Russian folk costume

Russian folk costume

What can a folk costume tell about?

Clothing is an integral part of the people’s culture, it reflects the people’s history and traditions. Folk costume is formed under the influence of climate, geographical location, economic structure, occupation and worldview of people. Traditional Russian clothing not only protected from heat and cold, it also told about a wearer’s marital status, age, and origin. If the costume is used to represent the culture or identity of a specific ethnic group, it is usually known as ethnic costume. Such costumes often come in two forms: one for everyday occasions, the other for traditional festivals and formal wear. Both types of clothing were made of multiple layers of cloth, and could either be straight fitting or have a flare. Emphasizing the waist was not common. Brightly colored cloths were preferred.

The traditional Russian folk costume is the etalon of beauty, a sample of folk art, a standard of the national costume for the current generation that affects the formation of the ethical taste in our society.

Russian traditional clothing has a very long history. Many of the traditional pieces in the past are not worn anymore today, though a few of them have managed to stay and became iconic.

There are two major types of Russian ethnic dress: the sarafan and the poneva.

A sarafan is a loosely fitting long jumper dress worn over a long linen shirt and belted. A necessary component of traditional Russian dress, the belt was often worn under the sarafan. Sarafans were made from homespun linen or inexpensive printed cotton produced in the large textile factories of Moscow, Ivanovo and Vladimir regions. For special occasions, they could be made from brocades and silks and embroidered with gold and silver thread. Sarafans were widespread in the northern provinces such as Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Pskov and Novgorod.

The poneva skirt costume was commonly worn in the provinces south of Moscow, such as Tula, Voronezh, and Tambov. The poneva is typical of South Russia, and is older than the sarafan. It consists of three loom widths of a checked material sewn side by side and then rolled into a waistband, and tied around the waist over the chemise. The poneva is usually woven in black or dark blue, with white lines forming a checkerboard. As in this case, it is often ornamented with embroidery, ribbons, woven strips, galloons, etc. in a way distinctive to each region. Originally it was worn open in front, like in this picture showing a costume from Orlov Province. 

Features of traditional clothing

in Nizhny Novgorod province

The traditional costume of Nizhny Novgorod region is quite diverse. Russian folk costume of the northern regions of Nizhny Novgorod province consists of a sarafan complex. It has along with the similarity of forms and figurative characteristics with the costumes of the regions of the Russian North, a number of features that are unique to it. This is due to the geographical location of the Nizhny Novgorod province. Gold embroidery was widely developed here. The presented costume includes a shirt, a sarafan, neck jewelry, a headband, shoe. The bottom of the sleeves of the white shirt is decorated with white embroidery. A blue silk sarafan is woven with colorful flowers. A gold fringe is sewn on the bottom of the sundress.

In the south, they wore poneva dressed on a shirt. The clothes were decorated with lace and embroidery. The costume includes a jacket, poneva, stockings, shoes, an apron, a headdress, neck decorations are often added to it. Jacket is made of red satin with long sleeves, a frill at the bottom (the jacket is worn outside) and trimmed with colored ribbon, lace, beads. Poneva is red. Stockings are knitted and ornamented. The apron is an integral part of folk costume. It was wearing over a shirt, a poneva or a sarafan. A riot of colors and textures of materials distinguishes this suit, which is unique in any region of Russia.

Features of a folk costume in Pilna district

 Pilna district is a multinational district. From ancient time different nationalities have been living in our area - Russians, Tatars, Mordovians. National folk costumes are an integral part of the culture of these nationalities.

Sarafan was the main element of the Russian folk costume. In our district they wore oblique sarafans. Our museum has one festive and one self-woven common sarafan. The front of the sarafan is decorated with a red cord. At the bottom the sarafan is decorated with a ribbon of braid with gold threads, yellow-orange with a geometric pattern. Top trim is decorated with yellow gold stitching. The straps are trimmed with a red piping.

The main part of the Tatar folk costume was a shirt (kulmyan) and trousers (yshtan) sewn from light fabrics. Over the shirt the Tatar women wore fitted sleeveless jackets - bishmet. The usual home bishmet was sewn from a simple fabric. For the holidays bishmet was sewn from colored and plain velvet. An apron was an important part of the female Tatar costume.

The main part of the Mordovian folk costume was a panar shirt. It was the brightest and most colorful. The shirt was sewn from homespun canvas. It had four seams in the middle of the chest and back, two on the sides. The shirt had sleeves that were short to the elbow. The main decoration of the shirt was embroidery. Obligatory parts of the folk clothes of Mordovian national costume was an apron - ikelga pyatsya and a pulai, which was a wide canvas belt.