Each nation has its own centuries-old traditions, customs, history of its development and, accordingly, its own original and unique national costumes.

National costumes, traditions

There is a wonderful tradition: to use the national costume not only for any folk holiday, but also during periods of leisure, for example, among friends and relatives. Such a bright, colorful and positive moment of life can be observed in Sweden, Germany, America and other countries, which evokes respect.

This spectacle is attractive, bewitching, kind and colorful in its own way.

Every person is obliged to know the history of his nation. Belonging to certain age-old traditions and customs gives him a sense of significance in life.

The formation of any folk costume with its specific ornament, cut and other features was greatly influenced by surrounding factors: climate, way of life, geographical location and the main occupations of the nation.

National costumes (photo) of Russia

Russia is inhabited by peoples of different nationalities: Russians, Tatars, Mordovians, Udmurts, Bashkirs, Chuvashs, Kalmyks, etc. Each nation values ​​and carefully preserves its individual and rich culture, especially its folk costumes.

In Rus', all national costumes from ancient times had unique features depending on the region and nation and, in addition, for each nation they were divided into everyday and festive.

By clothing one could judge a person, where he came from, what nation and social class he belonged to. All national costumes, especially their decoration, have long contained symbolic information about customs, gender, occupations and various events, characteristic only of a certain nation.

The cut of the clothes, their ornaments and details absorbed the individual characteristics of all Russian peoples - beauty and hard work.

Russian folk clothing: history of appearance

The main difference between the Russian national costume is its multi-layered design, amazing richness of decoration and a rather simple, almost straight or slightly flared cut of the silhouette. The colors of the clothes were mostly bright and cheerful.

With all the diversity of folk clothing in Rus', the bulk of women's costume was represented by sundress sets of Northern Russian and Southern Russian (it is more ancient). And the shirt has always and everywhere been an indispensable basis for women's outfits. Usually they were made of linen or cotton, but the more expensive ones were made of silk fabric.

Almost all Russian national costumes were complemented with beautiful decorations on the collars and sleeves of shirts and dresses: embroidery, buttons, braid, sequins, patterns and appliqués. Often a unique ornament also decorated the chest part of the shirt. Moreover, all these additions in different provinces and regions were different and individual, special.

In any country and every people, an important part of the image of the nation, state and culture is its own traditional national clothing.

A folk costume is a kind of way to declare oneself on a national and even global scale.

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 16th-19th 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.

Boots were worn to the knee and served instead of pants for the lower part of the body, and for this purpose they were lined with canvas, they were equipped with high iron rebounds and horseshoes, with many nails along the entire sole; for kings and noble persons these nails were silver.

Chobots were ankle boots with pointed toes turned up. Shoes were worn by both men and women. With boots and boots they wore stockings, wool or silk, and in winter lined with fur. Posad wives also wore large boots up to their knees, but noblewomen walked only in shoes and boots. Poor peasant women walked, like their husbands, in bast shoes.

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.

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 the outer clothing 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 they 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 fastened to it - 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.

Outer or folding garments were: opashen, okhaben, odnoryadka, ferezya, epancha and fur coat. Summer clothes were in danger; in the fall and spring they wore single-row clothes. 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.

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 centuries, 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 high 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.

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 clothing, 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”
....and:

For many centuries, Russian national clothing has preserved the cultural values ​​of our people. The costume conveys the traditions and customs of the ancestors. Spacious cut, simple style, but beautifully and lovingly decorated details of the clothing convey the breadth of soul and flavor of the Russian land. It is not for nothing that the revival of Russian origins can now be seen in modern fashion collections.

The clothing of the ancient Slavs is the national dress of the population of Rus' until the reign of Peter I. The style, decoration, and image of the costume were formed under the influence of:

• The main activity of the population (farming, cattle breeding);
• Natural conditions;
• Geographical location;
• Relations with Byzantium and Western Europe.

The clothes of the Slavs were made from natural fibers (cotton, wool, linen), had a simple cut and length to the toes. The nobles wore bright colors (green, crimson, scarlet, azure), and the decorations were the most luxurious:

• Silk embroidery;
• Russian embroidery with gold and silver thread;
• Decoration with stones, beads, pearls;
• Fur decoration.

The image of clothing of Ancient Rus' began to emerge in ancient times, in the 14th century. It was worn by the tsar, boyars, and peasants until the 17th century.

Period 15-17 centuries. The Russian national costume retains its originality and acquires a more intricate cut. Under the influence of Polish culture, swinging and fitted clothing appeared among the Eastern Slavs. Velvet and silk fabrics are used. The noble princely and boyar classes had more expensive and multi-layered outfits.

Late 17th century. Peter I issues decrees prohibiting the wearing of national costumes by the nobility. These decrees did not apply only to priests and peasants. The decree prohibited sewing and selling Russian costumes, for which fines and even confiscation of property were provided. They were published by the Russian monarch in order to adopt European culture and strengthen relations with Europe. This measure of instilling someone else's taste had a negative impact on national development.

Second half of the 18th century. Catherine II tried to return Russian originality to the costumes of the European-style nobility. This was manifested in the fabrics and splendor of the outfits.

Patriotic War of the 19th century. The patriotic spirit of the population is rising, which has returned interest in the national clothing of the Russian people. Noble young ladies began to wear sundresses and kokoshniks. The outfits were made of brocade and muslin.

20th century. Due to strained relations with suppliers from Europe, there was a return to the clothing style of Ancient Rus'. This manifested itself in fashion trends with elements of Russian style.

Kinds

Ancient Russian national clothing was very diverse and was divided into festive and everyday attire. It also varied depending on the region, social class of the owner, age, marital status and type of activity. But some features of the costume distinguished it from the clothing of other nationalities.

