Russian folk costume. National costumes of different countries Features and meaning of details
The costume of a peasant of Kievan Rus consisted of ports and a shirt. The shirt was cut out from separate parts that were sewn together. The seams were decorated with decorative red piping. Shirts were worn with a narrow belt or flower cord. The ports were sewn narrowed from below to the ankle. Tied at the waist with a drawstring. Tops were worn over silk or cloth trousers.
Doll in Russian costume XIX century. Oryol province. This is a South Russian type of costume with a ponytail. The shirt, which was also the oldest element of clothing, consists of two canvases, traditionally decorated with colored stripes along the bottom. The headdress of the doll is typical for the south of Russia. It is assembled according to the "magpie" type. Bunches of brightly colored feathers or threads were usually worn from the sides under the headdress.
Doll in Russian costume XIX century. Oryol province. Women's wedding suit. A multi-subject, with an abundance of various decorations, a costume of girl's and women's clothing with a sundress was widely used throughout Russia. The costume is complemented by a neck decoration - a necklace decorated with beads and glass beads. The necklace in the doll's costume is also very accurately conveyed with the help of gold braid.
Doll in Russian costume XIX century. Voronezh province The most busy element of the costume is the poneva. It was sewn from three panels of black woolen fabric in a cage and connected with black wool stitching. The doll is wearing a white canvas shirt with puffy sleeves trimmed with calico and braid imitating black thread embroidery. A horseshoe-shaped magpie is worn on the head of the doll. In many provinces, women of the first years of marriage put on a magpie, hiding their hair under it.
Doll in Russian costume XIX century. Ryazan province. Sapozhkovsky district The costume consists of a shirt, ponyova, a short pommel, a belt and a headdress. A tunic-shaped short sleeveless pommel is one of the oldest elements of clothing that existed on the Ryazan land in many areas, including in the Sapozhkovsky district. Bast shoes served as the main everyday and festive shoes, they were worn in summer and winter. They were made from linden and birch bark.
The festive ensemble includes a sundress, a shower warmer and a headdress "pochelok". Shirts worn with sundresses had a simpler finish. On top of the doll's sarafan, a shower warmer is worn - an obligatory part of the costume with a sarafan. Girls and married city women wore a duchy warmer; among the peasants, a duh warmer was also an item of wedding clothing. Doll in Russian costume XIX century. Kostroma province. girl costume
Doll in Russian costume of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Moscow province. Such a costume includes a shirt with a skirt, an apron, two scarves, bast bast shoes. At the beginning of the 20th century, skirts began to be widely used in the clothes of peasant women throughout Russia. They sewed quite simply. The fabric used was either single-color homespun or striped, or factory-made, as on a doll. The shirt, as the main element of the costume, was worn on weekdays and holidays. The apron was sewn from one straight piece of fabric, gathered on the lining and tied at the waist.
Doll in Russian costume XIX century. Moscow province The costume consists of a sundress, a shirt, a kokoshnik headdress. Its main feature is a shirt, which was called "long-sleeved", because. she had long sleeves of a special cut, reaching a length of 3 meters. The kokoshnik was worn by married women, and it was intended for big holidays. An apron is an obligatory accessory of a festive women's costume.
Doll in Russian costume XIX century. Moscow province. Girl's costume This is a costume with a sundress, where elegant red color prevails. The abundance of red distinguished the shirts of girls and young women. The shirt is made of natural bleached linen and features a minimal amount of embellishments in the form of calico patches. Also, only girls wore a headdress "pochelok", which did not cover the braid. Festive boots were made of thin leather of various colors.
A doll in the traditional costume of the inhabitants of the Tula province. The costume consists of a red shirt, a swing paneva with a very rich decor, a sash with a back and a headdress "chicken"
Patterned weaving, embroidery, and prints were used to decorate home textiles. Patterns of stylized plants, flowers, and branches were depicted. The most common ornamental elements are: triangles, rhombuses, oblique crosses, octagonal stars, rosettes, Christmas trees, bushes, rectangles with dots, stylized figures of a woman, a bird, a horse, a deer. The range of colors is multicolored.
