Names of Russian folk clothing. National Russian men's costume

I've always been interested in different costumes various countries and eras. In my opinion, you can understand a lot about a country and time through costumes. At all times, women loved to decorate themselves and did it with everyone possible ways. And of course, clothing played a huge role in any society. I would like to introduce you to the costumes different countries peace... Azerbaijan Simplicity of cut and richness of decoration - that’s the whole philosophy of oriental costume. This is exactly how Azerbaijanis, descendants of ancient Turkic tribes, representatives of one of the largest and most ancient peoples of the Caucasus, traditionally dressed.
England Although England is a country with rich national traditions, it does not, strictly speaking, have a clearly defined national costume. As an example of English folk costume, the costumes of dancers performing the Morris dance are often cited.
Argentina There is no national costume in Argentina as such. Argentina is a country of immigrants from Italy, Spain, Germany, Ukraine, etc., who preserve their traditions. Only the clothes of gaucho shepherds and their wives can be considered the national clothing of this South American country. Belarus Belarusian costume, having common roots with Ukrainian and Russian national costumes and formed on the basis of the mutual influence of Lithuanian, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian traditions, nevertheless it is distinguished by its originality and is an independent phenomenon. Bulgaria Bulgarian folk costume is very diverse both in the styles of clothes and in its colors. Its form known to us today was formed in the feudal period and developed in subsequent centuries. Butane In Bhutan, men's suits are called gho and women's kira.
Hawaii One of the most popular and simple suits Hawaiian
Germany The traditional costume of the Bavarians (Germans) is the well-known trachten (German Trachten) - both men's and women's suits and the dirndl (German Dirndl) - only the women's national costume. The name Trachten comes from the era of romanticism, it was at that time that they started talking about national traditions, about how people lived, spoke, sang, celebrated and dressed, and what was considered the basis of a nation's culture. Greece
Georgia In Georgian trad. There were clothes both for luxury and refinement, for the nobility, and simpler ones, for artisans and poorer people; there was both the strict elegance of masculinity and the gentle grace of femininity; it clearly highlighted the character of a person, his occupation, and habits.
Egypt In Ancient Egypt, the most common type of clothing was draped clothing, later - overhead, but never swinging. The cut and shape of clothing (both men's and women's) changed very slowly over the centuries; For a long time, clothing of different classes differed only in the quality of fabric and finishing.
India Indian clothing for women depends on the region of the country. Traditional Indian clothing, without which it is impossible to imagine an Indian woman, is called a sari. Sarees are the national Indian clothing; they differ in appearance, materials, and embroidery in different regions. Spain Spanish folk costume, in the form that it has become a fact of visual culture, developed in the 18th-19th centuries. Its formation was facilitated by the culture of the majo - a social layer of Spanish dandies from the common people who emphasized their origin. Kazakhstan Previously, there was a deliberate destruction of traditions throughout the 20th century. For seventy years Soviet period in Kazakhstan they fought against traditions as “relics of the past” But today Kazakhstan is confidently taking the path of reviving its culture. China Chinese national costume features a lot of red and golden yellow, which are traditionally considered the colors of wealth and prosperity.
Norway The design of the Norwegian national costume is based on local folk costumes that were on the verge of extinction.
UAE - United Arab Emirates The clothing of Bedouin women in ancient times was quite consistent with men's clothing. Portugal Portuguese clothing is dominated by red and black colors, men wear vests with sashes, and women wear wide skirts with aprons. Russia A distinctive feature of the Russian national costume is a large number of outerwear. Cover-up and swing-out clothing. The cover-up garment was put on over the head, the swinging one had a slit from top to bottom and was fastened end-to-end with hooks or buttons. Türkiye The traditional costumes of the Turks are the most diverse among the Turkic peoples. Ukraine Ukrainian women's traditional costume has many local variations. The ethnographic features of the historical and cultural regions of Ukraine in clothing were manifested in the silhouette, cut, individual parts of clothing, ways of wearing it, color decor, and decorations. France Women's folk costume consisted of a wide skirt with gathers, a jacket with sleeves, a corsage, an apron, a cap or hat. A men's suit consists of trousers, leggings, a shirt, a vest, a jacket (or a wide blouse reaching to the middle of the thigh), a scarf and a hat. Czech In the Czech Republic, in areas with traditional geographical divisions, the costumes of the various folk classes have undergone a complex process of development. Japan Since the mid-19th century, the Kimono has been the Japanese “national costume”. Kimonos are also the work clothes of geishas and maikos (future geishas).
The end))) I hope you liked it... this post took me more than 2 hours)))

Many books and articles have been written on the topic of Russian folk costume, both in print and on the Internet, as well as by me more than once on this blog.