Features of Russian national clothing:

1. Multiple layers, especially among the nobility and women;
2. Loose fit. For convenience, they were supplemented with fabric inserts;
3. A belt was tied to decorate and hold clothing. The ornament embroidered on it was a talisman;
4. Clothes made in Rus' were all decorated with embroidery and carried a sacred meaning, protecting them from the evil eye;
5. By the pattern one could find out about the owner's age, gender, nobility;
6. Festive outfits were made from bright fabrics and richly decorated with trim;
7. There was always a headdress on the head, sometimes in several layers (for married women);
8. Each Slav had a set of ritual clothing, which was richer and more colorfully decorated. They wore it several times a year and tried not to wash it.

The decoration of Russian clothing contains information about the clan, family, customs, and occupations. The more expensive the fabrics and decoration of the suit, the more noble and rich the owner was considered.

Noble

The outfits of the princely and boyar classes maintained the Russian style in clothing until the end of the 17th century. Traditionally, it was distinguished by luxury and layering. Even the growth of territories and turbulent international relations did not change the national identity of ancient Russian clothing. And the boyars and nobles themselves stubbornly did not accept European fashion trends.

During the period of the 16th and early 17th centuries, the costume of the nobility became more diverse, which cannot be said about peasant clothing, which did not change for many centuries. The more layers there were in the outfit, the richer and more noble the owner was considered. The weight of the dress sometimes reached 15 kg or more. Even the heat did not cancel this rule. They wore long, wide clothes, sometimes open with a slit in the front. The outfits that emphasized the waist were beautiful. Ancient Russian women's clothing reached a mass of 15-20 kg, which made women move smoothly and majestically. This kind of gait was the female ideal.

Old Russian clothing of princes and boyars was made from expensive fabrics imported from Italy, England, Holland, Turkey, Iran, and Byzantium. Rich materials - velvet, satin, taffeta, brocade, calico, satin - were in bright colors. They were decorated with sewing, embroidery, precious stones, and pearls.

Peasant

Clothing of ancient Rus' is one of the ancient types of folk art. Through decorative and applied arts, craftswomen passed on the traditions and origins of Russian culture. The clothing of Russian peasants, although simple, created a harmonious image, complemented by jewelry, shoes, and headdress.

The main materials for sewing were homespun canvas or woolen fabrics of simple weaving. Since the mid-19th century, factory-made fabrics with bright colored patterns (silk, satin, calico, satin, chintz) have appeared.

Peasant clothing was highly valued; it was taken care of, altered and worn almost to the point of disrepair. Festive clothes were kept in chests and passed from parents to children. She wore it rarely, 3-4 times a year, and they tried not to wash it.

After long days of work in the fields or with livestock, the long-awaited holiday began. On this day, the peasants put on their best clothes. Beautifully decorated, it could tell about the owner, his marital status, the area where he came from. The embroidery depicted the sun, stars, birds, animals, and people. The ornament not only decorated, but also protected from evil spirits. Russian patterns on clothes were embroidered on the edges of the product: neck or collar, cuffs, hem.

All costumes differed from each other in color, style and decoration. And they conveyed the natural features of their native land.

Military

The Russian professional army did not always have uniform uniforms. In ancient Rus', warriors did not have a single uniform. Protective equipment was selected depending on financial capabilities and methods of combat. Therefore, even in small squads, the clothes and armor of Russian heroes were different.

In ancient times, under protective gear, men wore a cotton or linen shirt, belted at the waist. On the legs were canvas harem pants (ports), which were gathered not only at the waist, but also at the ankles and under the knees. They wore boots made from a single piece of leather. Later, nagovitsa appeared - iron stockings to protect the legs in battle, and for the hands - bracers (metal gloves).

The main armor until the 17th century was chain mail made of metal rings. It resembled a long-skirted shirt with short sleeves. Her weight was 6-12 kg. Afterwards, other types of body protection appeared:

• Baidana (larger, thinner rings) weighing up to 6 kg;
• “Plate armor” - metal plates 3 mm thick were attached to a leather or fabric base;
• “Scaly armor” was also attached to the base, but resembled fish scales.

The armor of the warriors was supplemented on the head with a metal helmet with a spire. It could be supplemented with a half mask and aventail (chain mail mesh that protected the neck and shoulders). In Rus' in the 16th century, tegilai (quilted shell) appeared. This is an elongated quilted caftan with a thick layer of cotton wool or hemp. It had short sleeves, a stand-up collar, and metal plates sewn onto the chest. It was more often worn by poor wars. Such protective armor of Russian warriors existed until the 17th century.

Details and their meaning in clothing

Across the vast Russian territory, national clothing varied, sometimes even significantly. This can be seen in photographs and in museums. The depiction of people in Russian attire in the paintings conveys all the versatility and originality of ancient Rus'. The skillfully made jewelry of the craftswomen amazes with the complexity of the work.

Each region was famous for its decorative arts. If the nobility tried to have rich and original clothes that were not repeated by anyone, then the peasants decorated them with embroidery of natural motifs and invested their love for mother earth.

Male

The basis of ancient Russian men's clothing was a shirt and trousers. All men wore them. The nobility made them from expensive material with rich embroidery. The peasants had them made from homespun material.

Until the 17th century, trousers were wide, but later they became narrower and tied with a cord at the waist and ankles. The pants were tucked into the shoes. The nobility wore 2 pairs of trousers. The upper ones were often made of silk or cloth. In winter they were covered with fur.

Shirt

Another obligatory clothing of ancient Rus' for men was a shirt. For rich people it was an underwear item, and peasants wore it when going out without outer clothing (caftan, zipun). The shirt had a slit at the neck in the front or side, usually on the left (kosovorotka). The trim on the neck and cuffs was usually made of expensive fabric, embroidered or decorated with braid. Bright designs on the braid were in the form of plant patterns. The shirt was tied with silk or woolen cord, sometimes with tassels, and worn for graduation. Young people on the belt, older people - lower, making an overlap above the waist. He played the role of a pocket. Shirts were made from linen, silk, and satin fabric.