The ornament arose not as an adornment, but as a talisman, had a magical meaning and was placed in certain, the most vulnerable places for a person in his clothes: along the collar, hem, bottom of the sleeves, went on both sides of the incision on the chest. A shirt designed in this way served a person as a reliable protection against the encroachments of numerous and varied evil spirits. Practical task: Draw an ornament on a shirt
Russian national costume can be conditionally divided into the costume of Kievan and North-Eastern Rus' of the X-XIV centuries, the costume of Moscow Rus' of the XV-XVII centuries, the folk costume of the XVIII - early XX centuries. In addition, in each time period, one can distinguish a costume traditional for commoners, and outfits of noble people. Before the adoption of Christianity in the clothes of the ancient Slavs, the features of the Scythian costume (shirts, pants) can be traced.
The main materials for clothing during this period were linen and wool. In the 10th century, under the influence of the new faith, silk tunics that came from Byzantium appeared in the costumes of princes and their entourage, cloaks with a red lining, tunics, dalmatics, and draped cloaks appeared in the wardrobe of their wives and daughters. The clothes of noble people were made from expensive imported fabrics and decorated with gold and silver embroidery, jewelry, and furs.
In the Petrine and subsequent eras, the costume of the nobility changes greatly and becomes no longer a Russian national costume, but a kind of European one. Only in the peasant and partly merchant environment are the old traditions preserved. Men still wear shirts, ports, zipuns and caftans, sheepskin coats. The women's costume practically does not change either. The main women's clothing continues to be a shirt and sundress.
In different areas, different colors and ways of cutting sundresses were traditional. In the 18th century, they were sewn from canvas and calico of red or blue color and decorated with a central vertical bar made of ribbon, lace, a number of buttons, the same ribbon was sewn along the bottom of the hem, at the top of the sundress, and sometimes under the chest. In the 19th century, sundresses were sewn from chintz, calico, satin, satin and other purchased fabrics, often not plain, but patterned, at the top the fabric was gathered into small folds. Such items of clothing as epancha, dushegreya, poneva and apron continue to be an accessory of the women's costume.
The basis of the women's folk costume of the X-XIV centuries was a long shirt with long sleeves, decorated with embroidery or a strip of fabric in a contrasting color along the neck. They never wore a shirt just like that; they put on a poneva, a zapon or a bib on top. Poneva is a skirt below the knees, consisting of three rectangular pieces of fabric connected at the waist with a belt. Ponevs were usually sewn from bright colored fabric.
The zapona was a straight sleeveless dress with a round neckline, with slits on the sides from the waist down. The zapon was tied with a cord. A bib is a top short dress with short sleeves and a round neckline, decorated along the hem and neckline with embroidery or stripes of a fabric of a different color. By the headdress, one could judge the marital status of a woman. Unmarried girls wore bandages or hoops, and married women covered their heads with a warrior (something like a scarf) and an ubrus (a piece of long fabric that was tied around the head in a certain way).
In the women's costume of the XV-XVII centuries, some innovations also appear, although it is still based on a straight long shirt. A sundress is now worn over it - a kind of dress with a straight bodice with straps and a flared skirt. Peasant women sew it from linen, and noble girls from silk and brocade. In front of the sundress, in the center from top to bottom, a strip of wide braid or embroidered fabric in a contrasting color was sewn. The sundress was belted under the chest. In addition, the outerwear for women was dushegreya - short oar clothes with straps, with or without lining. The soul warmer was sewn from beautiful patterned fabrics and additionally decorated with embroidered braid along the edge.
Merchant and boyar daughters at that time wore a letnik over their shirts - a long straight-cut dress with wide sleeves, sewn to the elbow like a bell, and then simply hanging down almost to the floor. Several wedges were sewn into the side parts of the dress, due to which the clothes became very wide at the bottom. The collar and hanging sleeves were richly decorated with pearls, embroidered with gold and silk. Warm outerwear was a fur coat with long sleeves. Telogreya was a long swinging garment with folding sleeves, fastened with buttons or ties.
An important element of the women's costume was a headdress. Girls do not cover their heads, but decorate their braids with colored ribbons and beads, put hoops or crowns on their heads. Married women wear "kichki" - headdresses consisting of a hoop, a cloth cover and a decorated backdrop. At the same time, a kokoshnik appeared - a headdress with a dense front part of various shapes, richly decorated with gold and silver embroidery, pearls and precious stones. The kokoshnik was tied at the back with wide ribbons, sometimes precious pendants or beads fell on the forehead and temples in front. At the back, thin beautiful fabrics could be attached to the kokoshnik, which fell in folds to the waist, or even to the very floor. In winter, noble ladies wore fur hats, like men's.
