Each of us knows what the edge is. We all read and listened to fairy tales in our childhood, where there was a hut at the edge of the forest , and there lived an old man with an old woman or three bears, or Baba Yaga Kostyanaya Leg. But the word "edge" has another meaning that is directly related to the history of fashion and our country.
What the word "edge" means in relation to the forest, everyone knows. Edge in other words - the edge of the forest, its border. But what does this word have to do with clothing and a fur collar? Yes, the most direct!
Historical reference
If you could go back to the past, a century like that in XVII, and ask the oncoming citizen what the edge is, then he would most likely take off his hat and point to its fur edge. For the Russians of that era, and even those of the preceding eras, it was a matter of course to decorate clothes with fur.
With something, and Russia has always been rich in furs. From the very beginning of its history as a state and almost to the end of the 18th century, furs remained one of the main articles of Russian exports. In those days when the Russian currency did not yet exist, fur was the unit of account: they collected tribute, gifted foreigners and subjects. Thus, the fur was almost universally accessible. Returning to what the edge is in this context, it is necessary to recreate the appearance of a typical Russian resident of the 16th-17th centuries.
Fur hem in clothes of different Russian classes
Decorating clothes with fur always had class differences. What is the "edge" for people of different incomes and backgrounds, it becomes clear primarily by the appearance of the fur. More thoroughbred and richer people turned their costumes and hats away with sable and beaver fur.
Boyars and other service people often wore high felt or felt hats with a fringe of black-brown fox, arctic fox, marten. The most common fur trim was in a women's suit. Any outerwear or cape of a noble townswoman certainly had a fur collar, cuffs or was decorated with fur all over the lower edge.
Ordinary citizens, if possible, also used natural skins in clothing. Men and women trimmed weekend and holiday clothes with squirrel, ermine, and fox fur.
The fur trim in the clothes of the Russians was widespread until the revolution. And then she quickly returned to fashion. One has only to glance at a winter coat or a jacket with fur over the hood, and there is no longer a question about what is the edge.