Zipun

A zipun was worn over the shirt. It was knee-length, with a belt and buttoned end-to-end. The narrow sleeves were fastened at the cuffs with buttons. A beautifully decorated collar was attached to the neckline. Zipun was most often worn at home, but young people sometimes wore it outside.

Kaftan

The nobles wore a caftan when going out. There were many styles, the common length being below the knees.

• More often the caftan was long, not fitted, with long sleeves. Butt fastened with 6-8 buttons. This ancient Russian clothing was decorated with a standing collar, decorated with embroidery and stones;
• They also wore a homemade wraparound caftan with buttons, metal or wood. In rich houses, gold buttons were used. Long sleeves were rolled up, but elbow-length options were more comfortable;
• Another style of caftan - chucha - was worn for riding. It had side slits and cropped sleeves for comfort;
• Polish culture in the 17th century influenced the appearance of the caftan, which fit tightly to the figure and flared below the waist. The long sleeves were voluminous at the shoulder and tapered greatly below the elbow.

The nobleman also had ceremonial clothing, its names were a cloak or a feryaz, which was worn over a caftan. The length of the outfits reached the calves or the floor; the dress itself was trimmed with fur or decorated with a fur collar. The wide shawl was fastened with one button. To sew the outfit, dark green, dark blue cloth or gold brocade was used.

Fur coat

If the caftan and furyaz were inaccessible to the peasants, then almost all segments of the population had a fur coat. Fur coats were made with the fur inside, expensive and not very expensive. Voluminous ones with large sleeves reached to the ground or were below the knees. Peasants wore hare and sheep fur coats. And rich, noble people sewed them from the skins of sable, marten, fox, and arctic fox.

Headdress

A mandatory attribute of Russian clothing was a fur hat, reminiscent of a high cap. Among the nobility, it was decorated with embroidery with gold thread. At home, boyars and nobles wore tafya, similar to a skullcap. When going outside, they put on a murmolka and a cap made of expensive fabric with a fur trim over the tafya.

Shoes

The most common footwear among peasants is bast shoes. Not everyone had leather boots, so they were very much appreciated. Instead of boots, peasants wrapped their feet tightly in cloth and sewed leather onto their feet. Boyars, princes, and nobles had the most common footwear in ancient Rus' - boots. The toes are usually turned up. Shoes were made from colored brocade, morocco and decorated with multi-colored stones.

Women's clothing

The main women's ancient Russian clothing was a shirt, a sundress, and a poneva. The formation of the folk costume of the southern regions of ancient Rus' was influenced by Ukrainian and Belarusian culture. The women's outfit consisted of a canvas shirt and a poneva (swinging skirt). On top, women put on an apron or cufflink and tied a belt. A high kick or magpie is required on the head. The entire outfit was richly decorated with embroidery.

The Slavic costume of the northern lands had a sundress shirt and an apron. Sundresses were made from a single cloth or from wedges and decorated with braid, lace, and embroidery. The headdress was a scarf or kokoshnik decorated with beads and pearls. In cold weather, they wore long fur coats or short shower jackets.

Shirt

Worn by women of all social classes, they differed in fabric and decoration. It was made from cotton, linen, expensive ones - from silk. The hem, collar and sleeves were decorated with embroidery, braid, appliqué, lace and other patterns. Sometimes dense designs decorated the chest area. Each province had different patterns, patterns, colors and other details.

Features of the shirt:

• Simple cut with straight pieces;
• The sleeves were wide and long, so as not to interfere, they wore bracelets;
• The hem reached to the toes;
• Often a shirt was made from two parts (the upper one was expensive, the lower one was cheaper, as it wore out quickly);
• Richly decorated with embroidery;
• There were several shirts, but smart ones were rarely worn.

Sundress

Ancient Russian women's clothing was worn until the 18th century in all segments of the population. They sewed things from canvas, satin, brocade, and silk. They were trimmed with satin ribbons, braid, and embroidery. At first the sundress looked like a sleeveless dress, then it became more varied:

• Deaf - sewn from one piece of fabric folded in half, a neck was made along the fold, decorated with bright fabric;
• Swing, oblique - appeared later and 3-4 fabrics were used for its sewing. Decorated with ribbons and patterned inserts;
• Straight, swing - sewn from straight fabrics, which were gathered on the chest. It was held on by two narrow straps;
• A type of straight one made of two parts - a skirt and a bodice.

Among rich women, a shushun sundress with flared bottoms was common. Extended sleeves were sewn onto it, but they were not worn. The shushun was fastened with buttons all the way to the bottom.

Poneva

The skirt is made of three layers of woolen fabric. They wove at home, alternating wool and hemp threads. A cellular pattern was created. Decorated with tassels and fringes. Young women decorated more brightly. Only married women wore it, sometimes with a shirt hanging from their belt. An apron or cufflink with a hole for the head was put on top of the skirt.

Outerwear:

• The flyer was sewn from a plain fabric and reached the calves in length. It was decorated with a fur collar;
• A shower warmer is a short garment, just below the waist, quilted with cotton lining. It was trimmed with bright fabrics, brocade, satin and fur. Worn by peasants and nobility;
• A fur coat sewn with fur inside was worn by women of all classes; peasant women had cheaper furs.

Hats

The clothing in the Russian style is completed with a headdress, which was different for unmarried and married women. The girls had part of their hair open, and they tied ribbons, hoops, headbands, and openwork crowns on their heads. Married women covered their heads with a headscarf over their kiki. The headdress of the southern regions was in the form of a spatula and horns.

In the northern regions, women wore kokoshniks. The headdress looked like a round shield. Its solid base was decorated with brocade, pearls, beads, beads, and among the nobility - expensive stones.

