivals and performances. Its features are often found in everyday outfits, not only in Russia, but also in other countries.
A striking example of attention to clothing “from the past” is the revived popularity of felt boots. Of course, these products bear little resemblance to their predecessors. They are decorated with leather inserts, bright beads, and colorful embroidery. These shoes are also worn abroad. Its popularity is not limited to the Russian Federation. Boots and shoes decorated with floral embroidery and sandals with a wicker platform won particular love.
Bright fabrics made in the style of a Russian scarf are also held in high esteem by famous fashion designers who are trying to reproduce Russian folk costume. Flowers serve as the main patterns, a large element is located in the center, small details are concentrated at the edges. There is a high level of interest in national lace. With its help, fashionable outfits acquire a slight exoticism, mystery, and romance.
World fashion owes to Russian culture the popularity of embroidery with colored threads and the demand for decorative cord, ribbons and beads. National appliqués are especially widely known and are used in women's, men's and children's clothing. In winter and autumn, traditional boyar hats, posad scarves, vests with fur trim, and sheepskin coats in national motifs are constantly seen on the streets.
"Russian" weddings
Weddings in Russian style are in great demand in recent years. Brides dress in white sundresses, decorated with national ornaments, and put on red kokoshniks. The outfits are complemented by hairstyles based on a classic braid, into which flowers and ribbons are woven. There is no doubt: wearing a Russian folk costume, you will get excellent photos.
Traditional Russian costume.Traditional Russian costume.
In the past, the Central Russian clothing complex was clearly visible. It is characterized by: a women's shirt with straight skirts, a slanted (swinging) sundress and a later straight "Moscow" one, a type of wicker shoes (bast shoes, feet), a kokoshnik with a rounded top, etc.
The traditional Russian suit is characterized by a straight cut with freely falling lines. It is distinguished by constructiveness and rationality: the module here is the width of the panel of homespun or purchased factory fabric.
SHIRT
The shirt was called “sleeves” (only the sleeves were visible from under the sundress). The lower part of the shirt reached the hem of the sundress - it was called a “stan” and was sewn from cheaper and often unbleached canvas. A common cut was a shirt cut with pads (shoulder inserts with edges at the neck) and gussets (diamond-shaped inserts under the sleeves, creating comfort when raising your arms).
The women's shirt, like the men's, was straight cut, with long sleeves. The white canvas of the shirt was decorated with a red embroidery pattern located on the chest, shoulder, at the bottom of the sleeves and along the bottom of the product. The most complex, multi-figure compositions with large patterns (fantastic female figures, fairy-tale birds, trees), reaching a width of 30 cm, were located at the bottom of the product. Each part of the shirt had its own traditional ornamental design.
Structurally, the shirt consists of a waist and sleeves (Fig. 5). The waist was made from panels of fabric leading from the neck to the hem, in most cases not one-piece, but composite - with transverse division. The upper part of the camp was called differently in different places: “stanushka”, “collar”, “collar”, “breast”. The lower part of the camp was called: “stan”, “stanovina”, “stanovitsa”, “pododol”, “podstava”. The horizontal division of the waist was located below the chest level and above the waist level. In terms of width, the mill was made from solid pieces of canvas, the width of which ranged from 30 to 46 cm, which depended on the design of the loom. The volumetric shape of the shirt, the width and density of the gathers at the neck and the volume (pomp) of the sleeves depended on the number of panels used.
Shirts were made from linen, hemp, and cotton fabrics; heavier ones were made from cloth and wool. The upper and lower parts of the shirt, as a rule, were sewn from fabrics of different quality, color, and design. For the upper part of the shirt, higher quality and colorful fabrics were used, sleeves and skirts were usually decorated with patterned weaving with red threads, and embroidery was also used various equipment execution. The neck of the shirt and bosom (20-25 cm) were treated with lining, usually red. The neckline was decorated with a button and loop.
In the southern regions, the straight cut of shirts was more complex; it was carried out using so-called polyks - cut details connecting the front and back along the shoulder line. Poliki could be straight or oblique. Rectangular-shaped poles connected four panels of canvas, each 32-42 cm wide (see figure below left). The slanting stripes (in the shape of a trapezoid) were connected by a wide base to the sleeve, and by a narrow base to the lining of the neck (see figure below right). Both design solutions were emphasized decoratively.
Compared to Northern Russian shirts, the bottom line in shirts from the southern regions is decorated more modestly.
A folk shirt could represent an independent element of a woman’s costume (for example, a haymaking shirt “pokosnitsa”), in this case it was necessarily belted with a woven belt and complemented by an apron. But in the Red Charter, Christians were forbidden to wear only a shirt, much less pray. A sundress was worn over the shirt. In the southern regions of Russia, instead of a sundress, a ponyova was worn over a shirt - a rectangular panel gathered at the top for assembly. Poneva was wrapped around the waist. Like men, women wore an undershirt, which they did not take off at night and were belted with a lower belt.
The most decorative and ornate part of both northern and southern women's costume was the apron, or curtain, covering female figure front. The apron was usually made of canvas and decorated with embroidery, woven patterns, colored trim inserts, and silk patterned ribbons. The edge of the apron was decorated with teeth, white or colored lace, fringe made of silk or woolen threads, and frills of different widths.
SORAFAN
The most famous women's clothing, sometimes incorrectly considered originally Russian, was the sundress - the main part of the sundress complex. The sarafan complex primarily belongs to the central and especially northern, northeastern and northwestern provinces. However, the sundress also existed in the southern Great Russian provinces.
Northern peasant women wore white canvas shirts and aprons with sundresses. In the 18th century and in the first half of the 19th century. sundresses were made from plain, unpatterned fabric: blue canvas, calico, red dye, black homespun wool. The multi-patterned and multi-colored embroidery of shirts and aprons really benefited from the dark, smooth background of the sundress.
Until the mid-nineteenth century, sundresses were mostly oblique, swing. The slanted cut of the sundress had several options. The most common was a sundress with a seam down the middle of the front, trimmed with patterned ribbons, tinsel lace, and a vertical row of brass and pewter buttons. This sundress had the silhouette of a truncated cone with a large expansion downwards (up to 6 m), giving the figure a slender look.
By the end of the 19th century, sundresses began to dominate straight, round "Moscow". The name speaks of its urban origins. It apparently appeared in Moscow as a holiday for the wealthy merchants, then, as a Moscow “fashion,” it spread to other cities, and then penetrated into peasant clothing, which is confirmed by its everyday existence.
There are five types of sundresses:
1. deaf oblique, with armholes, called in some provinces shushun and sukman; it existed in the Novgorod, Olonets, Pskov, Ryazan, Tula, Voronezh, Kursk provinces and was an ancient type of sundress, gradually being replaced by others; 
2. slanted swing or with a sewn seam at the front, with armholes or with straps, distributed almost exclusively in northeastern Russia, the Volga region, the Urals, Moscow, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, less often in the Vologda and Arkhangelsk provinces; in the Yaroslavl and Tver provinces it is known as feryaz, in Tver and Moscow - sayan, as well as kumashnik; 
The oblique sundress was sewn from three panels of fabric - two in front and one in back. In the lower part, several oblique short wedges with sub-blades were sewn into its side seams, expanding the hem. The front panels are not sewn and are held in place by a fastener with a long row of buttons on air loops made of braid. The sundress was sewn with wide armholes or with straps. The straps were made wide or narrow, cut out together with the back from the back panel or from a separate piece of fabric.
