Historians did not come to a consensus on what the Russian clothing of the pre-Slavic era looked like, since at that time tribes lived mostly away from trade routes, often in forested areas and isolation. However, there are suggestions that outfits in those days were simple and fairly uniform. The latter is due to the fact that home-based fabric production was labor intensive at that time, since there were practically no technical means for making wardrobe items.
Little information is preserved about ancient clothing
Public education Ancient Russia, the clothes of the population of which became more and more diverse as they contacted other nations, began to take shape by the ninth century AD. Prior to this period, data on the appearance of the Slavs was minimal, since wardrobe items at that time were made from natural materials, the organic remains of which did not last long. In addition, it should be borne in mind that in the 6th-9th century AD, the Pre-Slavs had a custom to burn bodies before burial, therefore, in the burial grounds they mainly find the remains of melted jewelry or metal elements of clothing. Archaeologists were lucky only a few times when, for example, during excavations in Staraya Ladoga they found the remains of leather, which allowed to restore the appearance of mittens and the similarity of stocking boots worn by our distant ancestors.
In battle in one pants
In foreign written sources until the 10th century AD there is no mention of how the Slavs and Russian clothes looked . Neither Byzantine authors nor Arab sources write about this. Only P. Kesarsky in the sixth century mentioned that the Slavs (from the Balkans) go to battle in the same pants of a shortened style, without a cloak or tunic on top. Later, when the Slavs found a new version of writing, scientists based on written sources had the opportunity to determine how people looked at that time, at least the most famous of them.
Kings wore shirts
What did those under whose control Ancient Russia looked like? The clothes of Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavovich, shown in the image in Izbornik 1073, are distinguished by their simple cut. This is a long shirt below the knees, on which a cloak with a clasp on the shoulder is thrown over it. On the prince’s head there is a hat, presumably with a fur rim, on his feet are pointed boots. His family members standing nearby also wear shirts tied with belts. Svyatoslav’s wife has a shirt almost to the floor, a scarf on her head. Children's clothing on a small child is a smaller copy of an adult. The sons of Yaroslav are dressed in the likeness of caftans with collars and, most likely, wore so-called “ports” - rather narrow trousers with a tie on the hips. The wardrobe items in the image are painted in reddish-brown tones.
The clothes were made on a loom
Experts suggest that the light clothing of Kievan Rus for the most part was white, since from prehistoric times the Slavs made wardrobe items from linen and hemp, which gave white fiber (or grayish, with insufficient bleaching). Already in the 6th-9th centuries, the tribes of Northern Russia knew what a vertical loom was , and in the south they found objects belonging to the 9th-10th centuries, which indicated possible work on a horizontal loom.
In addition to linen and hemp fabrics, the Slavs actively used wool, the remains of which were found in the East Slavic mounds. In addition, due to climatic features, fur clothing was very popular. Tailors of that time already had the ability to stitch together several skins to get large items. Most often, skins of wolves, bears, rams went to the “fur coats”, and the decoration (lining) was made from sable, otter, beaver, squirrel, ermine, marten. Of course, only nobles walked in expensive furs. In Russia, they knew how to process the skin of various animals (tanning with plant elements, etc.), so men's clothing in Russia included waist belts, mittens and leather shoes (for some members of the population). The Slavs often wore leather goods made from the skin of cows or goats than from horse skins.
Even in the cold, they probably wore bast shoes
What was Ancient Rus shod with? Clothing made of natural materials in most of the population here was supplemented in the cold season ... with bast shoes and windings, which are the oldest type of shoes (most likely they went barefoot in summer). Archaeologists still find special hooks for weaving bast shoes in Neolithic sites, so it is very likely that these models were worn by both the Slavs and the Pre-Slavs. The bast shoes were made, as expected, from the bark of various tree species and were very non-durable. In a later period, it was found that in winter a man wore bast shoes in ten days, and in summer strada - in less than a week. Nevertheless, even the Red Army marched in such shoes in the 30s of the 20th century, and a special commission, Chekvolap, was engaged in the procurement of bast shoes.
To the temple - only in Slavic clothes!
The Slavs who inhabited Ancient Russia (whose clothes and shoes did not differ in a large assortment), nevertheless respected their simple wardrobe. For example, in the “Word of Danila the Sharpener” it is stated that “it would be better if we saw our foot in the leucine (bast shoe) in your house than in the scarlet boot in the boyar’s yard”. And the leader of the Czech Slavs is well known for not letting in the reception of the ambassador of the German king Dagober, until he changed into Slavic clothes. The same fate befell the representative of the bishop, the German Gerimann, who, before visiting the Triglav temple in the town of Schetino, had to change into a Slavic cloak and hat (1124 CE).
Women have always loved jewelry
Archaeologists find it difficult to say about how women's clothing looked in Russia at the very beginning of the emergence of Russian statehood. It is assumed that in style it was not very different from the men's shirt, only it was perhaps more richly decorated with embroidery and longer. On the head of the woman wore prototypes of kokoshniks, temporal rings, on the neck - often blue or green glass beads. Bracelets and rings were less common. In winter, ladies put on fur coats, as well as capes with ties, like aprons - “realizing” that protected the lower body from the back and sides. Their presence was recorded already in the 11th century AD.