Children's

There was little children's clothing, it was valued, and in appearance it looked like an adult outfit. The younger children carried the older ones to term. Just for little ones, it could be with short sleeves, for convenience it could even resemble a dress.

The first diaper a boy was born with was his father's shirt, and a girl's was her mother's. In ancient Rus', clothes for children were altered from parents' outfits. It was believed that the energy and strength of the parents would protect the baby from any diseases or the evil eye of others. Shirts for boys and girls were no different; they were thick and long to the toes. The clothes were lovingly decorated with maternal embroidery, which was a talisman for the child.

At about 3 years old, children were sewn their first shirt from a new linen. And 12-year-old girls were entitled to a new poneva or sundress, boys - harpoon pants. For teenage children, the outfits were more varied; adult models were repeated: blouses, trousers, fur coats, hats.

Traditional clothing of Ancient Rus' has long gone into history. But the fashion ideas of designers look impressive in a modern outfit with elements of Russian style. Ethnic looks are in fashion now.

Dresses in Russian design attract with their modesty, restraint with a shallow neckline, medium length or almost to the floor. Russian patterns on clothes add sophistication and originality:

• Floral motifs on fabric;
• Hand embroidery of plant patterns;
• Sewing, appliqués;
• Trim with beads, ribbons;
• Lace making, crocheting, knitting.

Trimming is done on the cuffs, hem, neckline or yoke. Natural fabrics (cotton, linen) are very popular. And delicate colors (blue, beige, green, pistachio) convey femininity and purity. The style of a dress or sundress can be different, either loose or fitted with a slightly flared or “sun” skirt. Sleeves are long and short.

They complement the image in folklore flavor with jewelry, accessories (large earrings, beads, strap) and outerwear. This could be a vest, a coat or a warm fur coat, or a muff. A fur hat or brightly colored scarves on your head will complement the look. Fashion designers sometimes use a layering effect in modern outfits by changing the volume and shape of the sleeves.

Currently, Russian-style clothing sets for men, women, and children add national flavor to folk festivities and holidays. A new trend - a party in Russian folk style - brings guests back to Ancient Rus', to its traditions, round dances, and games.

Russian national clothing is the keeper of cultural roots. The artistic image has been preserved through many centuries. Nowadays there is a revival of interest in Russian traditions, holidays, and culture. New modern outfits are appearing that use elements of Russian costume.

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 of decorative creativity and uses a variety of materials.

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 fastener 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, 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 - https://equatorspb.ru/muzhskie-briuki. 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 affiliation with 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. A sundress is a long dress with straps, worn over a shirt or on a naked body. From time immemorial, the sundress has been considered a Russian women's costume. However, the historical fact is that even in the 14th century it was worn by governors and great Moscow princes. It became the final accessory of a woman’s wardrobe only in the 17th century.

The Russian sundress was worn both as casual and 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. Like light, home-style clothing, "sayan" is 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 a solid base, decorated on top 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.

Only a married woman could wear a kokoshnik; 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 a 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 on 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.

The life of a common man was not easy. 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 the appearance, lifestyle, geographical location and 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, widened silhouette of the product and sleeves;
- 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 the arms. They were usually collected in small folds. And if you let your sleeves down, it was almost impossible to work.

Therefore, they say about bad work 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 trousers, 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.

Russian folk clothing reflects the soul of the people and their idea of ​​beauty.

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The ancient clothing of the Russian nobility in its cut was generally similar to the clothing of people of the lower class, although it differed greatly in the quality of material and decoration. The body was fitted with a wide shirt that did not reach the knees, made of simple canvas or silk, depending on the wealth of the owner. An elegant shirt, usually red, had the edges and chest embroidered with gold and silk, and a richly decorated collar was fastened at the top with silver or gold buttons (it was called a “necklace”).

In simple, cheap shirts, the buttons were copper or replaced with cufflinks with loops. The shirt was worn over the underwear. Short ports or trousers were worn on the legs without a cut, but with a knot that made it possible to tighten or expand them in the belt at will, and with pockets (zep). Pants were made from taffeta, silk, cloth, as well as from coarse woolen fabric or canvas.

Zipun

Over the shirt and pants, a narrow sleeveless zipun made of silk, taffeta or dyed cloth was worn, with a narrow small collar fastened at the bottom. The zipun reached to the knees and usually served as home clothing.

An ordinary and widespread type of outerwear worn over a zipun was a caftan with sleeves reaching to the toes, which were gathered into folds, so that the ends of the sleeves could replace gloves, and in winter serve as a muff. On the front of the caftan, along the slit on both sides, stripes were made with ties for fastening. The material for the caftan was velvet, satin, damask, taffeta, mukhoyar (Bukhara paper fabric) or simple dyeing. In elegant caftans, a pearl necklace was sometimes attached behind the standing collar, and a “wrist” decorated with gold embroidery and pearls was fastened to the edges of the sleeves; the floors were trimmed with braid and lace embroidered with silver or gold. “Turkish” caftans without a collar, which had fasteners only on the left side and at the neck, differed in their cut from “stanovoy” caftans with an interception in the middle and with button fastenings. Among the caftans, they were distinguished by their purpose: dining, riding, rain, “smirnaya” (mourning). Winter caftans made with fur were called “caftans”.

Sometimes a “feryaz” (ferez) was worn over the zipun, which was an outer garment without a collar, reaching to the ankles, with long sleeves tapering towards the wrist; it was fastened in front with buttons or ties. Winter feryazis were made with fur, and summer ones with a simple lining. In winter, sleeveless fairies were sometimes worn under the caftan. Elegant feryazis were made of velvet, satin, taffeta, damask, cloth and decorated with silver lace.

Okhaben

Cover-up clothing that was worn when leaving the house included odnoryadka, okhaben, opashen, yapancha, fur coat, etc.