Shirts and ports were the traditional everyday wear of commoners in the 10th-14th centuries. Shirts were sewn from linen fabric of various colors or variegated length below the hips with one-piece sleeves. They were worn loose and tied at the waist with a colored cord or a narrow belt. On holidays, the shirt was complemented with embroidered cuffs and round collars.
Ports are men's pants that taper to the bottom and tie at the waist with a drawstring. The traditional shoes of the peasants (both men and women) were bast shoes, instead of socks in those days there were onuchi, strips of fabric that were tied around the feet and ankles. Men wore felt caps on their heads.
In the XV-XVII centuries, the everyday costume of the peasants changes somewhat. So the traditional cut on the neck of a men's shirt moves from the center to the left side, and the shirt itself becomes shorter and gets the name "kosovorotka". Opening clothes appear, fastened with buttons: a zipun and a caftan. The zipun was a cloth dress above the knees, slightly widened at the bottom, with narrow sleeves and a butt closure.
A caftan is an outer garment below the knee length with long sleeves and a high collar. Caftans of noble boyars were usually richly decorated with expensive fabrics, embroidery, braid or galloon. Outerwear for winter was a fur coat, long, with wide sleeves and a large collar lined with sable, fox, hare, arctic fox, squirrel, sheepskin. From above, a fur coat was usually covered with cloth (the peasants used cloth for this, and the boyars used expensive imported fabrics).
During this period, the costumes of the feudal nobility and peasants began to differ more and more, and not only in the quality of fabrics and finishes, but even in the cut of clothes. In the 15th-17th centuries, the wardrobe of noble people included such items of clothing as a feryaz and an okhaben. Feryaz - a caftan of a special cut, floor-length with long sleeves, made of silk or velvet fabric. It was customary to put on a feryaz only on one arm, while tightly gathering up the long sleeve, while the second hung freely behind almost to the floor.
Okhaben was also a kind of caftan with a large square collar that hung down the back and long sleeves tied at the back. Such a caftan was worn on the shoulders. Both of these items of clothing were completely unsuitable for performing any work and were intended only to emphasize the class affiliation of their owner.
Russian national outfits are a combination of rich colors and a large number of details that create a complete image. Several centuries ago, just by one suit, it was possible to understand from which province or village its wearer came. In addition, Russian craftswomen created solemn outfits that were different from each other for each special event. You will learn about the history of the national costume and the details that create it in this article.
Features of the national costume
Russian traditional outfits have always been divided into everyday and festive ones. Our ancestors very clearly separated the simpler clothes made of coarse fabrics with a minimum of decorative elements from the more colorful dresses for special events. Red clothes were considered the most luxurious.
Initially, in Rus', all costumes were created by skillful female hands from dense homespun materials. It also made the outfits more special. The main materials for tailoring outfits were cloth, linen and silk. The role of the lining was played by kindyak, a special lining fabric.
The fabric base was complemented by a large number of details, as well as accessories and shoes, which together formed a harmonious image.
These images differed significantly from each other depending on the regions. So, for example, people from the northern regions of Russia put on more outerwear. It was both open and cape, and in some cases these two types of outfits were combined. The cape was worn over the head, while the swing was fastened with buttons or hook-and-loop fasteners.
Clothing for the nobility also deserves special attention. She, of course, was more expensive and luxurious. Outfits for the nobility were embroidered with gold or silver threads, decorated with pearls and other decorative elements. Such an expensive outfit was worn for more than one year. As a rule, it was passed down from generation to generation, keeping it in its proper form.
History of Russian costume
During its existence, the national Russian costume practically did not change. The concept of fashion was less changeable than it is now, so the same style could be worn by several generations of the same family.
Less common outfits in the traditional Russian style began in the early eighteenth century. Then the ancient Russian costume was banned by Peter the Great, who wanted to make Russia more modern. The national attire was replaced by costumes in the Hungarian style, and later in German and French. In order for the innovations to take root, the ruler introduced a duty on wearing traditional Russian dresses in the city.
Female
Dresses for women have always been more interesting and varied than men's. They were real examples of the art of talented Russian women. Since the time of Ancient Rus', a women's costume consisted of a shirt (a simple shirt on the floor), a sundress and an apron. Often, for additional warmth, another thick shirt was worn under the shirt.
Embroidery has always been an integral part of any traditional outfit. In each province, it differed in colors and patterns. The hem and sleeves were decorated with embroidery.