However, loving Russia, the land on which I was born and raised, and also remembering that everything new is well-forgotten old, I want to once again talk about the folk costume of the 16th-19th centuries.

Russian national costume - a traditional set of clothing, shoes and accessories that has developed over centuries, which was used by the people of Rus' in everyday and festive use.

It also had two main types: northern and southern. In central Russia they wore clothes similar in character to the northern, although southern Russian was also present...

Russian national costume became less common after Tsar Peter I in 1699 he banned the wearing of folk costume for everyone except peasants and church ministers. From this moment on, we can assume that clothing essentially became of two types: urban costume and folk costume.

Folk costume of the 15th-18th centuries.

Ancient Russian clothing at first glance presents great complexity and variety, but, looking closely at its parts, it is easy to recognize in many names more similarities with each other than differences, which were mainly based on the features of the cut, which, unfortunately, are now little understood for our time. In general, the clothes were the same in cut for both kings and peasants, they bore the same names and differed only in the degree of decoration.

The shoes of the common people were bast shoes made of tree bark - ancient shoes, used during pagan times (mainly before the 17th century). In addition to bark bast shoes, they wore shoes woven from twigs and vines, while some wore leather soles and tied them with belts wrapped around their feet. The footwear of wealthy people consisted of boots, chobots, shoes and chetygas. All these types were made from calfskin, from yuft, and for the rich from Persian and Turkish morocco.

All types of shoes were colored, most often red and yellow, sometimes green, blue, azure, white, flesh-colored. They were embroidered with gold, especially in the upper parts - the tops, with images of unicorns, leaves, flowers, etc. And they humiliated themselves with pearls, especially women’s shoes were decorated so thickly that the morocco was not visible.

In wealthy Russian houses, shoes were generally made at home. For this purpose, knowledgeable slaves were kept in the yard.

Men's folk costume.

The common people had canvas shirts, the noble and rich had silk shirts. Russian people loved red shirts and considered them elegant underwear. The shirts were made wide and not very long, dropped over the underwear and girded with a low and weakly narrow belt - a girdle.

In shirts under the armpits, triangular inserts were made from another fabric, embroidered with yarn or silk, or from colored taffeta. Along the hem and along the edges of the sleeves, the shirts were trimmed with braid, which was embroidered with gold and silk, two fingers wide. Noble and rich people also had embroidery on the chest and along the base of the sleeves. Such embroidered shirts were called sewn shirts. In shirts, special attention was paid to the collar, which extended from under the outer clothing and surrounded the back of the head high. Such a collar was called a necklace. This necklace, in fact, in the old days was called a shirt, but in the 17th century they began to call it a shirt, and a shirt or shirt to which it was fastened.

Pants (or ports) were sewn without cuts, with a knot, so that with it they could be made wider or narrower. For the poor, they were made of canvas, white or dyed, from homespun - coarse woolen fabric, and for the wealthy, they were made of cloth; in the summer, the rich wore taffeta pants or made of silk. The length of the pants reached only to the knee, they were sewn with pockets, called zepya, and they came in different colors, including red.

Three clothes were put on the shirt and trousers: one on top of the other. The underwear was the one in which people sat at home; if it was necessary to go on a visit or receive guests, then the next one was put on, the other one, and the third one was for going out. Clothes of those times had many names, but they all belonged to one of three types.

Underwear was called zipun, both among kings and peasants. It was a tight dress, short, sometimes down to the knees, like a camisole. In the cutting book of the royal court, the length of the zipun was listed as 1 arshin and 6 vershoks, when the dress for the entire height was 2 arshins and 3 vershoks in length.

For simple and poor people, zipuns were made of dyed leather, winter ones were made of homespun, for the wealthy - silk, taffeta, often white with buttons. Sometimes the sleeves were sewn onto it from a different fabric.

For example, the zipun itself was made of white satin, and its sleeves were made of silver wool. The collars of the zipun were narrow and low, but like a shirt, a separate collar embroidered with pearls and stones was fastened to it - low.

A second garment was put on the zipun, which had several names, but was different in cut.