Single row

Opasheni

Odnoryadka - wide, long-skirted clothing without a collar, with long sleeves, with stripes and buttons or ties - was usually made from cloth and other woolen fabrics; in the fall and in bad weather it was worn both in sleeves and saddled. The okhaben was similar to the one-row shirt, but it had a turn-down collar that went down the back, and the long sleeves folded back and there were holes under them for the arms, just like in the one-row shirt. A simple okhaben was made of cloth, mukhoyar, and an elegant one was made of velvet, obyari, damask, brocade, decorated with stripes and fastened with buttons. The cut of the opashen was slightly longer at the back than at the front, and the sleeves tapered towards the wrist. Opashni were made of velvet, satin, obyari, damask, decorated with lace, stripes, and fastened with buttons and loops with tassels. Opashen was worn without a belt (“on opash”) and saddled. The sleeveless yapancha (epancha) was a cloak worn in bad weather. The traveling yapancha made of coarse cloth or camel hair differed from the elegant yapancha made of good fabric, lined with fur.

Feryaz

A fur coat was considered the most elegant clothing. Not only was it worn when going out into the cold, but the custom allowed the owners to sit in fur coats even while receiving guests. Simple fur coats were made from sheepskin or hare fur; martens and squirrels were higher in quality; noble and rich people had coats made of sable, fox, beaver or ermine. Fur coats were covered with cloth, taffeta, satin, velvet, obyarya or simple dyeing, decorated with pearls, stripes and fastened with buttons with loops or long laces with tassels at the end. “Russian” fur coats had a turn-down fur collar. “Polish” fur coats were made with a narrow collar, with fur cuffs and were fastened at the neck only with a cufflink (double metal button).

Terlik

Foreign imported fabrics were often used to sew men's clothing, and bright colors were preferred, especially “wormy” (crimson). Colored clothing, worn on special occasions, was considered the most elegant. Only boyars and duma people could wear clothes embroidered with gold. The stripes were always made from a material of a different color than the clothing itself, and for rich people they were decorated with pearls and precious stones. Simple clothes were usually fastened with tin or silk buttons. Walking without a belt was considered indecent; The nobility's belts were richly decorated and sometimes reached several arshins in length.

Boots and shoe

As for shoes, the cheapest were bast shoes made of birch bark or bast and shoes woven from wicker twigs; To wrap the legs, they used onuchi made from a piece of canvas or other fabric. In a wealthy environment, shoes were shoes, chobots and ichetigs (ichegi) made of yuft or morocco, most often in red and yellow.

Chobots looked like a deep shoe with a high heel and a pointed toe turned up. Elegant shoes and boots were made of satin and velvet of different colors, decorated with embroidery made of silk and gold and silver threads, and trimmed with pearls. Dressy boots were the footwear of the nobility, made from colored leather and morocco, and later from velvet and satin; the soles were padded with silver nails, and the high heels with silver horseshoes. Ichetygs were soft morocco boots.

When wearing elegant shoes, woolen or silk stockings were worn on the feet.

Kaftan with trump collar

Russian hats were varied, and their shape had its own meaning in everyday life. The top of the head was covered with tafya, a small cap made of morocco, satin, velvet or brocade, sometimes richly decorated. A common headdress was a cap with a longitudinal slit in the front and back. Less wealthy people wore cloth and felt caps; in winter they were lined with cheap fur. Decorative caps were usually made of white satin. Boyars, nobles and clerks on ordinary days wore low, quadrangular-shaped hats with a “rim” around the cap made of black-brown fox, sable or beaver fur; In winter, such hats were lined with fur. Only princes and boyars had the right to wear high “gorlat” hats made of expensive furs (taken from the throat of a fur-bearing animal) with a cloth top; in their shape they expanded somewhat upward. On ceremonial occasions, the boyars put on a tafya, a cap, and a gorlat hat. It was customary to keep a handkerchief in a hat, which was held in the hands while visiting.

In the winter cold, hands were warmed with fur mittens, which were covered with plain leather, morocco, cloth, satin, and velvet. “Cold” mittens were knitted from wool or silk. The wrists of the elegant mittens were embroidered with silk, gold, and trimmed with pearls and precious stones.

As decoration, noble and rich people wore an earring in their ear, a silver or gold chain with a cross on their neck, and rings with diamonds, yachts, and emeralds on their fingers; Personal seals were made on some rings.

Women's coats

Only nobles and military men were allowed to carry weapons; This was prohibited for townspeople and peasants. According to custom, all men, regardless of their social status, left the house with a staff in their hands.

Some women's clothing was similar to men's. Women wore a long shirt, white or red, with long sleeves, embroidered and decorated at the wrists. Over the shirt they put on a letnik - a light garment that reached to the toes with long and very wide sleeves (“caps”), which were decorated with embroidery and pearls. Letniki were sewn from damask, satin, obyari, taffeta of various colors, but worm-shaped ones were especially valued; A slit was made in the front, which was fastened all the way to the neck.

A necklace in the form of a braid, usually black, embroidered with gold and pearls, was fastened to the pilot's collar.

Women's outerwear was a long cloth opashen, which had a long row of buttons from top to bottom - tin, silver or gold. Under the long sleeves of the opashny, slits were made under the arms for the arms, and a wide round fur collar was fastened around the neck, covering the chest and shoulders. The hem and armholes of the opashnya were decorated with embroidered braid. A long sundress with sleeves or sleeveless, with armholes, was widespread; The front slit was fastened from top to bottom with buttons. A quilted jacket was worn over the sundress, with the sleeves tapering towards the wrist; These clothes were made from satin, taffeta, obyari, altabas (gold or silver fabric), baiberek (twisted silk). Warm quilted jackets were lined with marten or sable fur.