3. straight sundress with straps, also known as round or Moscow, gradually replacing the oblique sundress and poneva; 
The type of sundress is “Moskovets” with a straight or round cut, its cut is very simple, it is sewn from seven straight panels with a bodice. It is a wide central rectangular strip with an upper figured edge and two side wedge-shaped inserts; The back side is covered with gray canvas. It has narrow straps, which are covered with cotton fabric, and are attached to the chest and middle of the back. The chest is supported by long narrow ties sewn to the edge of the cloth. Along the hem there are two stripes made of bright blue cotton fabric. The panels of the sundress are woven from linen and purchased cotton threads using the plain weave technique “with busting”. The fabric of the sundress is distinguished by its emphasized decorativeness. On the orange background there are narrow transverse stripes, colored with red, white, and blue threads.
4. straight cutting with a bodice and straps or cut-out armholes, derived from the andarak, worn with a lace-up bodice, common in the Pskov, Smolensk, Oryol, Vologda provinces and in Siberia - the latest type of sundress; 
5. sundress with yoke with cut-out armholes and a front slit to the waist, fastened with buttons; late and widespread distribution.
The sundress was quite widely used in the southern Great Russian provinces, mainly as girls' clothes, and in the Ryazan Meshchera and old women's clothes. In some places it had its own names: Sayan, Kostolan, Sukman. It was a blind, slanted sundress, slanted with straps or, at the beginning of the 20th century, with a bodice, that is, with a yoke. It was made from calico, Chinese, dark blue, black, red. Occasionally, a swing sundress with straps was also used here, but mainly in this case the front seam was sewn up and only indicated by braid and buttons on the loops. Along the hem and front seam, the sundress was also decorated with wool embroidery and stitching.
In the northern, northeastern, northwestern provinces - Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Olonets, Perm, Vyatka, St. Petersburg, this was the second main type of women's clothing, after the shirt. Based on the material and cut, it sometimes received special names: dubas, cage, stuffing, cloth, damask, dolnik, castyach, fur coat, etc. These were the same five types of sundress, as a rule, with stripes of braid and lace on the front seam decorated with buttons and loops. They were made from motley fabric, home-dyed fabric, calico, calico, damask, cloth, including bright colors, with checks or stripes. In the Volga region - Simbirsk, Kazan, Samara, Orenburg, Ufa provinces, the sundress was also the main type of women's clothing.
The most ancient here was considered to be a blind slanted sundress with cut-out armholes and straps, decorated along the front seam with braids and buttons with loops. In some villages there were swing sundresses.
By the end of the 20th century, a straight sundress with straps and a sundress with a bodice - a yoke - prevailed, from which the transition was made to a “couple” - a skirt with a jacket, and such a skirt retained the name of a sundress.
In the northern, Volga, and central provinces, aprons were usually worn with a sundress, with or without a breast, tied at the waist. Festive aprons were embroidered along the chest with red thread. In the Volga region, the apron was called a zapon, which indicates the connections of the local population with the southern provinces. In some places in the Vyatka province, the apron looked like a tunic-like garment with a short back panel, without sleeves - the so-called chin.
The sundress had to be tied up. Losing the belt meant disgracing yourself. Hence the expression: “Without a cross, without a belt” (to be unscrupulous).
The belt was sometimes worn at the waist or slightly higher. Belts were often made at home, but some of them were bought at a fair or in a shop. The belt was treated with particular care, since it served as a “talisman” - a protector. Often the belts contained words of prayer in the ornament or the words: “I give on the day of an angel,” “God save,” etc. This belief remains from pagan times, when the circle was considered a protector from evil spirits. Belts were sometimes woven very long, as they were used in fortune-telling (about marriage) and in spells against illnesses. Weaving belts as a craft was known in the Simbirsk province.
I draw your attention to the fact that the common philistine idea of wearing a sundress is like this picture (as they usually sing in Russian choirs)
NOT COMPLETELY true, because
1. Walking around unbelted with fluttering skirts was considered a DISGRACE! Correctly like this:
2. In a number of areas, the sundress was the clothing of unmarried and rarely old women. Married women, women and young women (as in the first picture of this post) no longer wore sundresses..!
3. The cut of any (slanted, straight) sundress, even with a decent width, was so economical that there was not a ONE PIECE left over! All the smallest scraps were moved so that they completely fit into his cut!!
OUTERWEAR
Outer folk clothing refers to all shoulder clothing worn by Russian peasants over a shirt, sundress (or poneva) and apron. Women's outerwear was almost no different in design from men's; the difference lay in details, sizes and degree of decoration.
In the north they wore with ancient silk and damask sundresses long sleeve- something like the top of a shirt with a very long sleeves, held on the wrist by cuffs made of a narrow strip of fabric with tightly sewn beads and colored glasses in the frame. They were sewn from plain or patterned silk.
Shugai or epanechka, also known as trumpet, forty-pipe. It was an open jacket with narrow sleeves, cut at the waist, with a bottom quilted with cotton wool or with a solid back, without a collar or with turn-down collar.
A variety of this clothing was soul warmer- like a short swing skirt, often quilted on cotton wool with a roller, greatly expanding, held on the chest by straps. 
At the end of the 19th century. became widespread Cossack- a type of long jacket, tailored to fit, swinging, with a low stand-up collar. In the Arkhangelsk and Vologda provinces they also wore oversleeves or “sleeves” in the form of a very short blouse with long sleeves or simply two sleeves connected at the back by two narrow strips of fabric. They were made from motley fabric, printed fabric, as well as silk and cashmere.
Outerwear basically followed the shape of men's clothing. But in the Volga region, outerwear of special shapes was used in combination with a sundress. These were kolodniks, vatoshniks, monarks, stukolki, dushegrei of approximately the same cut: mid-thigh length, waist length, with a straight and turn-down collar and with a lot of frills at the back. These clothes were made from homespun cloth, red damask, satin, and trimmed with velvet and braid. In the southern Volga provinces there was clothing called beduim. It was a robe-like garment, length below the knees, slightly wider at the bottom, swinging, with a turn-down collar and wide long sleeves sewn into the armholes, tightly gathered. The collar was decorated with beads, silk tassels, and velvet trim. Beduim were worn without buttoning or belting. In some places in the Samara province they wore lace-up corsets, and in the Kazan and Simbirsk provinces they wore soul warmers with straps.
Both women's and men's outerwear were wrapped in the same way - the right floor overlapped deeply with the left, this is not accidental, because in ancient times Christian tradition the primacy of the right over the left can be seen from the very beginning. Based on this, when making outerwear, the right floor was often made 5-10 cm longer than the left, and the side line was slanted. The fastener was located mainly up to the waistline: buttons or hooks on the right side, loops on the left.
Outer folk clothing is very diverse. According to the method of wearing, there are two types: thrown over the shoulders (cloak, cape) and, the most typical, threaded into the sleeves, the latter is divided into closed and swinging.
Traditional outerwear has a lot of names. Common Slavic names: retinue (from the word “to twist”), gunya, koszulya, kabat, casing, etc. Old Russian terms: ponitok, sukonnik, opashen, okhaben, odnoryadka, etc. Russian names: poddevka, kucinka (from the word “kutsi”) , shugai, korotay, semishovka, verkhovitsa, etc. Terms of eastern origin: caftan, zipun, fur coat, sheepskin coat, armyak, etc.
Kaftan-zipun: swing outer folk clothing. Made from homemade cloth or factory fabric, usually brown, less often black or gray colors. The back of the zipun is solid, somewhat fitted or cut-off with gathers. Two or three wedges were sewn into the sides, and the sleeves were cut out. Zipun was made without a collar or with a small collar fastened with one or two buttons (at the collar and on the chest). The edges of the sleeves were often trimmed with leather, and sometimes (for women's zipuns) with pleated leather. Zipun was usually made without lining. They wore it, depending on the weather, at all times of the year.
Undershirt, following from the name itself, was worn under other, warmer clothes. To make this type of outerwear, thin homemade cloth or “ponitchina” was used (warp - flax, weft - wool). A feature of the cut can be considered a seam at the waist and gathers on the back side of the jacket. Also, the shoulder seam dropped back and arched grooves on the back (which has survived to this day, for example, in the cut of military or police sheepskin coats), and the stand-up collar. There were four hook-and-eye closures from the collar to the waist. The length of the undershirt reached the middle of the shin. The cut was similar, but there were no gathers at the back of the waist.