Noteworthy are the dresses worn by women in Rus'. During the time of Ivan the Terrible, girls who dressed up in just one dress were considered obscene. It was customary to wear three dresses, one on top of the other. Such a suit turned out to be very heavy and massive.
Male
For men from a simple class, suits were sewn practical and comfortable. Russian culture has always been inseparable from nature and the earth. This was reflected in simple peasant clothes, which were sewn from natural fabrics and decorated with floral patterns.
The men's costume consisted of a simple shirt, trousers and a belt. The head was covered with felted wool sinner. Of the shoes, bast shoes were the most common. Light and comfortable, they protected the legs well while working in the field, but were not suitable for winter. With the advent of cold weather, the traditional Russian costume was supplemented with felt boots, and on holidays - with leather boots.
For children
Children in Ancient Rus' wore simpler clothes. As a rule, these were simple loose shirts. For the children of the nobility, outfits were created more refined. Sometimes they almost completely copied the adult costume. But young girls, unlike adult women, did not wear headdresses before marriage.
Features and meaning of details
As already mentioned, the details in the national Russian costume played a very important role.
Details of a man's suit
The basis of the national men's costume was a simple shirt. In the outfits of ordinary peasants, she was the basis of the costume, while the nobility wore her as underwear. It was sewn from linen or silk. From the inside, the front and back of the shirt were complemented by a lining, which was called the underlay. The wide sleeves of the shirt narrowed to the wrist.
The appearance of the gate was different. It could be rounded, square, or completely absent. If there was a collar, then it was supplemented with ties or buttons.
Also, the costume was supplemented with such details as zipun, opashen and okhaben. All these things are varieties of caftans. Over a shirt and a caftan a scroll, a casing or a kermyaga was put on. For more solemn occasions, a ceremonial cloak (korzno) or a single row of woolen fabric was used.
Fur coats were also popular. Peasants wore simpler products made of dense sheepskin or hare fur. Representatives of the upper class allowed themselves to flaunt in outfits made of silver fox, sable or marten.
In order to keep warm inside, fur coats were sewn with fur inside. Outside, they were covered with thick cloth. Outfits for the nobility were embroidered with brocade or velvet. A wide fur collar gave luxury to a fur coat.
Traditional Russian-style fur coats were floor-length. The sleeves were also very long, and the hands were threaded not only into them, but also into special slots located in front. They were worn not only in winter, but also in summer, to create a solemn image.
Another important detail of the male Russian costume is a headdress in the national style. There were several types of hats: tafya, klobuk, murmolka and triukha.
Tafya was a small round hat that fit snugly to the head. A simple hat was often worn over it. Ordinary people chose options from felt, richer people - from velvet.
Murmolki called hats, high and expanding to the top. Throat caps were created according to a similar principle. Only they were additionally decorated with furs coming from the very throat. Fox, sable or hare fur both decorated the hat and warmed the head.
Details of women's costume
The basis of the women's national costume was also a shirt. It was decorated with embroidery or exquisite edging. Noble Russian ladies, over a simple undershirt, also put on a maid, sewn from bright silk. The most elegant option is a scarlet maid shirt.
Over the shirts of a woman they put on an summer coat. An old floor-length outfit was created from silk and complemented with clasps at the very throat. Noble women wore a flyer decorated with gold embroidery or pearls, and a necklace adorned their collar.
A fur coat was a warmer alternative to the summer coat in the national women's costume. A long fur coat with decorative sleeves was a sign of luxury, since it was not particularly practical. Hands were either passed through special slots under the sleeves, or into the sleeves themselves, which were rolled up for convenience. It was possible to warm the palms in a muff, which was not only decorated with a fur edge, but also stitched with fur from the inside.
An important role was played by such a detail of the costume as a headdress. All married women in Rus' necessarily covered their hair, even while at home. In everyday life, the head was covered with a volosnik or a warrior, tying an elegant colorful scarf on top.
Corollas (wide bandages, complemented by long colorful ribbons), which were worn in summer, looked more elegant. In winter, they were replaced by fur hats. But the traditional Russian costume is still often associated with us with a kokoshnik - an elegant headdress in the form of a fan. If possible, he was richly decorated and became the main addition to the outfit.
National motifs in modern fashion or ethnic style
Although the traditional costume is now only part of the rich Russian history, many designers use its details to create modern outfits. Ethnic style is now in trend, so every fashionista should pay attention to such clothes.