The most common and ubiquitous type of outerwear is the caftan. It was sewn to the toes or to the calves to show off gilded boots. There were two types of caftans based on length: caftan and caftans. Their sleeves were very long and gathered into folds or ruffles. In winter, these sleeves served as a muff against the cold. The slit on the caftan was only in the front and was trimmed with braid along the caftan. Parallel to the slit, stripes were made on both sides from a different fabric and a different color, and ties with tassels and cords (laces) were sewn onto these stripes, sometimes hanging loops were sewn on, and on the other side - buttons for fastening. Later they began to use only buttons up to 12-13 pieces on the chest. The lower part of the caftan was always unbuttoned. The collars of the caftan were low, from under them the bottom of the zipun or the necklace of the shirt protruded. On the back of the caftan, fabric of a lower quality than the front was used.

Winter caftans were made with furs, but light ones; similar warm caftans were called caftans.
The men also showed off their belts. They were both long and varied in decoration.

This category of average clothing includes chuga - clothing for traveling and riding. The chuga was girded with a belt, behind which a knife or spoons were placed. Chugs were fastened with buttons and were, if desired, embroidered in the same way as caftans.

Feryazy were called clothes worn in the same way as caftans. They wore zipuns. They had long sleeves, broad shoulders and narrower caftans at the hem. In Fletcher's description of Russian clothing, the feryaz is represented by the third outer dress - the first zipun, the second or middle one - a narrow caftan with a knife and a spoon in the belt (by which the British meant chugu), the third feryaz - a spacious dress bordered by a paisley. All that can be deduced from the confusing descriptions of other authors on the feryazi is that the feryaz was a more indoor type of caftan. Its name is Persian and came to us in the 16th century. It was in use both among kings and among the people.

Outer or folding clothes were: opashen, okhaben, odnoryadka, ferezya, epancha and fur coat. Summer clothes were in danger; in the fall and spring they wore single-row clothes. Like opashen, the single-row ones were wide and long to the toes with long sleeves. Okhaben - a cloak with sleeves and a hood. Ferezya - a cloak with sleeves worn while traveling. The epancha was of two kinds: one traveling from camel wool or coarse cloth, the other elegant from rich material, lined with fur more for pomp than for warmth. Fur coats were the most elegant clothing. A lot of furs in the house was a sign of prosperity and contentment. Fur coats were covered with cloth and silk fabrics and sewn with fur inside. But there were also fur coats and just fur coats, such coats were called head coats.

Clothes preferred bright colors and with finishing. Mourning colors were worn only on sad days.

Russian hats were of four types: taffyana, caps lined with fur in winter, low quadrangular hats with a fur band

and gorlat hats are the exclusive property of princes and boyars. From the hat one could recognize the origin and dignity. Tall hats signified nobility of origin and rank.

WOMEN'S FOLK CLOTHING.

The women's shirt was long, with long sleeves, white and red flowers. The wrists, embroidered with gold and decorated with pearls, were fastened to the sleeves. A letnik was worn over the shirts: clothes that did not reach the toes, but with long and wide sleeves. These sleeves were called caps: they were also embroidered with gold and pearls. The hem was trimmed with another material with gold braid and also trimmed with pearls. There was a slit along the front of the garment, which was fastened all the way to the throat, because decency required that a woman's breasts be covered as tightly as possible. For the wealthy, the flyer was made from lighter fabrics, for example. Taffeta, but they were also made of heavy gold and silver woven. The colors of the pilots were different.

A necklace was fastened to the summer jackets, as well as to the men's zipuns. For women it fit more closely.

Women's outer clothing was dangerous. This was a long garment with many buttons from top to bottom; the rich had gold and silver buttons, the poor had copper. The opashen was made of cloth, usually red, the sleeves were long, and there was a slit for the arms just below the shoulder. In this way, a woman could show not only the wide caps of her summer jacket, but also the wrists of her shirt, embroidered with gold and pearls.

A wide fur collar-necklace, round in appearance, was fastened around the neck, which covered the chest, shoulders and back. Along the cut and hem, the opashny was bordered with other types of fabric and was embroidered with gold and silk.

Another type of clothing was a padded warmer. It was already happening in the shoulders

But at the hem it was wider. The sleeves were long with armholes, as in opashna, at the edges of these sleeves a wrist made of hard fabric, often embroidered, was fastened, the hem was covered with a wide strip of other material, and the slit, which was fastened with buttons, usually 15 pieces, was edged with metal lace or braid, thickly embroidered with gold. Telogreys in the 15th-17th centuries were both cold and warm, lined with marten or sable.

Women's fur coats were different from men's. They were cold and warm (with fur).

If the letnik in women's attire corresponds to the zipun in men's clothing, then the opashen and quilted jacket corresponded to the caftan, and the fur coat meant outer clothing.

Also one of the types of warm clothes - soul warmers, they were sewn with sleeves and also without sleeves and looked like a vest with a skirt. They were also cold (made of fabric, and warm with sleeves or fur, or quilted with cotton wool.