Since Old Testament times, short clothing has been considered unacceptable and even criminal, just like barbering. Short, “scrappy” clothing was forbidden to wear!
HEADWEAR
The ensemble of women's folk clothing is unthinkable without a headdress; it was given a special place in folk culture. After all, it was by the headdress that one could find out what area its owner was from, her age, marital and social status. Almost every province (and sometimes county) had unique forms of headdresses. They are extremely diverse.
Hats are divided into two large groups: girls’ and women’s. A characteristic feature of a girl’s headdress was an open crown, while women completely covered their hair, since according to ancient custom it was impossible to show it.
Girls' headdresses include a bandage made of fabric, which “represented a strip of fabric (silk, brocade, velvet, calico, braid) on a lining from 5 cm wide to 20-25 cm, up to 50 cm long, on a solid base in the form of a hoop, tied under the braid with ribbons. One wide or several narrow ribbons were sewn at the back above the ribbons. The frontal part of the headdress was usually embroidered with gold thread and decorated with flounces or stacks of pearls and beads. In the North, a “crown” was used as a wedding headdress - a very wide openwork, richly decorated hoop. In the Volga region, a “veil” was common - a silk, usually red, scarf folded at an angle and laid in the form of a strip; it usually covered the parietal part of the head and was tied at the back under the braid. Braids were often woven into braids with long silk ribbons tied to them, and sometimes with a braid - a small embroidered or brocade triangle. The bandage was put on the crown or forehead and tied under the braid at the back of the head. Two blades made of silk or brocade were sewn to the back of the bandage...”
Also, girls' headdresses were a hoop made of tree bark or cardboard, a crown, a wreath, a scarf, and a knitted cap.
Women's hats are:
1) Towel-type headwear ( towel, basting, brush) in the form of a long towel with or without decoration, wound in a special way over a round-bottomed hat, cap or kichka.
2) Kick-shaped headdress ( kitchka or magpie), are distinguished by their variety and imagination of solutions. As a rule, they were made composite. The main elements: the lower part with a solid base that gave the shape of the headdress (tuft, horns, hair, etc.); the upper decorated part is made of fabric (magpie, top, tie, etc.); a fabric backplate tied at the back, under the upper part. The kichka-magpie was also supplemented with other elements: a forehead, pendants made of beads, feathers, “earphones”, cords, silk tassels, etc.
After some time, especially after the birth of the first child women wore kitty-shaped headdresses. Thus, in the Olonets province there was a magpie with a “sderikha” - a type of cap made of canvas with a crown in the form of a hoof /sderikha/, on which they put a soft magpie in the shape of a low blunt cone, with ties on the sides, tied at the back of the head under the rectangular end of the magpie. The Pomeranian kitty looked like a hard cap with an elongated flat occipital part. Gradually there was a transition to the use of simple warriors in the form of a cap with a guard at the back of the head. Both the magpie, the kichka, and the warrior were decorated with embroidery with gold thread, braid, lace, and the like.
3) Kokoshnik- a festive headdress, richly decorated with embroidery with gold and silver threads, embroidered with freshwater pearls, decorated with sparkles, multi-colored pieces of glass, gimp, and bugles.
In the Olonets province it was usually a one-horned kokoshnik on a solid base, with an eyepiece protruding upward in the form of a horn and with a flat top that fell on the ears from the sides. A similar form of kokoshnik existed in other northern provinces. In some areas of the Perm province, a large crescent-shaped kokoshnik with sharp ends almost reaching to the shoulders was used. Kokoshniks of this form were also used in the Middle Volga region along with kokoshniks in the form of a velvet or brocade cap. In the Kazan province there were spade-shaped kokoshniks with an almost rectangular headband, as well as high, pointed kokoshniks. In the Kazan province there were also two-horned kokoshniks, called kichkas here. Kokoshniks were richly decorated with freshwater pearls, beads, sometimes forming flounces, mother-of-pearl dies, braid, embroidery with gold thread, and a net of pearls or duckweed beads descended onto the forehead. In the Pskov province there was a one-horned kokoshnik, the headband of which was densely planted with what looked like pearl cones. A light blanket was sewn to the high pointed and spade-shaped kokoshniks, which fell over the shoulders and back.
Kokoshniks were usually worn only by young women who had recently gotten married.
4)Povoinik, collection. One of the ancient headdresses in Rus', in the form of a soft cap that completely covers the hair. The povoinik was a lower headdress; it was always covered with an ubrus or hairline on top; one was not supposed to walk around the house, much less on the street, wearing one povoinik. From the second half of the 19th century it acquired independent significance. Everyday warriors were made from simple materials, festive ones from expensive fabrics, the bottom was decorated with gold embroidery, freshwater pearls, and sparkles.
In our Old Pomeranian tradition, all of the above headdresses are completely absent.
They wore a warrior with a scarf.
5.) A common headdress is boards. Both girls and women wore headscarves different times year. They gave the costume a special colorfulness and originality. It was also common to wear two scarves: one was tied around the head, like a warrior, and the second was covered on top. In the Volga region, the second scarf was often worn “unraveled”, tied or pinned under the chin so that two corners of the scarf fell onto the back.
“In the Ryazan, Tula, and Kaluga provinces, a horned kitty in the form of sharp horns, rolled from hemp and quilted with thread, was most often used as a frame for a magpie” (c)
In Ryazan, it was scarlet in color, worn in literature during the period of early marriage, and I was told that it was worn for a short time shortly after the birth of children, emphasizing the special significance of this period.
The oldest type of women's clothing is paneva, worn in combination with a kichka and special chest and shoulder clothing. This is the clothing of predominantly married women, worn by girls only after they reached puberty, and sometimes during the wedding ceremony. In ancient times, the distribution area of the paneva was much wider, gradually narrowing and being replaced by the sarafan complex, so that in some provinces the paneva was adjacent to the sarafan, most often as a girl’s and old woman’s clothing. In the middle of the nineteenth century. paneva was still known in the southern districts of Moscow and northern districts of Kaluga and Ryazan provinces, but at the end of the century it had already disappeared there and was replaced by a sundress; in the 18th century it was worn even further north - in the Melenkovsky, Sudogsky, Muromsky districts of the Vladimir province. In the 19th century Paneva was distributed only in the southern Russian and adjacent eastern and western provinces: Oryol, Kursk, Tambov, Voronezh, Belgorod, Penza, Kaluga, Ryazan, Smolensk. Analogues of Paneva are available in Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania; Thus, the Ukrainian plank is actually a swing paneva.
Paneva representsa waist garment made of three or more partially sewn pieces of fabric specially woven on a wool loom. The typology of Paneva is extremely fractional. It differs in cut and color. In terms of cut, panevas differ in swing, open at the front or side, and with stitching, closed. Both types are present in all regions of southern Russia. In the Smolensk region, among the hinged panels there is a spreader, in which one panel is located in front and two in the back, so that both sides are open, and a different panel, consisting of three panels different lengths, of which the short one is located on the right, and a third of the first and third panels were turned away and thrown over the belt. In the Oryol, Kursk, Voronezh, Tambov, Penza, Kaluga, and Ryazan provinces, the paneva is open in front; They also usually wore it “with a tuck,” turning the corners away and tucking them into the belt. A variant is the paneva-plakhta, which existed in the Sevsky and Trubchevsky districts of the Oryol province, consisting of two half-sewn panels and worn with a slit in the front. In the Ryazan and Oryol provinces, corrugated paneva also existed.