Dresses in the Russian style should be restrained, because vulgarity, short skirts and too deep necklines are simply out of place here. One of the main values of our ancestors was chastity. Girls were required to dress modestly and discreetly, without flaunting their bodies. Modern outfits in the Russian ethnic style are created according to the same principle.
Publications in the Traditions section
Meet by clothes
Russian women, even simple peasant women, were rare fashionistas. In their voluminous chests, many different outfits were stored. They especially loved headdresses - simple, for every day, and festive, embroidered with beads, decorated with gems. The national costume, its cut and ornament were influenced by such factors as geographical location, climate, and the main occupations in this region.
“The more closely you study the Russian folk costume as a work of art, the more values you find in it, and it becomes a figurative chronicle of the life of our ancestors, which, in the language of color, shape, ornament, reveals to us many secret secrets and laws of the beauty of folk art.”
M.N. Mertsalova. "Poetry of folk costume"
In Russian costumes. Moore, 1906-1907. Private collection (Kazankov archive)
So, in the Russian costume, which began to take shape by the 12th century, there is detailed information about our people - a hard worker, plowman, farmer, living for centuries in conditions of short summers and long, fierce winters. What to do on endless winter evenings, when a blizzard howls outside the window, a blizzard sweeps? Peasant women weaved, sewed, embroidered. They did. “There is a beauty of movement and a beauty of stillness. Russian folk costume is the beauty of peace"- wrote the artist Ivan Bilibin.
Shirt
An ankle-length shirt is the main element of the Russian costume. Composite or one-piece, made of cotton, linen, silk, muslin or plain canvas. The hem, sleeves and collar of the shirts, and sometimes the chest part, were decorated with embroidery, braid, and patterns. Colors and ornaments varied depending on the region and province. Voronezh women preferred black embroidery, strict and refined. In the Tula and Kursk regions, shirts are usually tightly embroidered with red threads. In the northern and central provinces, red, blue and black prevailed, sometimes gold. Russian women often embroidered incantatory signs or prayer charms on their shirts.
They put on different shirts depending on what kind of work was to be done. There were "mowing", "stubble" shirts, there was also "fishing". It is interesting that the working shirt for the harvest was always richly decorated, it was equated to a festive one.
Shirt - "fishing". End of the 19th century. Arkhangelsk province, Pinezhsky district, Nikitinskaya volost, Shardonemskoe village.
Slant shirt. Vologda province. 2nd half of the 19th century
The word "shirt" comes from the old Russian word "rub" - frontier, edge. So, the shirt is a sewn cloth, with scars. Previously, they said not to “hem”, but to “cut”. However, this expression still occurs today.
Sundress
The word "sarafan" comes from the Persian "saran pa" - "over the head." It was first mentioned in the Nikon Chronicle of 1376. However, the overseas word "sarafan" rarely sounded in Russian villages. More often - kostych, damask, kumachnik, bruise or kosoklinnik. The sundress was, as a rule, of a trapezoidal silhouette; it was worn over a shirt. At first it was a purely masculine attire, ceremonial princely vestments with long folding sleeves. It was sewn from expensive fabrics - silk, velvet, brocade. From the nobles, the sundress passed to the clergy, and only after that it was entrenched in the women's wardrobe.
Sundresses were of several types: deaf, oar, straight. Swings were sewn from two panels, which were connected with beautiful buttons or fasteners. A straight sundress was attached to the straps. A deaf wedge-shaped sundress with longitudinal wedges and beveled inserts on the sides was also popular.
Sundresses with shower warmers
Recreated Holiday Sundresses
The most common colors and shades for sundresses are dark blue, green, red, blue, dark cherry. Festive and wedding attire was sewn mainly from brocade or silk, while everyday clothes were made from coarse cloth or chintz.
“The beauties of different classes dressed up almost the same - the difference was only in the price of furs, the weight of gold and the brilliance of stones. The commoner "on the way out" put on a long shirt, over it - an embroidered sundress and a warm jacket trimmed with fur or brocade. The boyar - a shirt, an outer dress, a letnik (clothes expanding downwards with precious buttons), and on top also a fur coat for greater importance.
Veronica Bathan. "Russian beauties"
Portrait of Catherine II in Russian dress. Painting by Stefano Torelli
Portrait of Catherine II in shugay and kokoshnik. Painting by Vigilius Eriksen
Portrait of Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna in Russian costume. Unknown artist. 1790javascript:void(0)
For some time, the sundress was forgotten among the nobility - after the reforms of Peter I, who forbade those close to walking in traditional clothes and cultivated the European style. The wardrobe item was returned by Catherine the Great, a well-known trendsetter. The Empress tried to instill in her Russian subjects a sense of national dignity and pride, a sense of historical self-sufficiency. When Catherine began to rule, she began to dress in Russian dress, setting an example for the court ladies. Once, at a reception with Emperor Joseph II, Ekaterina Alekseevna appeared in a scarlet velvet Russian dress studded with large pearls, with a star on her chest and a diamond diadem on her head. And here is another documentary evidence from the diary of an Englishman who visited the Russian court: "The Empress was in a Russian outfit - a light green silk dress with a short train and a corsage of gold brocade, with long sleeves".
Poneva
Poneva - a baggy skirt - was an indispensable element of a married woman's wardrobe. Poneva consisted of three panels, could be deaf or oar. As a rule, its length depended on the length of the women's shirt. The hem was decorated with patterns and embroidery. Most often, poneva was sewn from semi-woolen fabric in a cage.
The skirt was worn over a shirt and wrapped around the hips, and a woolen cord (gashnik) held it at the waist. An apron was usually worn on top. In Rus', for girls who had reached the age of majority, there was a rite of putting on a poneva, which said that the girl could already be betrothed.
Belt
Women's wool belts
Belts with Slavic patterns
Belt weaving loom
In Rus', it was customary for the lower women's shirt to always be belted, there was even a ritual of girdling a newborn girl. It was believed that this magic circle protects from evil spirits, the belt was not removed even in the bath. Walking without it was considered a great sin. Hence the meaning of the word "unbelted" - to become impudent, to forget about decency. Woolen, linen or cotton belts were crocheted or woven. Sometimes the sash could reach a length of three meters, such were worn by unmarried girls; a hem with a three-dimensional geometric pattern was worn by those who were already married. A yellow-red belt made of woolen fabric with braid and ribbons was wrapped around on holidays.
Apron
Women's urban costume in folk style: jacket, apron. Russia, late 19th century
Women's costume of the Moscow province. Restoration, contemporary photography
The apron not only protected clothes from contamination, but also adorned the festive attire, giving it a finished and monumental look. The wardrobe apron was worn over a shirt, sundress and poneva. It was decorated with patterns, silk ribbons and trim inserts, the edge was decorated with lace and frills. There was a tradition to embroider an apron with certain symbols. According to which it was possible, as if from a book, to read the history of a woman's life: the creation of a family, the number and gender of children, deceased relatives.
Headdress
Headwear depended on age and marital status. He predetermined the entire composition of the costume. Girls' headdresses left part of their hair open and were quite simple: ribbons, bandages, hoops, openwork crowns, scarves folded in a bundle.
Married women were required to cover their hair completely with a headdress. After the wedding and the ceremony of “untwisting the braid”, the girl wore a “kitka of a young woman”. According to the ancient Russian custom, a scarf was worn over the kichka - ubrus. After the birth of the firstborn, they put on a horned kichka or a high spade-shaped headdress, a symbol of fertility and the ability to bear children.
The kokoshnik was the ceremonial headdress of a married woman. Married women put on kichka and kokoshnik when they left the house, and at home, as a rule, they wore a povoinik (cap) and a scarf.
It was possible to determine the age of its owner by the clothes. Young girls dressed most brightly before the birth of a child. The costumes of children and older people were distinguished by a modest palette.
Women's costume abounded in patterns. Images of people, animals, birds, plants and geometric figures were woven into the ornament. Solar signs, circles, crosses, rhombic figures, deer, birds prevailed.
Cabbage style
A distinctive feature of the Russian national costume is its layering. Everyday costume was as simple as possible, it consisted of the most necessary elements. For comparison: a festive women's costume of a married woman could include about 20 items, and everyday - only seven. According to popular beliefs, multi-layered spacious clothes protected the hostess from the evil eye. Wearing less than three layers of dresses was considered indecent. Among the nobility, complex dresses emphasized wealth.
Peasants sewed clothes mainly from homespun canvas and wool, and from the middle of the 19th century - from factory-made chintz, satin, and even silk and brocade. Traditional outfits were popular until the second half of the 19th century, when they began to be gradually replaced by urban fashion.
We thank the artists Tatyana, Margarita and Tais Karelin, winners of international and city national costume competitions and teachers, for the photos provided.