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Women's fur coats were sewn on sable, martens, foxes, ermine, squirrels, hares, depending on the condition of the owner, and covered with cloth and silk fabrics of different colors and colored ones. The fur coats were also beautifully trimmed with metallic lace and braid. The sleeves of women's fur coats were decorated with lace at the edges; they were removed and stored. passing from mothers to daughters as heirlooms.

A silk fur coat lined with cotton wool and trimmed with fur has been preserved in the collection of the Russian Museum. It was tied on the chest with ribbons into three bows. At the end of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries, a fur coat was part of a girl’s wedding costume and was fashionable clothing in the Russian North.

On ceremonial occasions, women put on a rich mantle - a podvolok or privolok - over their ordinary clothes.

Married women wore volosniks or podubrusniks on their heads - hats similar to skufya made of silk fabric, often made of gold, made with a knot, with the help of which the size was adjusted with a trim along the edge with trimmings of pearls and stones. The modest woman was afraid that even family members, excluding her husband, would not see her hair. A scarf, usually white, was placed over the hair, its hanging ends, tied under the chin, studded with pearls. This scarf was called ubrus.

When women went out, she put on a white hat with a brim. They also wore hats. The girls wore crowns on their heads. The crowns had lower parts, called cassocks. Others had simpler crowns and consisted only of gold wire in several rows, which were decorated with corals and stones. The maiden crown was always without a top. In the future - hoops (soft and hard) made of multi-colored ribbons. Open hair was considered a symbol of girlhood. If unmarried girls could wear one braid or unbraided hair. Then married women braided 2 braids without fail and always wore a headdress.

In winter, girls covered their heads with a high hat made of sable or beaver with a cloth top; from under the hat one could see braids braided with red ribbons.

The poorer ones wore long shirts; on the shirts they put letniks, sometimes white, similar to a shirt, sometimes dyed, and tied a scarf made of dyed or woolen material around their heads. On top of the entire cape dress, the villagers wore clothes made of coarse cloth or silver - sernik. With great prosperity, the villagers wore silk scarves, and on top of the flyer was a single row of red or blue dye, zendel or zufi.

Women's clothes of that time were sewn without a waist, simply. And it was quite consistent with the proverb: not well cut, but tightly sewn.

Both men's and women's clothes were stored in cages, in chests under a piece of water mouse skin, which was considered a preventative against moths and mustiness. Beautiful and expensive clothes were worn only on holidays and special occasions.

In everyday life, the same nobles often wore dresses made of rough canvas or cloth.

Sundress - from the Persian word "sarapa", which literally means: dressed from head to toe. This name was used in Russia from the 15th to the 17th centuries, mainly for men's clothing. Later, the term "sundress" was preserved only in relation to women's clothing. Ancient sundresses were with sleeves or simply with wide armholes, swinging, with a fastening in one row (single-row) with buttons up to the neck. The back of an ancient slanted sundress was cut together with the straps. A similar triangle in the Nizhny Novgorod province was called a “frog”.

Shugai is women's outerwear with long sleeves, a large collar or without it, and a cut-off back approximately at the waistline. Shugai was festive clothing and was made from expensive fabrics: velvet, damask, brocade, silk.

A kanavat bedspread or kanavat veil, from the name of the Syrian city of Kanawat, where silk was made, is a large rectangular shawl. Such scarves were very expensive, from seven to 45 rubles. In the proverb, “the neck is undone, and the veil is undone” means surprise that poorer people could wear this expensive thing.

In folk clothing they also preferred various decorations and accessories made of stone, metals, and other materials. Dresses in Rus' have always been famous for their rich colors and patterns.

By the costume one could judge from which province, district or village the woman or girl was at the ball. Each type of clothing had its own meaning. Red clothes were considered the most solemn. In those days, the words “beautiful” and “red” had the same meaning.

Russian national costume

In many countries today there is a wonderful tradition: to wear a national costume not only for some thematic holiday, but also during pleasant leisure time, for example, with friends, after work. I observed such a tradition in Sweden, America, and Germany. It looks very joyful, bright, colorful and positive. There is something magical, bewitching and stable in folk costumes. It is very important for any person to know his origins, roots - belonging to centuries-old traditions gives him a feeling of security and significance.

The formation of any national costume, its cut, ornament and features, has always been influenced by factors such as climate, geographical location, economic structure and the main occupations of the people. National clothing emphasized age and family differences.

In Rus', the national costume has always had characteristics depending on the region and was divided into everyday and festive. By looking at national clothes, one could understand where a person came from and what social class he belonged to. The Russian costume and its decoration contained symbolic information about the whole clan, its activities, customs and family events.

Our people have long been considered a farming people, and this, of course, influenced the features of the national costume: its ornament, cut, details.

Scientists believe that the Russian national costume began to take shape around the 12th century. It was worn by peasants, boyars, and kings until the 18th century, until, by decree of Peter I, a forced change of costume to a European one took place. Peter I believed that cultural and trade communication with Europe was very important for Russia, and the Russian costume was not very suitable for this. In addition, it was not very convenient for work. Perhaps this was a political step, or perhaps simply a matter of taste of Peter I himself, but one way or another, since then, the Russian national costume has been preserved for the most part in the peasant stratum. By decree of Peter I it was forbidden to produce and sell Russian dress; fines and even deprivation of property were provided for this. Only peasants were allowed to wear national costume.

Perhaps, because of Peter’s innovations, the Russian people lost touch with the national costume, but the memory of our ancestors in many of us, one way or another, longs for a return to the origins and folk color. Let's remember together how Russian folk costume was different. The main difference of the national costume was its multi-composition/multi-layered nature, rich decoration and a simple, straight or slightly flared silhouette. The waist was not emphasized. The colors were mostly bright and cheerful.

With all the abundance various clothes, in Rus' several basic sets of Russian women's costume stood out. This is a word of mouth set (Northern Russian) and a ponyov set (South Russian, more ancient). At the same time, the shirt has always been the basis of women's attire. As a rule, shirts were made of linen or cotton, and more expensive ones were made of silk.
The hem, sleeves and collars of the shirts were decorated with embroidery, braid, buttons, sequins, appliqués and various patterned inserts. Sometimes a dense ornament decorated the entire chest part of the shirt. Patterns, ornaments, details and colors in various provinces were special. For example, shirts from the Voronezh province, as a rule, were decorated with black embroidery, which added severity and sophistication to the outfit. But in the shirts of the central and northern provinces one can mainly note embroidery with gold threads - silk or cotton. In the northern and central provinces, red, blue and black colors predominated, as well as double-sided sewing. Southern Russian shirts (for example, Tula and Kursk provinces) were characterized by various patterns and dense red embroidery. It is interesting that on the shirts of girls (mainly from the Tver, Arkhangelsk and Vologda provinces), who had already been betrothed, there were various geometric patterns: rhombuses, circles, crosses. Among the ancient Slavs, such patterns carried a semantic load. Sarafan (from the Iranian word serārā- the meaning of this word is approximately “dressed from head to toe”) was the main clothing of the northern Russian regions. Sundresses were also of several types: blind, swing, straight. Swing sundresses, popular in the Urals regions, had a trapezoidal silhouette, and were distinguished by the fact that their front was sewn from two panels of fabric, and not one (as in a blind sundress). The panels of fabric were joined using beautiful buttons or fasteners.
A straight (round) sundress with straps was easier to make. He appeared a little later. The most popular colors and shades for sundresses were dark blue, green, red, light blue, and dark cherry. Festive and wedding sundresses were made mainly from brocade or silk, and everyday sundresses were made from coarse cloth or chintz. The choice of fabric depended on family wealth. A short warmer was worn over the sundress, which was festive clothing for peasants and everyday clothing for the nobility. The shower jacket was made from expensive, dense fabrics: velvet, brocade.
The more ancient, southern Russian national costume was distinguished by the fact that it consisted of a long canvas shirt and a poneva. Poneva (a loincloth, like a skirt) was a mandatory part of a married woman’s costume. It consisted of three panels, was blind or swinging; as a rule, its length depended on the length of the woman's shirt. The hem of the poneva was decorated with patterns and embroidery. The poneva itself was made, as a rule, from checkered fabric, half-woolen.
Poneva was dressed on a shirt and wrapped around the hips, and a woolen cord (gashnik) held it at the waist. An apron was often worn in front. In Rus', for girls who had reached adulthood, there was a ritual of dressing a ponyova, which indicated that the girl could already be betrothed. In different regions, ponevs were decorated differently. They also differed in color scheme. For example, in the Voronezh province, ponevs were richly decorated with orange embroidery and sequins.
And in the Ryazan and Kaluga provinces, ponevs were decorated with complex woven patterns. In the Tula province, the ponyova was mainly red, and the black checkered ponyova was found in the Kaluga, Ryazan and Voronezh provinces.

Ponevs were decorated with additional details, depending on family wealth: fringe, tassels, beads, sequins, metallic lace. The younger the woman was, the brighter and richer her robe was decorated.

In addition to sundresses and ponyas, the Russian national costume also included an andarak skirt and a cape dress. It should be noted that these outfits were not used everywhere, but only in certain regions and villages. For example, a dress with a cap was the distinctive clothing of the Cossacks. It was worn by Don Cossacks and Cossack women North Caucasus. It was a dress that was worn over a shirt with wide sleeves. Bloomers were often worn under this dress. The suit with an andarak skirt was also not a typical Russian suit. It became widespread in some villages of Kursk, Oryol, Smolensk, Vologda and Ryazan provinces.

In Russian folk costume there was a clear division into everyday and festive attire.

The everyday suit was as simple as possible; it consisted of the most necessary elements. For comparison, a festive women's suit for a married woman could include about 20 items, and an everyday one - only 7. Everyday clothes were usually made from cheaper fabrics than festive ones.

Work clothes were similar to everyday clothes, but there were also special clothing, just for work. Such clothes were made from more durable fabrics. An interesting fact is that the work shirt for the harvest (harvest) was richly decorated and equated to a festive one.

There was also so-called ritual clothing, which was worn to weddings, funerals, and church.

Woman in Kostroma festive costume (Galich)

Both unmarried girls and married women decorated themselves with beads, necklaces, and earrings. It was customary to decorate even buttons in a special way: engraving, filigree, fabric.

Another distinctive feature of Russian folk costume was the variety of headdresses. The headdress completed the entire ensemble, making it whole.

In Rus' there were different hats for unmarried girls And married women. Girls' hats left some of their hair open and were quite simple. These were ribbons, headbands, hoops, openwork crowns, and scarves folded into a rope.
And married women were required to completely cover their hair under a headdress. Kika was a feminine elegant headdress worn by married women. According to ancient Russian custom, a scarf (ubrus) was worn over the kiki. Kiku was worn mainly in the southern regions (Ryazan, Tula, Oryol, Kaluga provinces). Kika covered her hair completely; in front of it was a hard part in the shape of a shoulder blade or horns.
An elegant magpie made of embroidered fabric was put on over the kiki, and behind the kiki there was a beaded collar. At the beginning of the 20th century, this complex headdress was replaced by a scarf or warrior.
Kokoshnik was the ceremonial headdress of a married woman. Married women wore kiku and kokoshnik when they left the house, and at home they usually wore a povoinik (cap) and a scarf.

As for social differences, noble women mostly wore dresses made of expensive fabrics over silk tunics and shirts. The richer the woman was, the more layers of clothing she wore. It was equally indecent for all social strata short clothes. It was not easy for Russian women to change their costume, from discreet, loose-fitting clothes to low-cut dresses and cinched waists.

Currently, the fashion for traditional Russian clothing is experiencing a rebirth. Many things that were familiar appear to modern man only from old books and fairy tales. Along with the peasant costumes popular in Rus', the traditional clothing of the ancient Slavs is often used, which served as the prototype for all Slavic costumes of later times.

Despite the fact that women's and men's costumes of that era are quite clearly described in historical works, some fashion designers believe that it is enough to place a Slavic pattern on a shirt or dress for it to be considered national. Actually it's simple modern clothes in the Slavic style, not bearing any historical authenticity.

A look into the ancient history of Slavic costume

The clothing of the ancient Slavs did not resemble any of the traditional costumes that are now so popular. Due to the fact that most of the people lived in the wilderness, and trade caravans did not even enter there, clothing was made from animal skins. After Ancient Rome began to conquer the ancestral barbarian lands, the Slavs began to become acquainted with fabric clothing. However, it was available only to leaders and noble warriors, as it was quite expensive.

If among the Western Slavs things made of fabric ceased to be something outstanding, then the clothes of the Eastern Slavs were fur for a long time. With the spread of Roman culture and trade, the Slavs had the opportunity to join civilization. In exchange for the skins of fur-bearing animals, they received cloth clothing and fabrics. After some time, the Slavs themselves learned to spin things from wool, flax or hemp.

In the winter Slavic style of clothing, furs played the main role for a long time, but gradually they began to be replaced by warm clothes made of natural wool. Judging by archaeological excavations, the main raw material for everyday clothing ordinary people served flax and wool.

The traditional costume of a man of the Slavic family consisted of the following main parts:

• A simple shirt;
• Trousers or pants;
• Scrolls or caftan.

As a rule, these clothes were linen or wool. The shirt was sewn in a tunic-like form, with long sleeves. The shirt was necessarily accompanied by a belt with which the owner was tied. More simple clothes worn by poor farmers, and the nobility decorated their shirts with embroidery. As a rule, it was Slavic symbolism, carrying a deep sacred meaning. In addition, such shirts had ribbons designed to tighten the sleeves at the wrists.

The pants had a narrow cut and ankle length. To prevent them from falling off, a special string called a belt was used. A shirt and trousers without outerwear were worn mainly in the warm season. If it was cold, you had to wear a scroll or caftan. Noble Slavs often wore a basket lined with light fur over their caftan.

In winter they wore jackets and fur coats. As for the latter, despite the widespread belief that a fur coat is the clothing of steppe nomads, it is a traditional Slavic invention.

If simple farmers had only one suit, then the nobility also had festive outfits, which were richly decorated. This suit had fine trim and rich embroidery.

Clothes of Slavic women and various decorations

Although Slavic women did not wear pants, the most common part of their wardrobe was a long shirt. Unlike men's everyday items, women's shirts often decorated with the following elements:

• Various embroidery;
• Braid;
• Scenes from life or mythological birds and animals.

Although some sources claim that direct Long Dresses or sundresses, which were sewn by women themselves, worn on naked body, in fact, all clothing was worn exclusively on the undershirt. Women usually wore ponevs, casings or fur coats as warm outerwear. The more fur a woman wore, the higher her status was considered.

Women wore various headbands, headbands and aureoles as headdresses. This was often decorated with various plates, embroidery and traditional designs. The traditional headdresses for Russian costume, kokoshniks, have not yet appeared in the Slavic environment. The first kokoshniks were found during excavations in Novgorod and date back to the 10th-11th centuries.

As for women's jewelry, Slavic women wore specific temple rings. In addition, the following decorations were often found:

• Beads of various colors;
• Necklaces;
• Massive bracelets;
• Rings and rings.

Although films often show Slavic women with massive and complex rings on their fingers, jewelry in Ancient Rus' was poorly developed, so the rings were simple.

Children in Rus' dressed the same as their parents. The main element children's costume a long shirt was considered. If boys wore trousers, then girls had sundresses. While as an adult casual wear In most cases, it was devoid of decorations and embroidery; children's clothes had their own special decorations. Since the mortality rate of children from disease was very high, every mother tried to embroider protective embroidery with ancient runes or signs using red threads.

Another feature of children's attire were special bells, which were woven into girls' hair and sewn onto boys' hats.

Children's shoes were also more colorful. Various ornaments, notches and inserts made of colored threads were often found. Traditionally, girls' shoes were more dressy.

Features of Russian folk costume

Currently, the oldest Russian costumes that have been preserved in museums to this day date back to the beginning of the 18th century. Some examples have been preserved in private collections, and some have been passed down as souvenirs to wealthy peasant families. During the establishment of Soviet power in Russia, many wealthy peasants were repressed or expelled, so the clothes were not preserved.

Another source by which one can judge what the clothes of our ancestors looked like is literature. From pictures and descriptions from old books you can see what Russian costume looked like in the 16th and 17th centuries. Later samples of clothing can only be restored thanks to archaeologists, who, with the help modern technologies can determine not only appearance fabric, but also its composition and even embroidery.

Judging by the finds of archaeologists, Russian costume until the beginning of the 18th century was approximately the same. The same style of attire could be seen among both ordinary peasants and noble boyars. Only a boyar could afford things made of expensive fabric and fur coat. In addition, he could be immediately distinguished by his high beaver hat, which only noble people could wear.

Severe damage to traditional Russian clothing was caused by Peter the Great, who forbade the boyars to dress in accordance with ancient customs. After this, the Russian costume remained only among the peasantry, merchants and philistines. True, after some time, Catherine the Second revived the “a la Russe” fashion, but this did not help much, since by that time the nobility had become accustomed to a variety of suits of European cut.

The last traditional Russian costumes were worn at the beginning of the 20th century in villages, but only for weddings and major holidays.

The main features of the Russian costume

Traditional costumes, which were used in Russian provinces until the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, were distinguished by their multi-layered nature, especially female models. Married women wore a ponyova over their clothes. A girl who had already been betrothed could also put on a blanket wrap. All Russian clothing had the following common features:

• Clothes were usually loose-fitting. This made it possible to divide it into only a few basic sizes. As a rule, these were children's and adult sizes. To tailor it to a specific person, a system of inserts and various ties was used;
• Any costume must have such a mandatory element as a belt. Its main function was to support clothing. In addition, it was in the belt that Russian men put knives and axes. In some parts of Russia, belts were embroidered with protective ornaments and symbols;
• The key element of the Russian national costume was embroidery. From these patterns it was possible to recognize not only clan affiliation, but also social status;
• Festive costumes are distinguished by their brightness and variety of different inserts, sparkles and beaded decorations. Casual work clothes were usually gray;
• Hats were considered an integral part of men's and women's clothing. The most famous headdress of married women is the kokoshnik. This is a festive item of clothing; contrary to popular belief, it was not worn in everyday life. The weight of the kokoshnik in some cases could reach 5 kg.

Clothes in Rus' were considered of great value, so they were passed on not only from adults to children, but also through several generations.

Features of women's costume in the south of Russia and central Russia

The main element of the Russian women's costume in the south of Russia was the same long linen or canvas shirt. A ponyova was put on top of it. It happened that instead of a ponyova, an andorak was worn, which was a wide skirt with braid or elastic. A cufflink and an apron were put on top. Kika and magpie were used as headdress. All women's clothing was richly decorated with embroidery. Ryazan costumes were the brightest, and Voronezh peasants embroidered their clothes with patterns of black thread.

In central Russia, clothing consisted of a shirt, sundress and apron. The headdress was a kokoshnik and an ordinary scarf. In the northern regions, fur jackets and fur coats up to the toes were often found. Each province was famous for its craftswomen, skilled in some kind of needlework:

• The most beautiful kokoshniks were made in Siberia;
• The best lace was made in the Arkhangelsk province;
• Tverskaya has the best gold embroidery.

Rich women from the merchant class ordered elements of their outfits from different parts of Russia.

Traditional men's clothing in Russia

Traditional men's clothing in Russia was not as diverse as women's. The main element of the costume was a long shirt. Unlike the old Slavic undershirts, these had an oblique cutout on the left. It is for this reason that they were called kosovorotki. However, in the south of the country, straight cuts were also common.

The pants were narrow, although sometimes, among peasants, wide models were still found. The pants were held at the waist by a special ribbon called a gashnik. As for the material, the pants were made of canvas or wool. Solid colors or narrow stripes predominated. In the southern regions, Cossacks wore more traditional trousers, which could be blue or red.

Still popular wide belt, which was often decorated with embroidery. Wallets, bags of tobacco and other small items could be tied to it. In central Russia and the north of the country, men often wore vests. This element of clothing was especially popular among merchants and wealthy peasants. Headdresses made of cloth were widely used. At a later time, soft cloth hats were everywhere replaced by caps.

Russian folk shirt and its features

Since those times when clothes from fabric began to be sewn on the territory of modern Russia, the main element of the costume has been a long shirt. They were worn by everyone, from young to old, regardless of age and social status. The shirts were of the same cut, differing only in the quality of the fabric and the richness of the embroidery. From the embroidery one could immediately understand what class a person belonged to. Children's clothing was often altered from adult clothing.

All Russian shirts had the following common features:

• The cut of the clothing was very simple, and the shirt itself was very spacious;
• A gusset was always inserted under the arms;
• The sleeves were sewn very long, it happened that they covered the entire hand with fingers. Women's and children's clothing had especially long sleeves;
• The shirts were long; women's models often reached the floor. Male models could reach to the knees and were never tucked into pants;
• Girls and women could often sew their own shirt from two materials of different quality. The upper part, which was visible, was made of expensive fabric and richly decorated with embroidery, and the lower part was made of simple fabric;
• Most shirts were decorated with embroidery, and it had a protective meaning. These patterns were an echo of paganism, and were supposed to protect a person from evil spirits;
• There were work shirts, festive and ritual.

Festive and ritual things were often passed down from generation to generation.

After the undershirt, the most common element of women's clothing in central and northern Russia was the sundress. Until the 18th century, sundresses were worn by all layers of Russian society. After the reforms of Peter the Great, sundresses began to be worn only among peasants. Until the mid-20th century, sundresses remained the only elegant women's clothing women in Russia.

Judging by archaeological excavations, the first sundresses appeared around the 14th century. Most often, elegant and decorated sundresses were worn on holidays along with kokoshniks, which could be very heavy.

Modern fashion often turns to traditional Russian style. Embroidered shirts and sundresses can be found on the street in Everyday life. I am glad that domestic fashion designers have stopped blindly copying Western clothes, and are increasingly drawing inspiration from Russian traditions.

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

National costumes, traditions

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

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

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

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

National costumes (photo) of Russia

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

Everything in Rus' National costumes from ancient times they had unique characteristics depending on the region and nation and, in addition, for each nation they were divided into everyday and festive.

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

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

Russian folk clothing: history of appearance

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

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

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

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

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