The clothing of our ancestors, both peasants and representatives of the nobility, seemed very diverse. In ancient times, princes, warriors and simple peasants differed little in their outfits, except perhaps in the dignity of the material and some decoration. Over the years, the difference in clothing between rich and poor began to increase. By the 14th-15th centuries, it was possible to unmistakably determine which social group a given person belonged to by outer attire.
In Rus', underwear was called zipun, both among kings and peasants. It was a tight and short dress that barely reached the knees. For simple and poor people, zipuns were made mainly from homespun or dye. The wealthy and rich could afford to have a zipun made of light silk fabric. Sometimes the zipun sleeves were made from a different material, for example, the zipun was made of white satin with buttons, and the sleeves were trimmed with silver. But usually zipuns had no sleeves at all. The collars for them were made small and narrow, and the rich wore a large collar decorated with pearls and precious stones, called obnizia. Some of them had a lot of these low heels; they were changed to appear more elegant and richer. The underwear dress was always made to be spacious and tied with a cord. The ends of the underwear were tucked into the boots. In addition to zipuns, there was also a sundress that people wore at home. This is the same zipun only long, reaching to the heels.
Underwear also includes ports or pants made of linen. Pants and trousers appeared on Russian soil with the arrival of the Mongol-Tatars and firmly established themselves here. Among the poor, ports were made from white or dyed canvas, as well as from homespun, which was a coarse woolen fabric. Those who were richer wore cloth pants in winter, and taffeta or silk in summer. Tsars and boyars had pants made of heavy silk fabrics of different colors, mainly red, crimson and yellow. In the old days, trousers did not cover all the legs, but reached only to the knee and were made with pockets called zenya.
In the old days, shirts were called shirts or srachitsa. They were made of canvas long to the knees with a split collar and belted with a cord over the underwear. Often the collar was decorated with embroidery with red threads, silk, silver and even gold - depending on the means and condition. The collar was fastened with a metal button.
Various types of outerwear were worn over the shirt and trousers. The common people dressed in thick clothes: women in ponevs, men in zipuns - this is the most ancient attire in Rus'. The princely mantle was called a basket and was an ordinary sleeveless cloak, which was tied with a cord around the neck.
The favorite outfit was a caftan, which reached to the toes, and sometimes only to the calves, to show off the gold-embroidered boots to the people. This outfit came from the East from the Tatars. They also wore a caftan. This is the same caftan, only short and simpler. The sleeves of the caftan were very long, so that they reached to the ground and were gathered in folds. The sleeves covered the palms, and thus in cold weather they completely replaced gloves. Also, the sleeves made it convenient to take something hot without burning your hands. In elegant caftans, the ends of the sleeves were decorated with wrists, that is, with embroidery in gold, silver and pearls. The slit on the caftan was only in the front and was decorated with velvet braid. Metal lace (gold or silver) made with different shapes was attached to the braid. Along the caftan, stripes were made of a different material and a different color in the form of circles or diamonds, and laces with tassels were sewn onto these stripes to fasten the caftan. Subsequently, they began to use only buttons from 12 to 30 on the chest. The collars on caftans were always narrow and small. The rich had a turn-down necklace, embroidered with gold and studded with pearls, attached to their caftan. Winter caftans were made with fur and were called kozhukhas.
For traveling and riding, they wore special clothes - chugu. It was a narrow caftan with sleeves only to the elbow and much shorter than ordinary caftans. The chuga was girded with a belt, behind which a knife was placed, and a travel bag was placed on the chest.
Feryaz. This was the name of men's clothing, which was worn over zipuns and caftans. The feryazha was with long sleeves, wide at the shoulders, only without lace and a turn-down necklace. Feryaz was indoor clothing, on which there were round or quadrangular stripes, called samples.
They also wore army coats, which were sewn with holes, with lace, with patterns, like ferjazi, and with embroidered collars. The hems of the army coats did not come together, but were thrown over one another.
The one-row garment was outerwear. In autumn and winter, and in general in inclement weather, they always wore a single-row jacket. The single-row jacket, wide and long to the toes, had large sleeves and elegant stripes on the sides.
When it rained, they often wore an okhaben, which looked like an ordinary cloak with a hood. A cloak with sleeves was called a ferezya. It was usually worn during the journey.
There was also epancha. These are two types of clothing: one is travel clothing made of bear hair or coarse cloth, the other is elegant clothing made of rich material, lined with fur. This cap was worn when they rode out on horseback and showed off in front of the people. It was made sleeveless, draped over the shoulders and fastened at the neck with buttons or ties.
In winter they wore fur coats. This was the most elegant clothing for Russians, since Russia has always been famous for its furs. The number of furs and fur coats spoke of the wealth of the owner. In ancient times, it was believed that noble people not only went out into the cold in fur coats, but also sat in their rooms in them, receiving guests, in order to show their wealth. The poor had sheepskin coats, hare sheepskin coats, and middle-income people had squirrel and marten coats. The rich had sable and fox fur coats. They also wore ermine fur coats, but this was mainly just to show off. Fur coats were also divided into elegant and sleigh. The first ones were used only for church and visiting, while the second ones were intended for weekdays.
Belt(“yusalo”; “girdling”; “sash”)
was a mandatory part of any ancient Russian costume: be it a women's, men's or children's costume. They were tied with outer, underwear, and hip clothing, but its main purpose was protection from evil forces: according to ancient beliefs, evil spirits always walked without a belt. In addition, the belt reflected the social status of its owner, and was also a badge of military distinction. He could indicate the warrior’s place in the princely army, his merits, belonging to any clan and, finally, marital status.
In Rus', men wore belts. The rich had belts made of silk and woven with gold and silver, velvet and leather. They were decorated with precious stones and pearls. At the belt hung captorgs (clasps) and a kalyta (wallet). The peasants wore sashes that were folded several times. They were made of wool, silk, and sometimes intertwined with gold and silver (well, this is already among wealthy people). The ends of the sashes always hung in front. Behind the sashes and belts, according to Asian custom, daggers and knives, as well as axes, hung.
Gloves and mittens were in use among all residents of Russia. Long sleeves replaced mittens. Russian tsars wore short mittens - gloves mainly only during cold weather. From the kings, the gloves passed to the boyars and further down the social ladder. The small mittens were called mittens.
An indispensable element of Russian clothing was a hat. She was of four births. Wealthy people wore small hats called tafyas, which covered only the crown. Such hats were embroidered with silk, gold and pearls. Noble people at home wore yarmulkes and fezzes. According to legend, Tsar Ivan the Terrible himself wore a yarmulke to church, for which he constantly received comments from Metropolitan Philip. Another type of hat, a pointed one, was called a cap. The rich people made caps from satin and strung pearls on the beads. A gold cufflink was pinned to the front of the cap. In winter, such a cap was lined with fur, which was wrapped towards the top and outwards in a wide strip. Such caps were made with longitudinal slits in the front. The slits were decorated with pearl threads and fastened with buttons. Poor peasants wore caps made of cloth or felt, and in winter they were lined with sheepskin or some cheap fur. The third type of hat was a quadrangular low hat with a fur band made of black fox, sable or beaver (depending on the money). In summer, the headband was fastened for beauty, and in winter, the entire hat was lined with fur. There were holes made on it with six buttons on each hole. Such hats were worn by nobles, boyars and clerks. The fourth type of hats was called gorlat hats. They were worn only by princes and the highest nobility. The hat could be used to determine a person's social class. This is where the saying comes from: “So does Senka’s hat.” Tall hats signified the nobility of the breed and position in society. So, no matter how a townsman, merchant or peasant dressed, he did not dare to wear a high hat. Even the height of the cap was commensurate with the dignity of the family and wealth.
Princely gorlat hats were made from precious furs with a high top. The hat was wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. A hole was made in the front, decorated with pearls in the form of some kind of figure. During the parade, the boyar or prince put on a tafya, a cap on the tafya, and a gorlat hat on the cap. The Moscow tsars did the same. Noble people considered it good and dignified to wrap their heads in several hats, and often sat in their hats in a room at elegant tables and received guests.
Earrings, which were also worn by men in Rus', were considered an additional decoration. Gold chains with a cross were always hung around the neck. Such chains were passed down from generation to generation as a guarantee of well-being.
Wealthy and rich people loved to wear a lot of rings with diamonds, emeralds, and yachts on their fingers. In the old days in Rus', the nobility did not have hereditary and hereditary seals, and everyone made their own seal on the ring
The shoes of the common people were bast shoes made from tree bark. Bast shoes were worn back in pagan times. In addition to bast shoes made of bark, they wore shoes made of vine twigs, also wicker. Some wore leather soles and tied them with straps wrapped around their feet. The footwear of wealthy people consisted of boots, chobots, shoes and chetygs. All of them were made from calfskin, and for the rich, from Persian and Turkish morocco. Boots were worn to the knees and served instead of pants for the lower part of the body. The boots had horseshoes with many nails; the kings had silver nails. Chobots were ankle boots with pointed toes raised to the top. Shoes were worn not only by men, but also by women. In the old days they also wore chetygs or pogovits. These shoes were borrowed from the Tatars. It consisted of a knee-length morocco stocking. With boots and boots they wore woolen or silk stockings, and in winter - fur stockings. Women's shoes were the same as men's. Posad wives wore boots and chobots, noblewomen wore boots and chobots. Poor peasant women exclusively wore bast shoes. All shoes, except bast shoes, were colored, bright colors, decorated with patterns and even pearls.
The clothing of our ancestors, both peasants and representatives of the nobility, seemed very diverse. In ancient times, princes, warriors and simple peasants differed little in their outfits, except perhaps in the dignity of the material and some decoration. Over the years, the difference in clothing between rich and poor began to increase. By the 14th-15th centuries, it was possible to unmistakably determine which social group a given person belonged to by outer attire.
In Rus', underwear was called zipun, both among kings and peasants. It was a tight and short dress that barely reached the knees. For simple and poor people, zipuns were made mainly from homespun or dye. The wealthy and rich could afford to have a zipun made of light silk fabric. Sometimes the zipun sleeves were made from a different material, for example, the zipun was made of white satin with buttons, and the sleeves were trimmed with silver. But usually zipuns had no sleeves at all. The collars for them were made small and narrow, and the rich wore a large collar decorated with pearls and precious stones, called obnizia. Some of them had a lot of these low heels; they were changed to appear more elegant and richer. The underwear dress was always made to be spacious and tied with a cord. The ends of the underwear were tucked into the boots. In addition to zipuns, there was also a sundress that people wore at home. This is the same zipun only long, reaching to the heels.
Underwear also includes ports or pants made of linen. Pants and trousers appeared on Russian soil with the arrival of the Mongol-Tatars and firmly established themselves here. Among the poor, ports were made from white or dyed canvas, as well as from homespun, which was a coarse woolen fabric. Those who were richer wore cloth pants in winter, and taffeta or silk in summer. Tsars and boyars had pants made of heavy silk fabrics of different colors, mainly red, crimson and yellow. In the old days, trousers did not cover all the legs, but reached only to the knee and were made with pockets called zenya.
In the old days, shirts were called shirts or srachitsa. They were made of canvas long to the knees with a split collar and belted with a cord over the underwear. Often the collar was decorated with embroidery with red threads, silk, silver and even gold - depending on the means and condition. The collar was fastened with a metal button.
Various types of outerwear were worn over the shirt and trousers. The common people dressed in thick clothes: women in ponevs, men in zipuns - this is the most ancient attire in Rus'. The princely mantle was called a basket and was an ordinary sleeveless cloak, which was tied with a cord around the neck.
The favorite outfit was a caftan, which reached to the toes, and sometimes only to the calves, to show off the gold-embroidered boots to the people. This outfit came from the East from the Tatars. They also wore a caftan. This is the same caftan, only short and simpler. The sleeves of the caftan were very long, so that they reached to the ground and were gathered in folds. The sleeves covered the palms, and thus in cold weather they completely replaced gloves. Also, the sleeves made it convenient to take something hot without burning your hands. In elegant caftans, the ends of the sleeves were decorated with wrists, that is, with embroidery in gold, silver and pearls. The slit on the caftan was only in the front and was decorated with velvet braid. Metal lace (gold or silver) made with different shapes was attached to the braid. Along the caftan, stripes were made of a different material and a different color in the form of circles or diamonds, and laces with tassels were sewn onto these stripes to fasten the caftan. Subsequently, they began to use only buttons from 12 to 30 on the chest. The collars on caftans were always narrow and small. The rich had a turn-down necklace, embroidered with gold and studded with pearls, attached to their caftan. Winter caftans were made with fur and were called kozhukhas.
For traveling and riding, they wore special clothes - chugu. It was a narrow caftan with sleeves only to the elbow and much shorter than ordinary caftans. The chuga was girded with a belt, behind which a knife was placed, and a travel bag was placed on the chest.
Feryaz. This was the name of men's clothing, which was worn over zipuns and caftans. The feryazha was with long sleeves, wide at the shoulders, only without lace and a turn-down necklace. Feryaz was indoor clothing, on which there were round or quadrangular stripes, called samples.
They also wore army coats, which were sewn with holes, with lace, with patterns, like ferjazi, and with embroidered collars. The hems of the army coats did not come together, but were thrown over one another.
The one-row garment was outerwear. In autumn and winter, and in general in inclement weather, they always wore a single-row jacket. The single-row jacket, wide and long to the toes, had large sleeves and elegant stripes on the sides.
When it rained, they often wore an okhaben, which looked like an ordinary cloak with a hood. A cloak with sleeves was called a ferezya. It was usually worn during the journey.
There was also epancha. These are two types of clothing: one is travel clothing made of bear hair or coarse cloth, the other is elegant clothing made of rich material, lined with fur. This cap was worn when they rode out on horseback and showed off in front of the people. It was made sleeveless, draped over the shoulders and fastened at the neck with buttons or ties.
In winter they wore fur coats. This was the most elegant clothing for Russians, since Russia has always been famous for its furs. The number of furs and fur coats spoke of the wealth of the owner. In ancient times, it was believed that noble people not only went out into the cold in fur coats, but also sat in their rooms in them, receiving guests, in order to show their wealth. The poor had sheepskin coats, hare sheepskin coats, and middle-income people had squirrel and marten coats. The rich had sable and fox fur coats. They also wore ermine fur coats, but this was mainly just to show off. Fur coats were also divided into elegant and sleigh. The first ones were used only for church and visiting, while the second ones were intended for weekdays.
Belt("yusalo"; "girdling"; "sash")
was a mandatory part of any ancient Russian costume: be it a women's, men's or children's costume. They were tied with outer, underwear, and hip clothing, but its main purpose was protection from evil forces: according to ancient beliefs, evil spirits always walked without a belt. In addition, the belt reflected the social status of its owner, and was also a badge of military distinction. He could indicate the warrior’s place in the princely army, his merits, belonging to any clan and, finally, marital status.
In Rus', men wore belts. The rich had belts made of silk and woven with gold and silver, velvet and leather. They were decorated with precious stones and pearls. At the belt hung captorgs (clasps) and a kalyta (wallet). The peasants wore sashes that were folded several times. They were made of wool, silk, and sometimes intertwined with gold and silver (well, this is already among wealthy people). The ends of the sashes always hung in front. Behind the sashes and belts, according to Asian custom, daggers and knives, as well as axes, hung.
Gloves and mittens were in use among all residents of Russia. Long sleeves replaced mittens. Russian tsars wore short mittens - gloves mainly only during cold weather. From the kings, the gloves passed to the boyars and further down the social ladder. The small mittens were called mittens.
An indispensable element of Russian clothing was a hat. She was of four births. Wealthy people wore small hats called tafyas, which covered only the crown. Such hats were embroidered with silk, gold and pearls. Noble people at home wore yarmulkes and fezzes. According to legend, Tsar Ivan the Terrible himself wore a yarmulke to church, for which he constantly received comments from Metropolitan Philip. Another type of hat, a pointed one, was called a cap. The rich people made caps from satin and strung pearls on the beads. A gold cufflink was pinned to the front of the cap. In winter, such a cap was lined with fur, which was wrapped towards the top and outwards in a wide strip. Such caps were made with longitudinal slits in the front. The slits were decorated with pearl threads and fastened with buttons. Poor peasants wore caps made of cloth or felt, lined with sheepskin or some cheap fur in winter. The third type of hat was a quadrangular low hat with a fur band made of black fox, sable or beaver (depending on the money). In summer, the headband was fastened for beauty, and in winter, the entire hat was lined with fur. There were holes made on it with six buttons on each hole. Such hats were worn by nobles, boyars and clerks. The fourth type of hats was called gorlat hats. They were worn only by princes and the highest nobility. The hat could be used to determine a person's social class. This is where the saying comes from: “So does Senka’s hat.” Tall hats signified the nobility of the breed and position in society. So, no matter how a townsman, merchant or peasant dressed, he did not dare to wear a high hat. Even the height of the cap was commensurate with the dignity of the family and wealth.
Princely gorlat hats were made from precious furs with a high top. The hat was wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. A hole was made in the front, decorated with pearls in the form of some kind of figure. During the parade, the boyar or prince put on a tafya, a cap on the tafya, and a gorlat hat on the cap. The Moscow tsars did the same. Noble people considered it good and dignified to wrap their heads in several hats, and often sat in their hats in a room at elegant tables and received guests.
Earrings, which were also worn by men in Rus', were considered an additional decoration. Gold chains with a cross were always hung around the neck. Such chains were passed down from generation to generation as a guarantee of well-being.
Wealthy and rich people loved to wear a lot of rings with diamonds, emeralds, and yachts on their fingers. In the old days in Rus', the nobility did not have hereditary and hereditary seals, and everyone made their own seal on the ring
The shoes of the common people were bast shoes made from tree bark. Bast shoes were worn back in pagan times. In addition to bast shoes made of bark, they wore shoes made of vine twigs, also wicker. Some wore leather soles and tied them with straps wrapped around their feet. The footwear of wealthy people consisted of boots, chobots, shoes and chetygs. All of them were made from calfskin, and for the rich, from Persian and Turkish morocco. Boots were worn to the knees and served instead of pants for the lower body. The boots had horseshoes with many nails; the kings had silver nails. Chobots were ankle boots with pointed toes raised to the top. Shoes were worn not only by men, but also by women. In the old days they also wore chetygs or pogovits. These shoes were borrowed from the Tatars. It consisted of a knee-length morocco stocking. With boots and boots they wore woolen or silk stockings, and in winter - fur stockings. Women's shoes were the same as men's. Posad wives wore boots and chobots, noblewomen wore boots and chobots. Poor peasant women wore only bast shoes. All shoes, except bast shoes, were colored, bright colors, decorated with patterns and even pearls.
Noble families had handkerchiefs for wiping their noses. They were worn not in pockets, but in hats. They were made from taffeta and trimmed with gold fringe. The common people did not use scarves, but they did not suffer from it at all.
For many centuries, Russian folk peasant costume was characterized by the invariability of cut and traditional character of the ornament. This is explained by the conservatism of the peasant’s way of life, the stability of events passed on from generation to generation. Our work uses portraits of artists and illustrations of museum exhibits, which is very important for studying the history of costume in Russia. We can analyze the combination and mutual influence of two trends in clothing - original-traditional and “fashionable”, focused on Western European patterns - which coexisted for two centuries. Changes in the costume of the urban population that occurred as a result of the reform of Peter IV at the beginning of the 18th century had little effect on folk peasant clothing - it remained almost unchanged until the end of the 19th century.
Woman suit
The most interesting is the women's costume, which most clearly reflects the ideas of the Russian people about beauty. In the old days, for a Russian woman, creating a costume was almost the only way to show her creative powers, imagination, and skill. Women's clothing, in general, was distinguished by its relative simplicity of cut, dating back to ancient times. Its characteristic elements were a straight shirt silhouette, long sleeves, and sundresses widened at the bottom. However, the details of the costume, its color and the nature of decoration in different regions of Russia had significant differences.
The basis of a woman's costume was a shirt, a sundress or a skirt and an apron. The shirt was usually made of linen and richly decorated with embroidery with colored threads and silk. The embroideries were very diverse, the pattern often had a symbolic meaning, and echoes of pagan culture lived in the images of the pattern.
The sundress has become a kind of symbol of Russian women's clothing. The everyday sundress was made of rough fabric and decorated with a simple pattern.
The festive sundress was made of elegant fabrics, decorated with rich embroidery, buttons, lace, braid and braid. Such sundresses were family heirlooms, carefully stored and passed on by inheritance. For the south of Russia, the typical clothing was a skirt called poneva made of homespun wool in dark colors.
The elegant poneva was decorated with bright ribbons and colored embroidery. An apron or cuff was worn over the poneva. Much attention was also paid to the finishing of the apron and cuff.
Another integral part of the Russian women's costume was the headdress.
Women's headdresses in Rus' were distinguished by their extraordinary diversity. The headdresses of married women and girls differed. For women they looked like a closed cap; girls did not cover their hair; they usually wore a ribbon or headband made of fabric or a pattern in the form of a wreath or crown around their heads. Married women wore a kokoshnik. Kokoshnik is the general name for a headdress. In each locality, the kokoshnik was called differently: “duckweed”, “kika”, “magpie”, “heel”, “tilt”, “golden head”, etc.
Having originated in one area and existing in another, one or another type of headdress retained the name of its homeland in its name, for example, “Novgorod kika” in the Tver province.
Kokoshniks had a solid form of various combinations and volumes. They were made from canvas and paper glued in several layers and decorated with gold embroidery, pearl trimmings, mother-of-pearl dies, colored cut glass and stones in nests with the addition of colored foil and other materials creating a decorative effect.
The front of the kokoshnik was complemented by an openwork mesh of pearls, mother-of-pearl and beads, hanging low on the forehead. Its ancient name is refid. Often the kokoshnik was worn, covered with a scarf or rectangular veil made of silk fabric, decorated with embroidery and braid along the edge.
The part of the veil that fell on the forehead was especially beautifully decorated. It was thrown over the headdress with a wide edge, loosely spreading the ends over the shoulders and back. The veil was not only intended for weddings; it was also worn on other holidays and special occasions.
Tightly twisted hair was hidden in a “heeled” kokoshnik, embroidered with pearls and two rows of patterned braid. The other part was covered with a beautiful openwork mesh of pearls or crushed mother-of-pearl, descending onto the forehead.
Kika is a hat with a scalloped gather along the front edge. Its top is covered with velvet, usually red, and embroidered with gold threads and pearls with inserts of small cut glass in metal sockets. The pattern is dominated by motifs of birds, plant shoots and double-headed eagles.
Toropets bourgeois women and merchant women wore high “kiki with cones”, covering them with elegant white scarves made of light transparent fabrics, richly embroidered with gold threads. Tver gold seamstresses, famous for their skill, usually worked in monasteries, embroidering not only church utensils, but also things for sale - scarves, parts of hats, which were distributed throughout Russia.
The scarf was tied under the chin with a loose knot, carefully straightening the ends. The result was a lush bow with a gold pattern. A ribbon was tied with a bow, fastening the collar of the shirt. The belt was tied with a third bow high on the chest.
Some items of traditional folk costume could be ancient, passed down by inheritance, while others were made anew, but the composition and cut of the clothing were strictly observed. To make any change in costume would be a "horrible crime."
The shirt was the main common clothing for all Great Russians. It was made from linen, cotton, silk and other homespun and factory-made fabrics, but never from wool.
Since the times of Ancient Rus', the shirt has been given a special role. It was decorated with embroidered and woven patterns, which contained in their symbolism the Slavs’ idea of the world around them and their beliefs.
The cut of the shirts of the Northern Great Russians was straight. In the upper part, in the shoulders, the shirt was widened by rectangular “polki” inserts. In peasant shirts, they were cut out of calico and decorated with embroidery. The sleeves were fastened to the waist using a “gusset” - a square piece of fabric, part made of red canvas and damask. This was typical for both women's and men's shirts. Both “poliks” and “gussets” served for greater freedom of movement. The loose cut of the shirt corresponded to the ethical and aesthetic ideas of the Russian peasant.
The beauty of the shirt lay in the sleeves; the rest of the parts were not visible under the sundress. Such a shirt was called “sleeves”. The “sleeved” shirt could be short without a waist. It was valued for the beauty of the pattern, for the work put into its creation, and was cherished and passed on by inheritance.
Epanechkas were worn on top of the sundress and shirt. They were decorated with gold braid and brocade ribbons.
Sundresses had to be belted. Festive belts were woven from silk and gold threads.
The predominant sundresses were predominantly of one type - slanted, swinging sundresses with openwork metal buttons set on braid, with air loops made of the same braid that also decorated the floors of the sundress. In general, the cut of sundresses was single-row, double-row, closed, with an open chest, round, narrow, straight, wedge-shaped, triclined, swinging, gathered, smooth, with a bodice and without a bodice. By fabric: canvas, sheepskin, dyed, variegated, Chinese, calico, cloth.
Festive sundresses were always made from silk fabrics with woven floral patterns, enriched with multi-colored and gold threads. Fabrics made from silk and gold threads are called brocade.
In the festive Russian costume, an important place is given to gold and silver threads and pearls. The color of gold and silver, their brilliance and radiance had a bewitching power of beauty and wealth.
Men's suit
The men's costume of the Russian peasant was simple in composition and less varied.
In all the provinces of Russia, men's peasant clothing included a low-belted canvas shirt and ports, which were not decorated with anything. Festive shirts were made from silk, factory fabrics, and were finished with embroidery. Shirts were worn untucked and girded with a patterned woven belt, often with tassels at the ends.
Rubishche was the name given to the coarsest, thickest clothes, everyday, work clothes.
Russian shirts had a fastening on the left shoulder with a cufflink or tie at the side. The men's suit also included a vest, borrowed from urban clothing.
The headdresses were tall felt hats without a brim, various hats with brims, and black brimmed hats wrapped with multi-colored ribbons. The hats were felted from sheep's wool. In winter they wore round fur hats.
The outerwear of men and women was almost the same in shape. In the warm season, both wore caftans, army jackets, and zipuns made of homespun cloth. In winter, peasants wore sheepskin coats and sheepskin coats decorated with pieces of bright fabric and fur.
Shoes for men and women were bast shoes, woven in different ways from bast and birch bark. Leather boots for men or women were an indicator of wealth. In winter they wore felt boots.
In general, traditional folk costume could not remain completely unchanged, especially in the city. The basics remained, but decorations, additions, materials, and finishes changed. At the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries, people of the merchant class allowed themselves to follow fashion without completely parting with the old Russian attire. They carefully tried to change the style, to bring traditional clothing closer to fashionable urban costume.
So, for example, the sleeves of the shirt were shortened, descended below the collar, and the belt of the sundress was moved to the waist, tightening the waist. People's taste adapted to urban fashion, catching in it something close to itself.
For example, under the influence of shawls - an indispensable addition to the fashionable European costume of the late 18th - early 19th centuries - scarves fell from kokoshniks to the shoulders. They began to wear several at a time. One on the head, it was tied in a special way - ends first, tied with a bow. The other was loosened over the shoulders with an angle at the back and wrapped in it like a shawl.
Russian industry was sensitive to the new demands of merchant taste and filled the market with colorful fabrics and printed scarves of various designs and textures.
Details easily transition from a fashionable suit to a merchant's suit without violating the main features of Russian clothing - its sedateness and length.
For a very long time, the Russian style of clothing “word of mouth” was kept in the Old Believer environment - the most conservative part of the population. Even longer in peasant villages, due to lack of funds and distance from the center of Russia.
At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, traditional Russian folk costume was used mainly as ritual clothing, giving way to a “couple” - a suit tailored according to urban fashion.
The “couple” consisted of a skirt and jacket, made from the same fabric. Traditional headdresses were also gradually replaced by cotton and printed scarves, lace scarves - “faishonkas”, and silk shawls. Thus, at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries, a process of erosion of the stable forms of traditional costume took place.
We finally decided to write an article about what we try not to leave home without. And we learned such shocking details from their story that our knees went cold with horror.
Text: Danila Maslov
Illustrations: Stepan Giliev, Sergey Radionov
Pants have long been no longer a symbol of masculinity: soon after a hundred years, women won the right to wear clothes sewn between their legs. But it is still customary in some regions to scold ladies who encroach on this shrine - they say, decent girls should be ashamed.
Although, it would seem, why is it embarrassing? On the contrary, in terms of protecting a girl’s honor, pants, as you and I know, will give a hundred points ahead to any dress. They will not be lifted by a gust of wind, they will not let down the fallen mistress with indecent bullying, and it is much more difficult to get to the female body dressed in this armor. And tight jeans can generally be removed only by working together with their owner, in four hands (besides, it’s not a fact that the pants will capitulate).
The thing is that once upon a time it was indecent even for men to wear pants. In our, so to speak, European culture, they immediately appeared as a shameful article of clothing - godless, unholy and vicious. And they remained that way until the present day. Of course, not all, but only some types.
The mystery of the stirrup, time and trouser leg
In fact, no one knows when exactly mankind invented pants. Something like fur overalls was apparently worn by some northern tribes of the deep past, but their contacts with the rest of the world were practically zero. In the world of ancient civilizations, there were no pants at all. The Mesopotamians on their bas-reliefs have skirts sewn from the bottom in the middle; the Indians, several thousand years ago, were tricky with loincloths, so sometimes they ended up with something pants-like. But in general, ancient men preferred to wear dresses, skirts and aprons. For the reason that they didn’t need pants for nothing: there was a lot of fuss with sewing, but no functionality.
Why does a real man need pants when he has a great comfortable dress?!
Just imagine: you are an ancient Egyptian. Or a Jew. Or Greek. Why do you need pants? To shine naked, excuse me, with your butt, while relieving yourself? To suffer while inventing belts, ties, buttons and flies? So that expensive material would be uneconomically rubbed in, as they used to say, “quilts and pads”? So that the seams cut where they shouldn’t when you bend over, and on a hot day you are drenched in sweat, deprived of air access to your body? So that you don’t fit into your pants, having gained weight, and after a shortage they fall off of you?
Women sometimes invented something like this for themselves in order to protect themselves from our immodest attempts. And generally for hygienic purposes. Oriental bloomers were sewn for themselves in harems. Why does a real man need pants when he has a great comfortable dress?!
But convenience comes at a price. Perhaps it was the absence of pants in the wardrobe of an ancient man that was the reason that incredibly late humanity fully mastered such a wonderful thing as horse riding. Or, on the contrary, the sluggish use of horse riding did not encourage the invention of normal strong trousers.
Riding sideways on donkeys - please. You can ride a horse if you don’t feel sorry for your future heirs, but this is a job for servants and boys. Even among the Assyrians, messengers rushed along the roads on horseback, picking up their skirts. Even analogues of the horse saddle were invented by some peoples, although these pads with straps bore little resemblance to a saddle in our understanding. But a warrior on horseback is nonsense. How will he fight, clinging to the animal with his hands and feet and experiencing unbearable torment in the area of the rubbed genitals?
No, a real warrior must be on foot. Or on a chariot. Here is a chariot - a wonderful invention: the driver drives, the archer or spearman stands behind and hits everything that moves. And a real warrior, of course, will fight in real men's clothing - a miniskirt covered with metal plates. Yes, you can’t travel everywhere on a chariot; it is suitable for flat semi-deserts or special natural arenas for battles. On the paved streets of Thebes and Athens, it is very effective, on Roman roads. And the Greeks, Chinese, Egyptians or Romans do not have to rush through wild forests and hills. Let the pitiful barbarians sit out in this wilderness - they still won’t dare to go near the cities. Many of them ride on horseback - a wild, barbaric way of transportation. For this purpose they wear shameful leather clothes called “pants”, but they can only fight with semi-wild villagers. They'll gallop around in their pants, jump off their horses, take their swords out of their backpacks, and start looting. Until the regular army arrives, of course, because they are an untrained rabble and their only salvation is to jump on their horses and run away, losing prey along the way and catching the arrows of archers on their backs. Ugh, disgrace!*
* - Note Phacochoerus "a Funtik: « In fact, horseback riding was sometimes used by regular troops, for example by the same Greeks, but the importance of the cavalry of that time was very small. Basically, horses were needed to carry soldiers to the enemy, after which they dismounted and fought on the ground »
The barbarians wore pants similar to those in the photo on the right. The ones in the picture are about three thousand years old.
And around the 4th century AD, the irreparable happened. Some scoundrels invented the stirrup. And it was a revolution comparable to the advent of the atomic bomb.
From now on, a person could ride a horse and at the same time shoot with a bow, hit with a spear or work with a sword. The horseman ceased to be a helpless target for a foot or charioteer; he himself became a formidable force. And the war horse became the most important element of the army. And here interesting metamorphoses happened with the pants.
You need to understand that by that time an enlightened Chinese or a respectable Roman treated pants the way you would treat a skirt made of palm leaves. This was the clothing of lower creatures, semi-humans, all sorts of Scythians and Xiongnu - horse meat eaters. Decent people were supposed to wear silk robes, snow-white togas, or proudly flash their bare knees under short military shirts.
Therefore, for another five hundred years, pants were camouflaged in every possible way, especially among Europeans. They were hidden under togas, mantles and robes with a slit. They were completely unacceptable in secular clothing; they were not worn by rulers and especially by priests.
But even after the men finally admitted their shame, the clothing of their legs still pretended to be anything but barbaric, rough trousers. Now we can call a spade a spade: men began to wear stockings.
Choking by highways
From about the 11th century, men's long hemlines begin to rise, and we see beauty that had hitherto been hidden from the world. The French called it chausses, the Italians called calzoni: stockings made of cloth or silk, tightly fitting the leg and attached on the sides with ropes to a loincloth - brae. To ensure a tight fit, the boots had to be put on wet. A complaint from a 14th-century boy has been preserved, who in a letter to his mother lamented that “the highways torment him, because they are much tighter than his skin, because in the skin he feels light and free, but in the highways he experiences true suffering.” On top, a medieval man wore a short dress and a short cloak - such an outfit was considered modest and dignified. True, in this outfit you had to be very careful not to bend over when there was a significant person, a church or a priest behind you: for insulting these objects with the appearance of your bra you had to pay a fine.
Now we can call a spade a spade: men began to wear stockings
It is extremely interesting to read in chronological order the complaints of medieval moralists about the decline of morals regarding trousers. Throughout the 11th and 12th centuries they fought with the colorful highways. Medieval fashionistas developed a bad habit of wearing stockings of different colors: red and blue, yellow and purple, or white and green. This was considered extremely vicious. Then they began to fight with the skirts that were sewn to the highways. Then - with puffy pants. The panties grew in volume, and this undoubtedly indicated that the entire modern society was going to hell. Then came the fight with the codpieces. Texts condemning this disastrous detail of the toilet multiplied, as the codpieces became more massive and eventually reached half a meter in length; they were worn curled in spirals and used as purses. Around the same time, the engineering genius of mankind realized that highways could be sewn from above. This is how pants were reinvented, or rather, to be honest, tights.
At this time, the papal throne repeatedly anathematized another vicious hobby - false calves. As it turned out, Catholic women could not be corrupted with just a codpiece - they had to put pieces of wood in their tights that imitated pumped-up calf muscles. The favorite satirical object of fifteenth-century poetry is “an old man with dyed hair and false calves, which are bunched up and stick out behind him like stocks, which he undoubtedly deserves for daring to rush to a date with a beauty.”
And only from the 15th–16th centuries a new type of trousers appeared - something similar to modern breeches with cuffs. They were worn under a short dress during pilgrimage trips, for example. It was rough, almost peasant clothing. High-born gentlemen continued to experiment with lace on tights.
Pantsless regicides
Almighty short pants
But the time has come, and the aristocrats realized that short knee-length pants, moderately tight or widened according to fashion, are a very comfortable thing. In France, trousers were called "culottes" and were prohibited for all classes except the nobility. Non-nobles were ordered to wear long trousers, reaching to the ankle. Firstly, from a distance it is clear who should do the “ku” to whom three times, and secondly, there is not enough silk for stockings, the nobles themselves do not have enough, let the rest wear cloth windings. Throughout the 17th and entire 18th centuries, people in long pants looked sternly as people in short pants strangled them with taxes, beat them with whips, shaved them into the army and trampled their fields while hunting with dogs. The mood of people in long pants gradually deteriorated.
Typical sans-culotte
Sensing something was wrong, people in short pants allowed the then riot police, that is, all kinds of guards, to wear short pants - however, always with button fasteners, so as not to be confused with real short pants. But it was already too late.
People in long pants, calling themselves sans-culottes (sans-culottes), staged a massive shaking out of their owners' culottes and even cut off the head of the main wearer of short pants - the king himself. After this, Europe plunged into bloody chaos for thirty years, from which it emerged wiser - both about taxes, and about whips, and about pants.
Well, that is, for a while.
Great Unnameables
No matter how the French Revolution was viewed in the rest of the world, the fashions of post-revolutionary France became universal. Men of all classes wore long trousers - essentially for the first time since the time of the Huns. The priests, of course, still hid their wicked long johns and ports under their cassocks and cassocks, and the hussars and dragoons wore tight white tights - leggings - for a long time, because army fashion is generally a conservative thing. But, in general, long pants - trousers - celebrated the absolute victory over Christian civilization and even became its unofficial banner, although its founder, admittedly, neglected this wardrobe detail. The black suit of a European man became a symbol of our world order for two hundred years.
Until the 20th century, boys in wealthy families up to 5–6 years old were dressed exclusively in dresses. It is possible to distinguish a boy from a girl in the paintings only by the fact that the dresses on the boys were usually brighter, and the neckline was deeper than on the girls. Buying the first short pants was an important element of initiation into male life, but real long pants were usually bought at the age of 11–13. In Russia, the first long pants were usually trousers from a gymnasium uniform, cadet uniform, etc. Children of the common people wore shirts until they were 3–4 years old, and then immediately received long trousers. So the image of a boy in short pants - a spoiled gentleman - still exists. And the short trousers, which were part of the uniform of the pioneers, scouts and Hitler Youth, were originally chosen as a symbol of the well-being of the boys who wore them. Hello culottes.
Horror in short pants
Little-known German in shorts
Next time, Hitler personally took up the topic of short and long pants. The Nazi ideological doctrine, which loved to nod at the Romans for any reason, could not neglect the aversion that the Romans felt for long pants. It was proclaimed that the special strength and frost resistance of the Aryans was achieved by wearing shorts, which were their national clothing, the Aryan-Germans. The national costume of many Germans, primarily Tyroleans, did include short pants, but not shorts, but culotte-like knee-length breeches. The ancient Germans just conquered Rome wearing long leather pants. But which ideologist has ever been interested in reality?
Prince I. Repnin. Single-row (light) and ferryaz (with fasteners, and lined with ermine), and inside, apparently, there is a background.
Kaftan, awesomeness, zipun, casing, retinue, homespun, terlik... What is all this anyway? I'm trying to figure it out first approximation)
In general, outer and middle clothing, in the modern opinion, were sewn almost identically. These types of dresses differed in the way they were worn (inside, tied up, in a cape), area of application, material - fabric, fastener - trim and partial cut. Judging by the conflicting information in different sources, this matter is unclear. I tried to collect information and illustrations that do not contain these contradictions.
The main character in the investigation is Kaftan. 
The man in the yellow caftan has tafya on his head.
Kaftan(خفتان ) - men's, mostly peasant, dress. Also called kavtan, koftan (makes some thoughts, yes...).
What all caftans had in common was: double-breasted cut, long skirts and sleeves, and a chest closed to the top. His chest was decorated with buttons - from eight to twelve pieces. On the sides of the caftan there were slits, or “gaps,” which were also finished off with buttons. The sleeve could reach the wrist. The lower part of the caftan was cut from oblique wedges.
Trumpet collars and wrist collars, decorated with multi-colored silks, stones, and pearls, were fastened or sewn onto elegant caftans. Instead of buttons, gags were often used - often silver with gilding, and sometimes crutches made of coral turned into sticks. Gags and crutches were fastened with long loops made of braid or colored cords; they were called “conversations”, and they could be decorated with tassels of multi-colored threads. The back of the caftan was often made somewhat shorter than the front, especially for long clothes, so that the backs of the ornamented boots were visible, which was a subject of special concern for young people.
An important detail in caftans of pre-Petrine times was the trump card - a high stand-up collar covering the entire back of the head. This name applied to the collar in general, which in ancient Russian clothes was often removable and was fastened or sewn to various garments. Trumps were an object of ostentation, and they were made of velvet, silk, damask, decorated with embroidery with gold and silver thread, pearls and precious stones.
http://licey102.k26.ru/costume/kaftan.htm
Kaftans in Rus' were mostly gray or blue in color, sewn from coarse cotton fabric or handmade linen fabric (canvas). The caftan was usually belted with a sash (usually of a different color).
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CA%E0%F4%F2%E0%ED
Feryaz- a type of Kaftan. The F. was sewn not wide, without a collar or interception at the waist, ankle-length, with or without narrow sleeves. It was fastened with buttons with overhead loops or tied with ties.The fur coat reached to the calves, and sometimes to the ground, and was usually trimmed with fur or had a fur collar. Such clothes were quite wide and fastened with one top button. Feryaz were made from dark blue, dark green and brown cloth, sometimes gold brocade and satin were used.http://ria.ru/Tsarist_Russia/20130314/926340592.html
Winter F. with fur were worn over a caftan or summer coat. F. was the clothing of various segments of the population. In the 14th-16th centuries. in Moscow, royal, boyar and princely frocks were made of velvet, satin, cloth, etc., decorated with gold and silver lace, and buttons made of precious metals.http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/bse/144460/%D0%A4%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8C
Ivan the Terrible's fairy tale is famous: They say he wore it at home. But the camp kaftans, that is, according to the figure (body). http://blog.t-stile.info/stanovoj-kaftan
Obyar, Aksamit, cloth. 1680
Meanwhile in France...
Karl 8, multi-layered clothes - thin inside, the further you go, the richer and more elegant, the top is lined with fur. Gold embroidery and all that. He has a bare neck, which won’t work in our climate), and the same goes for his beard.
A.I. Olenin: “We see that in the 15th century, the French king Charles VIII used the same fur coat with folding sleeves that Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich III wore at the same time.”
http://folk-costume.com/oxaben/
And approximately the same time (The costume in the film is close to history, don’t worry . According to Natalya Selezneva, a costume designer who worked with Sergei Eisenstein on his film “Ivan the Terrible” helped create the royal vestments for the film “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession.”) For those who don’t believe, here’s another one
Of course, in Rus' the tsar was the most elegant. But boyars, ambassadors, etc. are also not cut out for business.
Opasheni- a long-skimmed caftan made of cloth, silk, etc., with long wide sleeves, frequent buttons down to the bottom and a fastening fur collar.
Ambassadors
Just like the okhaben, the opashen had folding long wide sleeves. The sleeves tapered towards the wrist. The arms were threaded through special slits, and the sleeves hung along the figure. There was no collar. The guard was never belted. http://folk-costume.com/oxaben/
Female fear- with frequent buttons, decorated at the edges with silk or gold embroidery. Buttons are gold or silver; could be the size of a walnut. A fur-lined hood was sewn at the back and hung to the middle of the back. Women with opashny wore a round false necklace made of sable or beaver fur.
Both the cut and the names of elegant clothes were often borrowed, Persian, Arabic, Tatar words, Polish, etc. were found in the names, there was a direct influence of Byzantium, and elegant rich fabrics were imported (including from China). The fabrics were very diverse, the picture beautifully shows velvet and satin, even patterned fabrics were decorated with various details, and many types of clothing were lined with fur, fortunately it was so easy to do...
"We are no strangers,"
Let your frost crack:
Our Russian blood
It burns in the cold!
This is how it has always been
Orthodox people:
In the summer, look, it’s hot -
He wears a sheepskin coat;
The burning cold smelled, -
It's all the same for him:
Knee-deep in snow,
He says: “Nothing!”
I.S. Nikitin
Apparently, this is where part of the confusion comes from, when “soul warmer” was summer clothing, and summer clothing was sometimes supposed to be lined with fur...
Important addition!