Fur coat

Various furs were used for women's fur coats: marten, sable, fox, ermine and cheaper ones - squirrel, hare. Fur coats were covered with cloth or silk fabrics of different colors. In the 16th century, it was customary to sew women's fur coats in white, but in the 17th century they began to be covered with colored fabrics. A slit made in the front, with stripes on the sides, was fastened with buttons and bordered with an embroidered pattern. The collar (necklace) lying around the neck was made from a different type of fur than the fur coat; for example, with a marten coat - from a black-brown fox. The decorations on the sleeves could be removed and were kept in the family as an inherited value.

On special occasions, noble women wore a privolok on their clothes, that is, a sleeveless worm-colored cape made of gold, silver woven or silk fabric, richly decorated with pearls and precious stones.

Married women wore “hair caps” on their heads in the form of a small cap, which for rich women was made of gold or silk material with decorations on it. To remove a hair lock and “unhair” a woman, according to the concepts of the 16th-17th centuries, meant causing great dishonor to a woman. Above the hairline, the head was covered with a white scarf (ubrus), the ends of which, decorated with pearls, were tied under the chin. When leaving home, married women put on a “kika”, which surrounded their head in the form of a wide ribbon, the ends of which were connected at the back of the head; the top was covered with colored fabric; the front part - the necklace - was richly decorated with pearls and precious stones; The headband could be separated or attached to another headdress, depending on need. At the front of the kick were pearl threads (lower) hanging down to the shoulders, four or six on each side. When leaving home, women put on a brimmed hat with falling red cords or a black velvet hat with a fur trim over the ubrus.

The kokoshnik served as a headdress for both women and girls. It looked like a fan or fan attached to a hairline. The headband of the kokoshnik was embroidered with gold, pearls or multi-colored silk and beads.

Hats

The girls wore crowns on their heads, to which pearl or bead pendants (robes) with precious stones were attached. The maiden crown always left the hair open, which was a symbol of girlhood. By winter, girls from wealthy families were sewn with tall sable or beaver hats (“columns”) with a silk top, from under which loose hair or a braid with red ribbons woven into it flowed down the back. Girls from poor families wore headbands that tapered at the back and fell down their backs with long ends.

Women and girls of all segments of the population decorated themselves with earrings, which were varied: copper, silver, gold, with yachts, emeralds, “sparks” (small stones). Earrings made from a single gemstone were rare. Bracelets with pearls and stones served as decoration for the hands, and rings and rings, gold and silver, with small pearls on the fingers.

The rich neck decoration of women and girls was a monisto, consisting of precious stones, gold and silver plaques, pearls, and garnets; In the old days, a row of small crosses was hung from the monist.

Moscow women loved jewelry and were famous for their pleasant appearance, but in order to be considered beautiful, in the opinion of Moscow people of the 16th-17th centuries, one had to be a portly, curvy woman, rouged and made up. The slender figure and grace of a young girl were of little value in the eyes of beauty lovers of that time.

According to Olearius’ description, Russian women were of average height, slender build, and had a gentle face; city ​​dwellers all blushed, tinted their eyebrows and eyelashes with black or brown paint. This custom was so ingrained that when the wife of the Moscow nobleman, Prince Ivan Borisovich Cherkasov, a beauty in her own right, did not want to blush, the wives of other boyars convinced her not to neglect the custom of her native land, not to disgrace other women, and they ensured that this naturally beautiful woman I was forced to give in and apply blush.

Although, in comparison with rich noble people, the clothes of the “black” townspeople and peasants were simpler and less elegant, nevertheless, in this environment there were rich outfits that accumulated from generation to generation. Clothes were usually made at home. And the very cut of ancient clothing - without a waist, in the form of a robe - made it suitable for many.

Men's peasant clothing

The most common peasant costume was the Russian KAFTAN. The difference between the Western European caftan and the Russian one was already discussed at the beginning of this chapter. It remains to add that the peasant caftan was distinguished by great diversity. What it had in common was a double-breasted cut, long skirts and sleeves, and a chest closed to the top. The short caftan was called HALF CAFTAN or HALF CAFTAN. The Ukrainian half-caftan was called SCROLL, this word can often be found in Gogol. Caftans were most often gray or blue in color and were made from cheap material NANKI - coarse cotton fabric or HOLSTINKA - handmade linen fabric. The caftan was usually belted with a SUSHAK - a long piece of fabric, usually of a different color; the caftan was fastened with hooks on the left side.
A whole wardrobe of Russian kaftans passes before us in classical literature. We see them on peasants, clerks, townsfolk, merchants, coachmen, janitors, and occasionally even on provincial landowners (“Notes of a Hunter” by Turgenev).

What was the first caftan that we met soon after we learned to read - the famous “Trishkin caftan” by Krylov? Trishka was clearly a poor, destitute man, otherwise he would hardly have needed to reshape his tattered caftan himself. So, we are talking about a simple Russian caftan? Not at all - Trishka’s caftan had coattails that a peasant caftan never had. Consequently, Trishka remakes the “German caftan” given to him by the master. And it is no coincidence that in this regard, Krylov compares the length of the caftan remade by Trishka with the length of the camisole - also typical clothing of the nobility.

It is curious that for poorly educated women, any clothing worn with sleeves by men was seen as a caftan. They didn't know any other words. Gogol's matchmaker calls Podkolesin's tailcoat ("Marriage") a caftan, Korobochka calls Chichikov's tailcoat ("Dead Souls").

A type of caftan was a PODDEVKA. The best description of her was given by the brilliant expert on Russian life, playwright A.N. Ostrovsky in a letter to the artist Burdin: “If you call a caftan with ruching at the back, which is fastened on one side with hooks, then this is exactly how Vosmibratov and Peter should be dressed.” We are talking about the costumes of the characters in the comedy “The Forest” - a merchant and his son.
The underdress was considered a more beautiful garment than a simple caftan. Dapper sleeveless undershirts, over sheepskin coats, were worn by wealthy coachmen. Rich merchants also wore underwear, and, for the sake of “simplification,” some nobles, for example Konstantin Levin in his village (“Anna Karenina”). It is curious that, following fashion, like a certain Russian national suit, little Seryozha in the same novel was sewn with a “rubbed undershirt”.