The influence of other states
As contacts developed between other countries and the state of Ancient Russia, the clothes of the Slavs became more diverse due to new fabrics, borrowing styles and dividing society into different layers. For example, in pre-Mongol Russia (10-13 century), the appearance of the Russian nobility was more consistent with Byzantine traditions with their long flowing shirts, cloaks with fasteners. And for ordinary people, in particular for women, such tendencies were emphasized by a “zapone” - a simple piece of fabric folded in half with an opening for the head, which was worn on the main shirt and girdled (there were no side seams at the zapono). On holidays, the ladies wore "finials" of embroidered fabrics that were worn over cufflinks or shirts and were tunics without a belt with wide sleeves. Almost all the clothes of the times of Kievan Rus were worn over the head and did not have their own collar (there were overheads).
Mongolian Warfare
The Tatar-Mongol invasion left certain borrowings in the sphere of material culture, which influenced what clothes were in Russia in subsequent centuries. Many wardrobe items of Mongol warriors later appeared among Russian men, including boots with felt stockings, a cap with earflaps, a fur coat of two layers of fur (outer and inner), harem pants, Armenian women, skullcaps (taffy), sash belts, etc.
What was the difference between the clothes of Moscow Russia and the clothes of Kievan Rus?
Clothing of the 15th century, when the Tatar-Mongol yoke was overthrown, and Russia became the Principality of Moscow, changed in accordance with the era, but mainly for the boyars, nobles and townspeople. During this period, the costume retained the main features of the costume of Kievan Rus - a shirt and ports for men, an irregular cut of wardrobe items, a considerable length, but signs of a new fashion appeared. These, in particular, include the presence of overalls in the wardrobes. In women, it was unfastened to the bottom, in men - to the waist, and at first it was equipped with a “butt” fastener by means of hinged loops. In the future, the right sex was formed from above to the left, which was explained by the convenience of such fasteners for men in saber battles.
Fake sleeves and gold embroidery
Around this period, non-functional elements appeared in the clothing of the nobility. These include wire-frame multilayer collars and folding sleeves, which, for example, were awkwardly tied on the back, emphasizing that the owner of the clothes is not involved in hard work. Rich people could wear several layers of clothing even during the hot season. Moreover, wardrobe items were often completely fastened with clasps. The latter stipulated that there were many elements of jewelry level on clothes, including jewelry with pearls, precious stones, embroidery with gold and silver wire, buttons made of gold, silver, enamel and precious stones.
There were also objects in the Russian wardrobe of that time that could emphasize certain properties of the figure. These include a waist purse bag ("wicket"), which the soldiers wore at the waist with a slender figure, and the boyars - on the thigh line with a significant overflow of clothing, since fullness in this environment was valued very highly, as a sign of a full life.
What the children's clothes of the period of Moscow Russia looked like is unknown. Most likely, it was again a simplified copy of adult models. But the samples of women’s fashion of that time inspired many artists to create picturesque masterpieces (Korovin, Repin, Surikov). The basis of the entire wardrobe was again a shirt, extended downwards by wedges (the width could reach up to 6 meters below!). It was sewn from cotton or silk fabrics (ordinary people - again from linen) and collected by the neck.
Fashionable suit ... weighing 15 kilograms
Over a shirt, a sundress was worn from a bright fabric with a vertical embroidered stripe in the middle, which rested on narrow straps and often tied under the chest. The upper women's clothing in Russia of the 16th century was represented by a "soul man" made of bright fabrics, which also rested on the shoulders with straps. In the time of Muscovite Russia, ladies continued to wear ancient clothing elements - poneva, apron, zapono, etc. Representatives of wealthy families wore a "flyer", often with a beaver collar-necklace, and fur quilted jacket. Of the hats, Kika was popular - a hoop and kokoshnik covered with fabric, and a cap with trim in winter. The clothes of the nobles were almost always fitted, sewn from expensive fabrics with numerous embroideries, and their weight could reach up to 15 kilograms. In such a robe, the lady was a static, sedate, partly monumental figure, which corresponded to the fashion and norms of behavior of that time.
Clothing of the 17th century in Russia in general was similar to the clothing of previous centuries, but some new structural elements appeared. These include the entry into fashion of a wide sleeve, gathered on the wrist of women's shirts, the wide distribution of shushuns - sundresses, to which two fake long sleeves were sewn on the back. Historians note that since the 17th century, fashion has come to design a strip of the hem of a sundress and its disappearance from the front panel. Foreign fashion Russia in this period was of little concern, only new fabrics and individual elements, like the Polish caftan, were popular. It is worth noting that Russian society actively opposed the introduction by Peter the Great at the beginning of the 18th century of “German” fashion, since the proposed outfits, hairstyles and lifestyle did not correspond to the centuries-old way and trends in Russian clothes.