Paneva with stitching is apparently a later phenomenon. It is known that peasant women, when going to the city, took off their swing paneva, since walking in the city in a tucked paneva was considered shameful. Probably for these reasons, a fourth narrow panel, stitching, was sewn into the paneva, and sometimes it was sewn temporarily, on a live thread. The seam was located at the front or side. Moreover, even in those cases when the seam was sewn in immediately and tightly, simultaneously with the sewing of the entire paneva, it was made from a fabric other than the main panel, clearly standing out as a seam, and the seams were often marked with strips of red and braids.
The number of variations of paneva in terms of color, ornamentation and decoration is much wider; here, individual villages or groups of villages often had their own variants. At the same time, due to the mixing of the population during the colonization of the southern lands and other historical processes, it is difficult to make a clear distribution of color and ornament across regions. The main type - blue checkered paneva, open or blind, predominated in the Oka basin. in Ryazan, Kursk, Penza, Tambov, Oryol, Voronezh provinces. In some areas of the Ryazan, Voronezh, and Kaluga provinces there was a black checkered paneva. In the Meshchersky region, in the north of the Ryazan and part of the Tambov provinces, smooth blue and red striped paneva were used; red paneva is also known in the Tula and Voronezh provinces, and is found in the Don basin, as well as in some areas of the Smolensk, Oryol and Ryazan provinces. In the Voronezh province, dark blue or black checkered panevas are completely embroidered with white wool; in the Kaluga and Ryazan provinces, they are decorated with woven patterns, sometimes very complex. Typically, panevas had hems, edges along the cuts, and also stitched seams richly decorated with red ribbons, denticles, diamonds, and galloon stripes. In the Ryazan province, young women wore festive panevas with tails made of ribbons up to 20 cm long. In the Tula province, squares of paper fabric with three bells were sewn on the back and on the hips. Bells were also used at festive panevas in the Kaluga province.
The blind paneva naturally had to evolve into a skirt.
MEN'S SUIT
Main elements men's clothing were: shirt, ports, headdress and shoes.
The ancient East Slavic shirt was tunic-shaped, with long sleeves and a straight cut from the neck, i.e. in the middle of the chest, without a collar - “naked neck”. Later, a kosovorotka appeared - a shirt with an oblique slit on the left, less often on the right, and with a stand-up collar. The “naked neck” was subsequently used as a lower, undershirt, which was worn under the outer shirt and was not taken off at night, like a belt. Our pious ancestors considered it unacceptable even to sleep naked.
To ensure freedom of movement of the arms, rectangular pieces of fabric - gussets - were sewn between the sleeves and side inserts (panels). A characteristic feature of the men's folk shirt is the canvas lining in the chest area, called the underlay, which descends in front and behind in a triangular or rectangular protrusion.
The length of the shirt was a sign age differences. The shirts of old people and children were down to the knees and even lower, and for men 10-15 cm above the knees. By the end of the 19th century, at the very time of secularization, the length of shirts and, especially in cities, was significantly shortened (to fit a jacket).
Shirts were made from linen or hemp canvas, motley (checkered or striped linen fabric), dyed canvas fabric - heeled fabric, and later - from factory-made cotton materials. The color of the fabric for work shirts was dark, and for prayer it was white. The hem and cuffs could be decorated with embroidery, the ancient form of which is “swearing” embroidery (in black and red). The bottom of the sleeves, neckline and hem were covered with ornaments. Along with patterned weaving and embroidery, the festive shirt was decorated with braid, sequins, gold braid, buttons, and beads. The men's holiday shirt was not inferior to the women's in terms of the richness of decorations. Shirts for prayer, both men's and women's, had no decorations.
Portas (pants) of Russian cut were made from striped motley fabric, printed fabric, plain canvas and homespun cloth - depending on the season. They were tied at the waist, and more often at the hips, with a cord or rope. There were also underwear ports for sleeping.
The belt is a mandatory element of both men's and women's traditional Russian costume. Belts were made using weaving, weaving and knitting techniques. One of the most common motifs in the pattern of belts are the ancient “solic” (solar) ornamental motifs, which in Christian symbolism mean the Sun
“The most ancient were belts made of linen or woolen threads, woven on the fingers and having a diamond-shaped pattern. The width of the belts ranged from 5 to 20 cm, and the length from 1 to 3 m.”8. Festive belts are wider and brighter than everyday ones. For Christians, a belt is not just an attribute of clothing, but carries a deep symbolic meaning. This is the separation of the bottom and the top, and readiness to serve God. Without a belt you can neither pray nor go to bed. Thus, there are two types of belts - lower and upper. The lower belt is simpler and unadorned.
Since an Orthodox Russian person did not do anything without a belt, the language has preserved a corresponding attitude towards a person who neglects such an ancient custom. For example, the word unbelt means: 1. Untie your belt. 2. Become dissolute, lose all restraint. “It’s a sin to walk without a belt,” people said. To unbelt a man means to dishonor him. That is why people who behaved unworthily were called unbelted, i.e. arbitrarily depriving himself of honor. “The belt is still considered a sacred object... and is not removed either day or night, except for those cases when it is necessary to go to the bathhouse to wash”1. “In the everyday life and rituals of the Russian people, the belt has long been given great importance. It was considered extremely indecent for a man without a belt to be in public, in society. The grandson of Dmitry Donskoy, Vasily Kosoy (mid-15th century), was insulted by the removal of his belt at a feast, which served as a pretext for war.” There was a saying among the people: “Why are you walking around without a belt, like a Tatar”?! Those. a person who walks without a belt in the popular consciousness no longer becomes not only not a Christian, but also not even Russian. Moreover, people who walked without a belt were considered sorcerers associated with evil spirits. “It is significant that the absence of a belt is a sign of belonging to the chthonic (lower, animal, in this case demonic - U.S.) world: for example, mermaids are traditionally described as (...) dressed in white shirts, but the absence of a belt is always emphasized . In rituals associated with communication with “evil spirits” (demons - U.S.), the belt was removed simultaneously with the cross.” “A belt tied on a person turns out to be the center of his vertical structure, the junction of the sacred top and the material-corporeal bottom...”
The main headdress for men was a hat. An ancient type of headdress among the Great Russians is considered to be a felt hat - “valenka”, “a headdress for spring, summer, autumn made of felted sheep wool in white, gray, brown. They were made in the shape of a truncated cone with a flat or rounded top, about 15-18 cm high, with bent brims or high brims adjacent to the crown”13. Peasants wore felted hats, as well as lower round hats with a fur band. Rich people made caps from satin, sometimes with a band decorated with precious stones and sable trim.
By the 20th century, people began to wear hats almost modern form. But a Christian always wore a headdress, and when he said goodbye, he took it off, said a prayer, and then put it on again. The only caps and hats that are prohibited for Christians are malakhai (Tatar) and three-piece hats. Also hats made of dog and wolf fur, especially for attending cathedral prayers.
Look how we are dressed?! Look who we look like?! Anyone, but not the Russians. To be Russian is not only to think in Russian, but also to look like a Russian person. So, let's change our wardrobe. The following items of clothing should be included:
This is the cornerstone of the Russian wardrobe. Almost all other types of men's outerwear in Rus' were versions of the kaftan. In the 10th century, it was introduced into Russian fashion by the Varangians, who, in turn, picked it up from the Persians. At first, only princes and boyars wore it, but over time, the caftan penetrated into the “toilets” of all other classes: from priests to peasants. For the nobility, caftans were made from light silk fabrics, brocade or satin, and the edges were often trimmed with fur. Near the edge, gold or silver lace was sewn along the flaps, cuffs, and hem. The caftan was extremely comfortable clothing and hid the flaws of its owner's figure. He gave significance to plain-looking people, solidity to thin people, grandeur to fat people.
Where to wear it?
For business meetings. A good caftan can easily replace a dull suit and tie.
This type of caftan was wide at the hem, up to three meters, with long sleeves hanging down to the ground. Thanks to the fairies, the saying “work carelessly” was born. She was worn like cold winter, and in hot summers. Summer furs were thinly lined, and winter ones were lined with fur. This item of clothing was sewn from different fabrics - from brocade and velvet (wealthy people) to homespun and cotton fabrics (peasants). Rich people wore feryaz on other caftans, and poor people - directly on shirts. The budget version of the feryazi was tied with cords, and its buttonholes were modest and did not exceed 3-5 in number. Exclusive caftans were decorated with seven expensive buttonholes with tassels, which could be either tied or fastened. The edges of the ferjazi were trimmed with galloon or gold lace.
Where to wear it?
For major celebrations and official receptions taking place outdoors.
It is somewhat reminiscent of a feryaz, but the opashen is less solemn. As a rule, it served as a duster or summer coat. The opashen was made of cloth or wool without lining, without decorations, sometimes even without fasteners. Hem-length sleeves were sewn in only at the back. The entire front part of the armhole and cuff of the sleeve was treated with facings or braid, thanks to which the opashen could be worn as a sleeveless vest: the arms in the sleeves from the lower caftan were inserted into the slits, and the sleeves of the opashen were left hanging at the sides or tied back. In cold weather, they were worn on the arms, and part of the sleeve could hang, protecting the hand and fingers from the cold.
Where to wear it?
Can easily replace a casual coat or raincoat.
A “casual” version of the caftan with a fitted short silhouette and fur trim. It was sewn on fur or cotton wool with a fur or velvet collar. Russian boyars spied this caftan during the defense of Polotsk in 1579 from the soldiers of the Hungarian infantry, who fought on the side of the Poles. Actually, the name of the caftan itself comes from the name of their Hungarian commander Kaspar Bekes. The Russian army lost Polotsk, but brought prisoners and “fashionable” Hungarians to Moscow. Measurements were taken from the “tongue” caftans, and another piece of clothing appeared in the Russian wardrobe.
Where to wear it?
“Bekesha” can become casual, semi-sportswear, and replace, for example, a jacket or down jacket.
A lightweight, minimalist version of the caftan made from homespun cloth. The zipun does not have any decorations or frills in the form of a stand-up collar. But it is very functional: it does not restrict movement. Zipuns were worn mainly by peasants and Cossacks. The latter even called their Cossack trade - going for zipuns. And highway robbers were called “zipunniks.”
Where to wear it?
Perfect for garden work in cool weather. Also not suitable for fishing and hunting.
Epancha was created for bad weather. It was a sleeveless cloak with a wide turn-down collar. They sewed epancha from cloth or felt and soaked it in drying oil. As a rule, these clothes were decorated with stripes in five places of two nests. Stripes - transverse stripes according to the number of buttons. Each patch had a buttonhole, so later the patches came to be called buttonholes. Epancha was so popular in Rus' that it can even be seen on the coat of arms of Ryazan.
Where to wear it?
An excellent replacement for a parka and a mackintosh (a raincoat, not the one from Apple).
Headdress.
It is impossible to imagine a Russian person of the 17th century appearing on the street without a headdress. This was a monstrous violation of decency. In pre-Petrine times, the central “head” attribute was a cap: a pointed or spherical shape with a slightly lagging band - a rim that fits the head. Noble people wore caps made of velvet, brocade or silk and upholstered in valuable fur. The common people were content with felt or felted hats, which were called “felt boots.” In hot weather or at home, Russians wore so-called “tafya”, caps that covered the tops of their heads, reminiscent of skullcaps. Noble citizens had tafyas embroidered with silk or gold threads and decorated with precious stones.
Where to wear it?
The cap will easily replace those accepted today knitted hats ridiculous looking. And tafya will supplant “alien” baseball caps and other “Panama hats” in the summer.
About one more extreme important accessory read Russian wardrobe.
Many books and articles have been written on the topic of Russian folk costume, both in print and on the Internet, as well as by me more than once on this blog.
However, loving Russia, the land on which I was born and raised, and also remembering that everything new is well-forgotten old, I want to once again talk about the folk costume of the 16-19 centuries.
Russian national costume
- a traditional set of clothing, shoes and accessories that has developed over centuries, which was used by the people of Rus' in everyday and festive use.
It has noticeable features depending on the specific location, gender (male or female), purpose (wedding, holiday and everyday) and age (children, girls, married women, old people)
It also had two main types: northern and southern. In central Russia they wore clothes similar in character to the northern, although southern Russian was also present...
Russian national costume became less common after Tsar Peter I in 1699 he banned the wearing of folk costume for everyone except peasants and church ministers. From this moment on, we can assume that clothing essentially became of two types: urban costume and folk costume.
Folk costume of the 15th-18th centuries.
Ancient Russian clothing at first glance presents great complexity and variety, but, looking closely at its parts, it is easy to recognize in many names more similarities with each other than differences, which were mainly based on the features of the cut, which, unfortunately, are now little understood for our time. In general, the clothes were the same in cut for both kings and peasants, they bore the same names and differed only in the degree of decoration.
The shoes of the common people were bast shoes made of tree bark - ancient shoes, used during pagan times (mainly before the 17th century). In addition to bark bast shoes, they wore shoes woven from twigs and vines, while some wore leather soles and tied them with belts wrapped around their feet. The footwear of wealthy people consisted of boots, chobots, shoes and chetygas. All these types were made from calfskin, from yuft, and for the rich from Persian and Turkish morocco.
All types of shoes were colored, most often red and yellow, sometimes green, blue, azure, white, flesh-colored. They were embroidered with gold, especially in the upper parts - the tops, with images of unicorns, leaves, flowers, etc. And they humiliated themselves with pearls, especially women’s shoes were decorated so thickly that the morocco was not visible.
In wealthy Russian houses, shoes were generally made at home. For this purpose, knowledgeable slaves were kept in the yard.
Men's folk costume.
The common people had canvas shirts, the noble and rich had silk shirts. Russian people loved red shirts and considered them elegant underwear. The shirts were made wide and not very long, dropped over the underwear and girded with a low and weakly narrow belt - a girdle.
In shirts under the armpits, triangular inserts were made from another fabric, embroidered with yarn or silk, or from colored taffeta. Along the hem and along the edges of the sleeves, the shirts were trimmed with braid, which was embroidered with gold and silk, two fingers wide. Noble and rich people also had embroidery on the chest and along the base of the sleeves. Such embroidered shirts were called sewn shirts. In shirts, special attention was paid to the collar, which extended from under outerwear and surrounded the back of the head high. Such a collar was called a necklace. This necklace, in fact, in the old days was called a shirt, but in the 17th century they began to call it a shirt, and a shirt or shirt to which it was fastened.
Pants (or ports) were sewn without cuts, with a knot, so that with it they could be made wider or narrower. For the poor, they were made of canvas, white or dyed, from homespun - coarse woolen fabric, and for the wealthy, they were made of cloth; in the summer, the rich wore taffeta pants or made of silk. The length of the pants reached only to the knee, they were sewn with pockets, called zepya, and came in different colors, including red.
Three clothes were put on the shirt and trousers: one on top of the other. The underwear was the one in which people sat at home; if it was necessary to go on a visit or receive guests, then the next one was put on, the other one, and the third one was for going out. Clothes of those times had many names, but they all belonged to one of three types.
Underwear was called zipun, both among kings and peasants. It was a tight dress, short, sometimes down to the knees, like a camisole. In the cutting book of the royal court, the length of the zipun was listed as 1 arshin and 6 vershoks, when the dress for the entire height was 2 arshins and 3 vershoks in length.
For simple and poor people, zipuns were made of dyed leather, winter ones were made of homespun, for the wealthy - silk, taffeta, often white with buttons. Sometimes the sleeves were sewn onto it from a different fabric.
For example, the zipun itself was made of white satin, and its sleeves were made of silver wool. The collars of the zipun were narrow and low, but like a shirt, a separate collar embroidered with pearls and stones was attached to the front - low.
A second garment was put on the zipun, which had several names, but was different in cut.
The most common and ubiquitous type of outerwear is the caftan. It was sewn to the toes or to the calves to show off gilded boots. There were two types of caftans based on length: caftan and caftans. Their sleeves were very long and gathered into folds or ruffles. In winter, these sleeves served as a muff against the cold. The slit on the caftan was only in the front and was trimmed with braid along the caftan. Parallel to the slit, stripes were made on both sides from a different fabric and a different color, and ties with tassels and cords (laces) were sewn onto these stripes, sometimes hanging loops were sewn on, and on the other side - buttons for fastening. Later they began to use only buttons up to 12-13 pieces on the chest. The lower part of the caftan was always unbuttoned. The collars of the caftan were low, from under them the bottom of the zipun or the necklace of the shirt protruded. On the back of the caftan, fabric of a lower quality than the front was used.
Winter caftans were made with furs, but light ones; similar warm caftans were called caftans.
The men also showed off their belts. They were both long and varied in decoration.
To this category medium clothes Chuga refers to clothing for traveling and riding. The chuga was girded with a belt, behind which a knife or spoons were placed. Chugs were fastened with buttons and were, if desired, embroidered in the same way as caftans.
Feryazy were called clothes worn in the same way as caftans. They wore zipuns. They had long sleeves, broad shoulders and narrower caftans at the hem. In Fletcher's description of Russian clothing, the feryaz is represented by the third outer dress - the first zipun, the second or middle one - a narrow caftan with a knife and a spoon in the belt (by which the British meant chugu), the third feryaz - a spacious dress bordered by a pasole. All that can be deduced from the confusing descriptions of other authors on the feryazi is that the feryaz was a more indoor type of caftan. Its name is Persian and came to us in the 16th century. It was in use both among kings and among the people.
Outer or folding clothes were: opashen, okhaben, odnoryadka, ferezya, epancha and fur coat. There was fear summer clothes, in the fall and spring they wore single-row. Like opashen, the single-row ones were wide and long to the toes with long sleeves. Okhaben - a cloak with sleeves and a hood. Ferezya - a cloak with sleeves worn while traveling. The epancha was of two kinds: one traveling from camel wool or coarse cloth, the other elegant from rich material, lined with fur more for pomp than for warmth. Fur coats were the most elegant clothing. A lot of furs in the house was a sign of prosperity and contentment. Fur coats were covered with cloth and silk fabrics and sewn with fur inside. But there were also fur coats and just fur coats, such coats were called head coats.
Clothes were preferred in bright colors and trim. Mourning colors were worn only on sad days.
Russian hats were of four types: taffyana, caps lined with fur in winter, low quadrangular hats with a fur band
and gorlat hats are the exclusive property of princes and boyars. From the hat one could recognize the origin and dignity. Tall hats signified nobility of origin and rank.
WOMEN'S FOLK CLOTHING.
The women's shirt was long, with long sleeves, white and red flowers. The wrists, embroidered with gold and decorated with pearls, were fastened to the sleeves. A letnik was worn over the shirts: clothes that did not reach the toes, but with long and wide sleeves. These sleeves were called caps: they were also embroidered with gold and pearls. The hem was trimmed with another material with gold braid and also trimmed with pearls. There was a slit along the front of the garment, which was fastened all the way to the throat, because decency required that a woman's breasts be covered as tightly as possible. For the wealthy, the flyer was made from lighter fabrics, for example. Taffeta, but they were also made of heavy gold and silver woven. The colors of the pilots were different.
A necklace was fastened to the summer jackets, as well as to the men's zipuns. For women it fit more closely.
Upper women's clothing I was afraid. This was a long garment with many buttons from top to bottom; the rich had gold and silver buttons, the poor had copper. The opashen was made of cloth, usually red, the sleeves were long, and there was a slit for the arms just below the shoulder. In this way, a woman could show not only the wide caps of her summer jacket, but also the wrists of her shirt, embroidered with gold and pearls.
A wide fur collar-necklace, round in appearance, was fastened around the neck, which covered the chest, shoulders and back. Along the cut and hem, the opashny was bordered with other types of fabric and was embroidered with gold and silk.
Another type of clothing was a padded warmer. It was already happening in the shoulders
But at the hem it was wider. The sleeves were long with armholes, as in opashna, at the edges of these sleeves a wrist made of hard fabric, often embroidered, was fastened, the hem was covered with a wide strip of other material, and the slit, which was fastened with buttons, usually 15 pieces, was edged with metal lace or braid, thickly embroidered with gold. Telogreys in the 15th-17th centuries were both cold and warm, lined with marten or sable.
Women's fur coats were different from men's. They were cold and warm (with fur).
If the letnik in women's attire corresponds to the zipun in men's clothing, then the opashen and quilted jacket corresponded to the caftan, and the fur coat meant outer clothing.
Also one of the types of warm clothes - soul warmers, they were sewn with sleeves and also without sleeves and looked like a vest with a skirt. They were also cold (made of fabric, and warm with sleeves or fur, or quilted with cotton wool.
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Women's fur coats were sewn on sable, martens, foxes, ermine, squirrels, hares, depending on the condition of the owner, and covered with cloth and silk fabrics of different colors and colored ones. The fur coats were also beautifully trimmed with metallic lace and braid. The sleeves of women's fur coats were decorated with lace at the edges; they were removed and stored. passing from mothers to daughters as heirlooms.
A silk fur coat lined with cotton wool and trimmed with fur has been preserved in the collection of the Russian Museum. It was tied on the chest with ribbons into three bows. At the end of the 18th and first half of the 19th century, a fur coat was part of a girl’s wedding costume and was fashionable clothing in the Russian North.
On ceremonial occasions, women put on a rich mantle - a podvolok or privolok - over their ordinary clothes.
Married women wore volosniks or podubrusniks on their heads - hats similar to skufya made of silk fabric, often made of gold, made with a knot, with the help of which the size was adjusted with a trim along the edge with trimmings of pearls and stones. The modest woman was afraid that even family members, excluding her husband, would not see her hair. A scarf, usually white, was placed over the hair, its hanging ends, tied under the chin, studded with pearls. This scarf was called ubrus.
When women went out, she put on a white hat with a brim. They also wore hats. The girls wore crowns on their heads. The crowns had lower parts, called cassocks. Others had simpler crowns and consisted only of gold wire in several rows, which were decorated with corals and stones. The maiden crown was always without a top. In the future - hoops (soft and hard) made of multi-colored ribbons. Open hair was considered a symbol of girlhood. If unmarried girls could wear one braid or unbraided hair. Then married women braided 2 braids without fail and always wore a headdress.
In winter, girls covered their heads with a tall hat made of sable or beaver with a cloth top; from under the hat one could see braids braided with red ribbons.
The poorer ones wore long shirts; on the shirts they put letniks, sometimes white, similar to a shirt, sometimes dyed, and tied a scarf made of dyed or woolen material around their heads. On top of the entire cape dress, the villagers wore clothes made of coarse cloth or silver - sernik. With great prosperity, the villagers wore silk scarves, and on top of the flyer was a single row of red or blue dye, zendel or zufi.
Women's clothes of that time were sewn without a waist, simply. And it was quite consistent with the proverb: not well cut, but tightly sewn.
Both men's and women's clothes were stored in cages, in chests under a piece of water mouse skin, which was considered a preventative against moths and mustiness. Beautiful and expensive clothes were worn only on holidays and special occasions.
In everyday life, the same nobles often wore dresses made of rough canvas or cloth.