A SIBERKA was a short caftan, usually blue, sewn at the waist, without a slit at the back and with a low stand-up collar. Siberian shirts were worn by shopkeepers and merchants and, as Dostoevsky testifies in “Notes from the House of the Dead,” some prisoners also wore them.

AZYAM is a type of caftan. It was made from thin fabric and was worn only in the summer.

The outerwear of the peasants (not only men, but also women) was ARMYAK - also a type of caftan, sewn from factory fabric - thick cloth or coarse wool. Rich Armenians were made from camel hair. It was a wide, long-length, loose-fitting robe, reminiscent of a robe. Turgenev’s “Kasyan with the Beautiful Sword” wore a dark overcoat. We often see Armenian jackets on Nekrasov men. Nekrasov’s poem “Vlas” begins like this: “In a coat with an open collar, / With his head naked, / Slowly passing through the city / Uncle Vlas is a gray-haired old man.” And here’s what Nekrasov’s peasants look like, waiting “at the front entrance”: “Tanned faces and arms, / A thin little Armenian on the shoulders, / A knapsack on their bent backs, / A cross on the neck and blood on the legs...” Turgenevsky Gerasim, fulfilling the will of the lady, “covered Mumu with his heavy overcoat.”

Armenians were often worn by coachmen, wearing them over sheepskin coats in winter. The hero of L. Tolstoy’s story “Polikushka” goes to the city for money “in an army coat and a fur coat.”
Much more primitive than the armyak was the ZIPUN, which was made from coarse, usually homespun cloth, without a collar, with slanted hems. If we saw a zipun today, we would say: “Some kind of hoodie.” “No stake, no yard, / Zipun - the whole subsistence,” we read in Koltsov’s poem about a poor man.

Zipun was a kind of peasant coat that protected against cold and bad weather. Women also wore it. Zipun was perceived as a symbol of poverty. It’s not for nothing that the drunken tailor Merkulov in Chekhov’s story “The Captain’s Uniform,” bragging about his former high-ranking customers, exclaims: “I’d rather die than sew zipuns!” "
In the last issue of his “Diary of a Writer,” Dostoevsky called: “Let’s listen to the gray zipuns, what they will say,” meaning the poor, working people.
A variation of the caftan was CHUYKA - a long cloth caftan of careless cut. Most often, the scent could be seen on merchants and townsfolk - innkeepers, artisans, traders. Gorky has a phrase: “Some red-haired man came, dressed as a tradesman, in a tunic and high boots.”

In Russian everyday life and in literature, the word “chuyka” was sometimes used as a synecdoche, that is, a designation of its bearer based on external characteristics - a narrow-minded, ignorant person. In Mayakovsky's poem "Good!" There are lines: “Salop says to the sense, sense to the salad.” Here chuyka and cloak are synonyms for hardened ordinary people.
A homespun caftan made of coarse undyed cloth was called SERMYAGA. In Chekhov's story "The Pipe" an old shepherd in a homespun is depicted. Hence the epithet homespun, referring to the backward and poor old Russia - homespun Rus'.

Historians of Russian costume note that there were no strictly defined, permanent names for peasant clothing. Much depended on local dialects. Some identical items of clothing were called differently in different dialects, in other cases different items were called by the same word in different places. This is confirmed by Russian classical literature, where the concepts of “kaftan”, “armyak”, “aziam”, “zipun” and others are often mixed, sometimes even by the same author. However, we considered it our duty to present the most general, common characteristics of these types of clothing.

The KARTUZ, which certainly had a band and a visor, most often of a dark color, has only recently disappeared from peasant headdresses, in other words, an unformed cap. The cap, which appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century, was worn by men of all classes, first by landowners, then by burghers and peasants. Sometimes the caps were warm, with headphones. Manilov (“Dead Souls”) appears “in a warm cap with ears.” On Insarov (“On the Eve” of Turgenev) “a strange, big-eared cap.” Nikolai Kirsanov and Evgeny Bazarov (“Fathers and Sons” by Turgenev) wear caps. “Worn out cap” - on Evgenia, the hero of Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman”. Chichikov travels in a warm cap. Sometimes a uniform cap, even an officer’s one, was also called a cap: Bunin, for example, used “cap” instead of the word “cap.”
The nobles had a special uniform cap with a red band.

Here we must warn the reader: the word “cap” in the old days had another meaning. When Khlestakov orders Osip to look in his cap to see if there is any tobacco there, we are, of course, not talking about a headdress, but about a bag for tobacco, a tobacco pouch.

Simple working people, in particular coachmen, wore tall, rounded hats, nicknamed BUCKWHEATS - due to the similarity of the shape to the flat cake, popular at that time, baked from buckwheat flour. Every peasant's hat was disparagingly called “SHLYK”. In Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” there are the lines: “Look where the peasant shlyks go.” At the fair, men left their hats to the innkeepers as collateral to be redeemed later.

There were no significant changes in the names of the shoes. Low shoes, both men's and women's, in the old days were called SHOES; boots appeared later, not significantly different from shoes, but made their debut in the feminine gender: on the feet of the heroes of Turgenev, Goncharov, L. Tolstoy there was a BOOTE, not a shoe, as we say today. By the way, boots, starting from the 1850s, actively replaced boots, which were almost indispensable for men. Particularly thin, expensive leather for boots and other footwear was called VYROSTKOVA (from the skin of a calf less than a year old) and OPOIKOVA - from the skin of a calf that had not yet switched to plant food.