Despite the change of names and political system, our country carries the ancient and special cultural values of our ancestors. They consist not only in art, traditions, characteristic features of the nation, but also in the national costume.
History of creation
The ancient Russian costume is considered to be the national clothes of the population of Rus' of the pre-Mongol invasion and Moscow Rus', before Peter I came to power. H and the formation of special features of the outfits was influenced by several factors at once: close relations with Byzantium and Western Europe, with severe climatic conditions, the activities of the vast majority of the population(cattle breeding, farming).
Clothing was sewn mainly from linen, cotton, wool, and in itself it had a simple cut and a long, closed style. But those who could afford it, in every possible way decorated a modest outfit with immodest decorative elements: pearls, beads, silk embroidery, gold or silver thread embroidery, fur trim. The national costume was also distinguished by bright colors (crimson, scarlet, azure, green shades).
The costume of the era of Muscovite Rus' from the 15th to the 17th centuries retained its characteristic features, but underwent some changes towards a more intricate cut. The class division influenced the differences in the outfits of the population: the richer and more noble a person was, the more layered his outfit was, and they wore it both indoors and outdoors, regardless of the time of year. Open and fitted clothes appeared, Eastern and Polish culture had its influence. In addition to linen, cloth, silk, and velvet materials were used. The tradition of sewing bright clothes and richly decorating them remained.
At the turn of the 17th - 18th centuries, Peter I issued decrees prohibiting everyone, except for peasants and priests, from dressing in national costumes, which played a negative role in their development. The decrees were issued with the aim of establishing political relations with the European allies and adopting their culture. The taste was forcibly instilled in the people, replacing chic, but long-brimmed and uncomfortable multi-layered clothes with more comfortable and lightweight all-European ones with short caftans and low-cut dresses.
The Russian national costume remained in the use of the people and merchants, but nevertheless adopted some fashion trends, for example, a sundress belted under the chest. In the second half of the 18th century, Catherine II made an attempt to return some national identity to the European costumes that came into fashion, especially with regard to the materials used and the pomp of decoration.
The 19th century brought back the demand for a national costume, in which patriotism, growing due to the Patriotic War, played its role. Sundresses and kokoshniks returned to the everyday life of noble young ladies. They were sewn from brocade, muslin, cambric. Appearing clothes, for example, “women's uniform”, may not look like a national costume, but still had a certain symbolic division into a “shirt” and a “sarafan”. In the 20th century, due to being cut off from European suppliers, there was a kind of return of national outfits, and in the second half, in the 70s, it was nothing more than a fashion trend.
Despite the fact that a certain traditional set of clothes can be distinguished, due to the large territory of the country the national costume took on characteristic features in certain regions. The North Russian set is word of mouth, and a little more ancient South Russian is ponyovny. In central Russia, the costume was more similar to the northern one, but there were features of the southern regions.
Sundresses were hinged and deaf, had a trapezoidal cut, were sewn from one or more canvases. More simple sundresses are products with straps, straight cut. Festive ones were sewn from silk and brocade, and for daily affairs and life - cloth and chintz. Sometimes a shower warmer was worn over a sundress.
The South Russian costume included a long shirt and a hip skirt - ponevs. Poneva was worn over a shirt, wrapped around the hips and fastened with a woolen cord at the waist. It could be both swinging and deaf, complemented by an apron.
Each province had its own preferences and peculiarities in decoration, colors, elements and even names. In the Voronezh province, ponevs were decorated with orange embroidery, geometric symbols were common in the Arkhangelsk, Tver and Vologda provinces, and what was called “feryaz” in the Yaroslavl province, in Smolensk it was “forty-cline”.
The modern world has its own special fashion, but among the people there is an interest in the origins, national clothes. Traditional outfits can be seen in museums and sometimes at exhibitions, they are used for theatrical and dance performances, at holidays. Many designers and fashion designers use the characteristic features of Russian folk costume in their collections, and some of them, like researchers, delve into detailed study, for example, Sergey Glebushkin and Fedor Parmon.
Peculiarities
Despite the large differences in regions and even provinces, one can distinguish common characteristic features of national Russian clothing: layering, flared silhouette, bright colors, rich finishes.
The multi-composition of the attire was characteristic of all strata of the population. While for the working people the costume could consist of seven elements, for the rich nobles already from twenty. One piece of clothing was worn over the other, whether it was open, deaf, cape, with clasps and ties. A fitted silhouette is practically not peculiar to the national outfit, on the contrary, free, trapezoidal styles are held in high esteem, and in most cases the length is to the floor.
Since ancient times, the Russian people have had a passion for bright colors that bring joy. The most common are red, blue, gold, white, blue, pink, crimson, green, gray. But besides them, each province had its own preferences in shades, of which there were a great many: lingonberry, cornflower blue, smoky, nettle, lemon, poppy, sugar, dark clove, saffron - and these are just a few of them. But the black color was used only in the elements of some regions, and then for a long time was associated exclusively with mourning attire.
Since ancient times, embroidery has had a sacred meaning for the Russian national costume. First of all, she always acted not as an ornament, but as a talisman, protection from evil spirits. Pagan symbolism has not sunk into oblivion even with the advent of Christianity, but the ornaments have acquired new elements, combining old Slavic and new church motifs. Protective amulets were embroidered on the collar, cuffs, hem. The most commonly used color solution was red threads on a white canvas, and after that multicolor began to spread.
Over time, embroidery acquired a rather decorative character, although it carried the plots of ancient ornaments and patterns. The development of gold-embroidered art, embroidery with river pearls, crafts, elements of which were transferred from dishes and furniture to clothes, also played their role in changing the meaning. The original Russian pattern suggests geometric strict forms, the almost complete absence of rounded elements, which was due to the embroidery technique. The most common motifs and specific symbols: the sun, flowers and plants, animals (birds, horses, deer), female figurines, huts, figures (rhombuses, beveled cross, Christmas tree, rosettes, octagonal stars).
The use of handicraft elements, for example, Khokhloma or Gorodets painting, came into use later.
In addition to embroidery, the outfits of the nobility were decorated with buttons.(wooden buttons entwined with gimp, lace, pearls, and sometimes precious stones), to rouge and fur on the hem and neck, stripes, necklaces(embroidered with pearls, clip-on collar made of satin, velvet, brocade). Of the additional elements - false sleeves, belts and sashes, bags sewn to them, jewelry, clutches, hats.
Varieties
The modern women's national costume is a kind of compilation of several characteristic features at once, because in fact there are a lot of types and variants of the original Russian costume. Most often, we imagine a shirt with voluminous long sleeves, a colored or red sundress. However, the simplified version, although it is the most common, is far from the only one, since many designers and just folk creators are returning to the traditions of their regions, which means that various styles and elements come into use.
Costumes for girls and children very much like adult models and include shirts, blouses, pants, sundresses, aprons, skirts, hats. Quite children's models can be sewn with short sleeves, for greater convenience, and, in principle, have a general look of a dress, but with certain national elements. For teenage girls, there is a greater variety of adult models, and not only sundresses and shirts, but also fur coats.
Winter folk costume is a lot of heavy clothing. In addition to a warm woolen sundress, part of the attire for the cold season is a short oar fur coat, fur coat, shower warmers, padded jackets, fur coats, woolen stockings, warm hats and shawls. In richer options, natural fur is present.
Festive
stage costumes There are two types: the most similar to real national costumes (for the choir), in which the rules of tailoring are observed, and stylized, in which many traditional elements are present, but necessary deviations are allowed. For example, outfits for a round dance, Russian folk dance or other dance styles should, first of all, be as comfortable as possible, so skirts can be shortened, overly puffy, and sleeves are not only long, but also ¾, “lanterns”. In addition, stage costumes, unless it is a theatrical production, are richly decorated and as bright as possible, attracting attention.
Wedding national costumes look especially elegant and luxurious. For the rich and noble, they were sewn from heavy expensive fabrics, and the people could afford simpler ones, such as linen. White was considered a symbol of holiness, so wedding dresses were made in other colors - silver, cream or multi-colored, elegant. It was considered mandatory to have embroidery of flora symbols - berries, leaves, flowers. In addition, the concept of a wedding attire included four sets of clothes at once - for pre-wedding festivities, weddings, ceremonies and celebrations.
Folklore costumes are as close as possible to the originals. Craftsmen recreate costumes with the characteristic features of a particular region or province. Carnival costumes can be similar to folk costumes or, conversely, be largely simplified. However, festive outfits are undoubtedly bright and decorated as much as possible.
Modern style
National color is one of the special styles in fashion, because it involves the interweaving of modern fashion trends and traditional features in the culture of a particular people. Slavic and Russian motifs are loved not only by our compatriots, but also by some foreign designers. In such clothes you can appear at any event, while looking ultra-stylish and appropriate.