Sundress - from the Persian word "sarapa", which literally means: dressed from head to toe. This name was used in Russia from the 15th to the 17th centuries, mainly for men's clothing. Later, the term "sundress" was preserved only in relation to women's clothing. Ancient sundresses were with sleeves or simply with wide armholes, swinging, with a fastening in one row (single-row) with buttons up to the neck. The back of an ancient slanted sundress was cut together with the straps. A similar triangle in the Nizhny Novgorod province was called a “frog”.
Shugai is women's outerwear with long sleeves, a large collar or without it, and a cut-off back approximately at the waist line. Shugai was festive clothing and was made from expensive fabrics: velvet, damask, brocade, silk.
A kanavat bedspread or kanavat veil, from the name of the Syrian city of Kanawat, where silk was made, is a large rectangular shawl. Such scarves were very expensive, from seven to 45 rubles. In the proverb, “the neck is undone, and the veil is undone” means surprise that poorer people could wear this expensive thing.
IN folk clothes Various decorations and accessories made of stone, metals, and other materials were also preferred. Dresses in Rus' have always been famous for their rich colors and patterns.
By the costume one could judge from which province, district or village the woman or girl was at the ball. Each type of clothing had its own meaning. Red clothes were considered the most solemn. In those days, the words “beautiful” and “red” had the same meaning.
Sources for the article: - social networks, book by N.P. Kostomarov “Essay on the Home Life and Morals of the Great Russian People in the 16th-17th Centuries”
....as well as:
Folk costume is a traditional set of clothing characteristic of a particular area. It is distinguished by the peculiarities of its cut, compositional and plastic solution, texture and color of the fabric, the nature of the decor (motives and techniques for making the ornament), as well as the composition of the costume and the way of wearing its various parts.
The creative source of the modern fashion designer is folk costume. The ways in which costume can be used as a source of innovation in clothing design can be varied. What is the attractive power of folk costume? Aesthetics, as well as functionality, expediency, rationality of cut and execution, and all this applies to any folk costume of any nationality. In the second half of the twentieth century, folk costume, its cut, ornament, and color combinations were widely used by fashion designers when designing clothes. Even folklore and ethnic styles appear. Folk costume becomes the object of close study.
Folk costume is one of the oldest and most widespread types of folk decorative and applied art; it has a wealth of forms of expression, breadth and depth of cultural and artistic connections. A costume is a complete artistic ensemble of harmoniously coordinated items of clothing, jewelry and accessories, shoes, headdress, hairstyle and makeup. The art of traditional costume organically combines various types decorative creativity and a variety of materials are used.
The main fabrics used for folk peasant clothing were homespun canvas and wool of simple plain weave, and from the middle of the 19th century. - factory-made silk, satin, brocade with ornaments of lush flower garlands and bouquets, calico, chintz, satin, colored cashmere.
The shirt is part of the Russian traditional costume. Women's shirts were made from straight panels of straight or homemade linen fabric. In the cut of many shirts, polyki were used - inserts that expand the upper part. The shape of the sleeves was different - straight or tapering towards the wrist, loose or gathered, with or without gussets, they were gathered under a narrow trim or under a wide cuff decorated with lace. In wedding or festive clothing there were shirts - long sleeves with sleeves up to two meters long, with wedges, without ruffles. When worn, such a sleeve was gathered in horizontal folds or had special slots - windows for threading the arms through. Shirts were decorated with embroidery using linen, silk, wool or gold threads. The pattern was located on the collar, shoulders, sleeves and hem.
Kosovorotka
Russian traditional men's shirt with a clasp on the chest, shifted to the left, less often to the right. Images of a shirt with such a fastener date back to the 12th century. In the 1880s It was the kosovorotka that was used as the basis for the new military uniform in the Russian army, becoming the prototype of the future tunic.
Kosovorotka is an original Russian men's shirt with a fastener that was located asymmetrically: on the side (a shirt with an oblique collar), and not in the middle of the front. The collar is a tiny stand-up. Shirt motifs can be found not only in men's clothing, but also in women's fashion. Linen blouses have traditionally been widely used in Russia in civilian life, being synonymous with the Russian men's shirt, and also as soldier's underwear. Among the ancient Slavs, the kosovorotka was the basis of any costume. It was made from homespun. Shirts with red checkered and striped fabric were found everywhere. They were working and festive, everything depended on the richness of the decoration.
Shirts were worn untucked, not tucked into trousers. They were belted with a silk corded belt or a woven wool belt. The belt could have tassels at the ends. The belt tie was located on the left side.
Kosovorotki were sewn from linen, silk, and satin. Sometimes they embroidered on the sleeves, hem, and collar. Indoors (in a tavern, shop, home, etc.) blouses were worn with a vest. It should be noted that it was the kosovorotka that was the basis for the emergence in 1880 of such an element of the uniform of the Russian army as the tunic.
Men's shirts
The kosovorotki of ancient peasants were a structure of two panels that covered the back and chest and were connected at the shoulders by 4-angled pieces of fabric. All classes wore shirts of the same cut. The only difference was the quality of the fabric.
Women's shirts
Unlike the men's blouse, the women's shirt could reach the hem of the sundress and was called a "stan". There was even a style of women's shirt with gathered sleeves specifically for feeding babies. In Siberia, for example, a woman’s shirt was called “sleeves” because only the sleeves were visible from under the sundress. Women's shirts carried different meanings and were called everyday, holiday, mowing, fortune-telling, wedding and funeral. Women's shirts were made from homespun fabrics: linen, canvas, wool, hemp, hemp. A deep meaning was laid in the elements of decorating a woman’s shirt. Various symbols, horses, birds, the tree of life, lanks, plant patterns corresponded to various pagan deities. Red shirts were amulets against evil spirits and misfortunes.
Children's shirts
The first diaper for a newborn boy was the father's shirt, the girl's mother's shirt. They tried to sew children's shirts from the fabric of their father's or mother's worn shirt. It was believed that the strength of the parents would protect the baby from damage and the evil eye. For boys and girls, the shirt looked the same with a toe-length linen blouse. Mothers always decorated their children's shirts with embroidery. All patterns had protective meanings. As soon as the children moved to a new stage, they were entitled to the first shirt made of new fabric. At three years old, first new shirt. At the age of 12, poneva for girls and pants for boys.
Kartuz
Our country has a very rich history of dresses. If you go to a local history museum, you will certainly see how diverse clothing was in Rus'. The costumes were always bright and this is how they characterized our Russian soul. In the history of Russian fashion there was also such a headdress as a cap. A cap is a men's headdress with a visor. It was created for the summer from factory-made cloth, tights, corduroy, velvet, lined. Kartuz has been known since the 19th century. In the middle of the 19th century, it existed in villages and cities of the northern provinces of European Russia, but it became especially widespread in the provinces of Central Russia. The Russians in Siberia also knew about it. It appeared in Western Siberia in the first half of the 19th century. Numerous regulatory decrees were adopted, defining the clothing of not only military, but also civilian officials. The shape, color, and finishing of the headdress were specified in detail. The cap was similar in shape to a cap, but did not have distinctive signs indicating belonging to a particular department.
They were sewn with a flat round top on a high (about 5 - 8 cm) standing band with a wide hard visor above the forehead. The visors could be semicircular, inclined or long straight; they were covered with leather or the fabric from which the entire headdress was made. The festive caps of young people were decorated above the visor along the band with ribbons, laces with buttons, beaded pendants, artificial and fresh flowers. There was a special cap fabric, but it was used not for hats, but for fuses in artillery shells. The cap was worn by village landowners, managers and retired officials.
Sundress
The sundress is the main element of the Russian women's traditional costume. Known among peasants since the 14th century. In the most common version of the cut, a wide panel of fabric was gathered in small folds - with a clothespin under a narrow bodice with straps. The differences in cut, woven fabrics used and their color in different regions of Russia are very great.
Sundress - as a category of Russian women's clothing, is familiar to contemporaries not only in Russia. The first mention of it in the Nikon Chronicle dates back to 1376. The shapes and styles of making sundresses changed from century to century, from north to south, from peasant women to noble women. The fashion for them never passed; it only left its mark in the decor and ways of wearing them. Sundress - long dress on straps, worn over a shirt or on a naked body. The sundress has always been considered Russian women's suit. However historical fact is that even in the 14th century it was worn by governors and great Moscow princes. The final affiliation women's wardrobe it became only in the 17th century.
The Russian sundress was worn both as everyday wear and as festive clothing (worn for folk festivals, church holidays, wedding celebrations). A girl of marriageable age was supposed to have up to 10 sundresses of different colors in her dowry. Representatives of the wealthy classes and nobility sewed rich sundresses from expensive overseas fabrics (velvet, silk, etc.) brought from Persia, Turkey, and Italy. It was decorated with embroidery, braid and lace. Such a sundress emphasized the social position of the hostess.
Russian sundresses consisted of many elements, so they were very heavy, especially festive ones. Slanted sundresses were made from “hair” - sheep’s wool woven black with a decoction of alder and oak. There was a difference between holiday and weekday sundresses. Festive ones for every day were decorated along the hem with a “chitan” (“gaitan”, “gaitanchik”) - a 1 cm thin homemade braid made of red wool. The top was decorated with a strip of velvet. However, not only woolen sundresses were worn every day. How light home clothes household "sayan" - a straight sundress made of satin, gathered into a small fold along the back and sides. The young wore “red” or “burgundy” sayans, and the elderly wore blue and black.
In Russian villages, the sundress played a special role; from it one could learn about a woman’s social status (whether she was married, whether she had children) and her mood (there were costumes for the holiday and for kruchina). Later, with the coming to power of Peter I, the appearance of the wealthy Russian class changed. The traditional Russian sundress was now considered the clothing of commoners and merchants' daughters. The return of the sundress to the wardrobe of Russian ladies occurred with the beginning of the reign of Catherine II. The German-born princess revived interest in Russian antiquity and introduced into court fashion a richly decorated dress, which in its style was vaguely reminiscent of the so familiar Russian outfit.
Kokoshnik
The name “kokoshnik” comes from the ancient Slavic “kokosh”, which meant chicken and rooster. A characteristic feature of the kokoshnik is the comb, the shape of which was different in different provinces. Kokoshniks were made on on a solid basis, the top was decorated with brocade, braid, beads, beads, pearls, and for the richest - with precious stones. Kokoshnik is an ancient Russian headdress in the form of a fan or a round shield around the head. Kichka and magpie were worn only by married women, and kokoshnik - even by unmarried women.
She could only wear a kokoshnik married woman, the girls had their own headdress - a magpie. They called it that because the scarf had a kind of tail and two wings. Probably, it was the magpie that became the prototype of today's bandana. A characteristic feature of the kokoshnik is the comb, the shape of which was different in different provinces. For example, in the Pskov, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov and Vladimir lands, kokoshniks resembled an arrowhead in shape. In the Simbirsk province, women wore kokoshniks with a crescent shape. In other places, headdresses similar to kokoshniks were called “heel”, “tilt”, “golden head”, “rogachka”, “kokuy”, or, for example, “magpie”.
Kokoshniks were considered great family value. Peasants carefully kept kokoshniks, passed them on by inheritance, they were often used by several generations and were an indispensable part of the dowry of a wealthy bride. Kokoshniks were usually made by professional craftswomen, sold in village shops, city stores, at fairs, or made to order. The shapes of kokoshniks are extremely unique and original.
The kokoshnik was not only a woman’s adornment, but also her amulet. It was embroidered with various ornamental amulets and symbols of marital fidelity and fertility. The ornament of the headband of the kokoshnik necessarily consisted of three parts. A braid - a metal ribbon - outlines it along the edges, and inside each part an ornament - a talisman - is embroidered with a “gimp” (twisted wire). In the center there is a stylized “frog” - a sign of fertility, on the sides - S-shaped figures of swans - symbols of marital fidelity. The back of the kokoshnik was embroidered especially richly: the stylized bush symbolized the tree of life, each branch of which represents a new generation; a pair of birds was often located above the branches, a symbol of the connection between earth and sky and the mating couple; in the birds’ legs there were seeds and fruits.
The kokoshnik was considered a festive and even wedding headdress. In the Simbirsk province, it was first worn on the wedding day, and then worn on major holidays until the birth of the first child. Kokoshniks were made in cities, in large villages and monasteries by special kokoshnik craftswomen. They embroidered expensive fabric with gold, silver and pearls, and then stretched it onto a solid (birch bark, later cardboard) base. The kokoshnik had a fabric bottom. The lower edge of the kokoshnik was often trimmed with under-bottoms - a net of pearls, and on the sides, above the temples, Ryasna was attached - strands of pearl beads falling low onto the shoulders. Later kokoshniks in the form of a cap are simply decorated with a beautiful ornament of wedding symbols “grapes and roses”, which appeared in embroidery under the influence of urban fashion, and personified in the popular consciousness “a sweet berry and a scarlet flower”.
Clothes were of great value; they were not lost or thrown away, but were taken very good care of, repeatedly altered and worn until they were completely worn out.
The poor man's festive attire was passed from parents to children. The nobility sought to ensure that her costume differed from the clothing of commoners.
Life wasn't easy common man. Hard work from dawn to dusk in the field, caring for the harvest, pets. But when the long-awaited holiday arrived, people seemed to be transformed, putting on the best, most beautiful clothes. Clothing could tell a lot about the marital status and age of its owner. So in the southern regions of our country, all children under 12 years old wore only long shirts.
Festive clothes were stored in chests.
In the ornaments on clothes you can see the image of the sun, stars, the Tree of Life with birds on the branches, flowers, figures of people and animals. Such a symbolic ornament connected a person with the surrounding nature, with the wonderful world of legends and myths.
Russian folk clothing has a centuries-old history. Its general character, which has developed in the everyday life of many generations, corresponds to appearance, way of life, geographical location and the nature of the work of the people. Starting from the 18th century, the northern part of Russia found itself apart from the developing centers and therefore the traditional features of folk life and clothing were much more fully preserved here, while to the south (Ryazan, Orel, Kursk, Kaluga) Russian folk costume received noticeable development.
Details varied in color and texture, but perfectly matched to each other, created an outfit that seemed to complement the harsh nature of the region, coloring it with bright colors. All the costumes were different from each other, but at the same time they had common features:
Straight silhouette of the product and sleeves, widened towards the bottom;
- the predominance of symmetrical compositions with the rhythm of rounded lines in details and decoration;
- the use of decorative patterned fabrics with the effect of gold and silver, finishing with embroidery, fabric of a different color, fur.
Old Russian clothing had its own characteristics: some types of clothing had sleeves longer than arms. They were usually collected in small folds. And if you let your sleeves down, it was almost impossible to work.
Therefore o bad work they say that it was done "carelessly." Very rich people wore such dresses. Those who were poorer wore short dresses, better suited for walking and working.
As always, the people remained faithful to their ancient clothes, and the upper classes exchanged or mixed their clothes with the clothes of their conquerors.
In the 16th century, men began to wear a shirt with a narrow collar, long pants, wide at the top, gathered with braid. The caftan was narrow, like a cover, reaching to the knees and equipped with sleeves. Under Peter I, trousers made of silk, canvas or cloth were used, which were tucked into boots. Peter I forced the long caftan to be shortened. For those who did not want to do this voluntarily, according to the royal decree, the soldiers cut off the floors. In the 16th and 17th centuries, noble women wore a shirt, the sleeves of which were wide and baggy at the top and tapered downwards, then a caftan, which was made wider than a man's, was fastened along the entire length with silver buttons. This caftan was belted with a shawl.
The soul of the people and their idea of beauty are reflected in Russian folk clothing.
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