Boots with SET (or gathers) - small folds on the tops - were considered especially smart.

Just forty years ago, many men wore boots on their feet - boots with hooks for winding laces. In this meaning we find this word in Gorky and Bunin. But already at the beginning of Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot” we learn about Prince Myshkin: “On his feet were thick-soled shoes with boots - everything was not in Russian.” The modern reader will conclude: not only is it not Russian, but also not human at all: two pairs of shoes on one person? However, in the time of Dostoevsky, boots meant the same thing as leggings - warm covers worn over shoes. This Western novelty evokes poisonous remarks from Rogozhin and even a slanderous epigram on Myshkin in the press: “Returning in narrow boots, / He took a million inheritance.”

Women's peasant clothing

From time immemorial, the SARAFAN, a long sleeveless dress with shoulders and a belt, has served as rural women's clothing. Before the Pugachevites attack the Belogorsk fortress (“The Captain’s Daughter” by Pushkin), its commandant says to his wife: “If you have time, put a sundress on Masha.” A detail that is not noticed by the modern reader, but is significant: the commandant hopes that in village clothes, if the fortress is captured, the daughter will get lost in the crowd of peasant girls and will not be identified as a noblewoman - the captain's daughter.

Married women wore PANEVA or PONEVA - a homespun, usually striped or checkered woolen skirt, in winter - with a padded jacket. About the merchant's wife Big Clerk Podkhalyuzin in Ostrovsky's comedy "Our People - Let's Be Numbered!" he says with contempt that she is “almost a prude,” hinting at her common origin. In “Resurrection” by L. Tolstoy it is noted that the women in the rural church were in panevs. On weekdays they wore a POVOYNIK on their head - a scarf wrapped around the head, on holidays KOKOSHNIK - a rather complex structure in the form of a semicircular shield over the forehead and with a crown at the back, or KIKU (KICHKU) - a headdress with protrusions protruding forward - “horns”.

It was considered a great disgrace for a married peasant woman to appear in public with her head uncovered. Hence the “foolishness”, that is, disgrace, disgrace.
The word “SHUSHUN” is a kind of rustic padded jacket, short jacket or fur coat, remembered to us from the popular “Letter to a Mother” by S. A. Yesenin. But it is found in literature much earlier, even in Pushkin’s “Arap of Peter the Great.”

Fabrics

Their variety was great, and fashion and industry introduced more and more new ones, making the old ones forgotten. Let us explain in dictionary order only those names that are most often found in literary works, remaining incomprehensible to us.
ALEXANDREIKA, or KSANDREIKA, is red or pink cotton fabric with white, pink or blue stripes. It was readily used for peasant shirts, being considered very elegant.
BAREGE - light woolen or silk fabric with patterns. Dresses and blouses were most often made from it in the last century.
BARAKAN, or BARKAN, is a thick woolen fabric. Used for upholstery.
PAPER. Be careful with this word! Reading from the classics that someone put on a paper cap or that Gerasim in “Mumu” ​​gave Tanya a paper scarf, one should not understand this in the modern sense; “paper” in the old days meant “cotton.”
SET - spoiled “grodetur”, thick silk fabric.
GARUS - coarse woolen fabric or similar cotton fabric.
DEMIKOTON - thick cotton fabric.
DRADEDAM - thin cloth, literally “ladies' cloth”.
ZAMASHKA - the same as poskonina (see below). In Turgenev's story of the same name, Biryuk is wearing a fancy shirt.
ZATREPEZA - cheap cotton fabric made of multi-colored threads. It was produced at the factory of the merchant Zatrapeznov in Yaroslavl. The fabric disappeared, but the word “shabby” - everyday, second-rate - remained in the language.
KAZINET - smooth wool blend fabric.
KAMLOT - dense woolen or wool blend fabric with coarse stripes.
KANAUS - cheap silk fabric.
CANIFAS - striped cotton fabric.
CASTOR is a type of thin, dense cloth. Used for hats and gloves.
CASHMERE is an expensive soft and fine wool or wool mixture.
CHINESE - smooth cotton fabric, usually blue.
CALCICOOR - cheap cotton fabric, plain or white.
KOLOMYANKA - homemade variegated wool or linen fabric.
CRETONE is a dense colored fabric used for furniture upholstery and damask wallpaper.
LUSTRIN - woolen fabric with gloss.
MUKHOYAR - variegated cotton fabric mixed with silk or wool.
NANKA is a thick cotton fabric popular among peasants. Named after the Chinese city of Nanjing.
PESTRYAD - coarse linen or cotton fabric made of multi-colored threads.
PLIS is a dense cotton fabric with a pile, reminiscent of velvet. The word has the same origin as plush. Cheap outerwear and shoes were made from corduroy.
POSKONINA - homespun canvas made from hemp fiber, often used for peasant clothing.
PRUNEL - thick woolen or silk fabric from which women's shoes were made.
SARPINKA - thin cotton fabric with a check or stripe.
SERPYANKA is a coarse cotton fabric of rare weave.
TARLATAN - transparent, light fabric, similar to muslin.
TARMALAMA - dense silk or semi-silk fabric from which robes were sewn.
TRIP - fleecy woolen fabric like velvet.
FOLYAR - light silk, from which head scarves, neck scarves and handkerchiefs were most often made, sometimes the latter were therefore called foulards.
CANVAS - light linen or cotton fabric.
SHALON - thick wool from which outerwear was made.
And finally, about some COLORS.
ADELAIDE - dark blue color.
BLANGE - flesh-colored.
TWO-FACE - with an overflow, as if there were two colors on the front side.
WILD, WILD - light gray.
MASAKA - dark red.
PUKETOVY (from spoiled “bouquet”) - painted with flowers.
PUSE (from the French “puce” - flea) - dark brown.

Let me remind you of this version of what it was, as well as The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -