25 old photographs of gorgeous Russian beauties in national costumes

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The reign of Peter I marked itself in the history of Russia by the expansion of borders, the creation of the Russian fleet and the loss of many centuries-old traditions. In particular, the tradition of wearing a boyar Russian costume has disappeared into oblivion. And only among ordinary people, traditional Russian outfits will remain until the beginning of the 20th century. In our review there are 25 old photographs of the Shabelskys collection from the collection of the Russian Ethnographic Museum, which depict Russian beauties of pre-revolutionary Russia in national costumes.

The Shabelsky collection is not only a unique source for studying the history of Russian costume, but also a real cultural and artistic heritage. It was created with the aim of fixing the costumes of different Russian provinces and has become a real phenomenon in the history of Russian photography.

All the photographs included in the collection are distinguished by an amazing expressiveness in the transfer of the image of a Russian woman. Studio photos are made on high-quality paper, and the models themselves wonderfully match the costumes they represent.

And now a little about Russian folk costume. It was a complete artistic ensemble, which harmoniously combined garments, jewelry, headwear, shoes and hair.

The main fabrics used for peasant clothing are plain plain weave wool and homespun canvas. The richer strata from the middle of the 19th century could afford factory silk, satin, brocade with ornaments of lush flower garlands and bouquets, red calico, chintz, satin, colored cashmere.

A shirt is an obligatory part of a woman's costume. It was called "stan" and could reach the hem of a sundress. There was even a special style of a women's shirt for feeding babies - with gathered sleeves. Women's shirts were festive, everyday, wedding, mowing, bridging and funeral shirts. They were sewn from canvas, flax, hemp, hemp and wool. Among the elements for decorating shirts, such images as horses, birds, Lankans, the tree of life and plant patterns were used. It was believed that a red shirt protects against misfortunes and evil spirits.

The sundress is the main element of the female Russian traditional costume. Differences in the cut of sundresses and in color in different provinces of Russia were very noticeable. The Russian sarafan was worn both as a festive and as a daily wear. A marriageable girl in her dowry must have had a dozen sundresses of various colors.

Interesting fact! In the 14th century, the sundress was worn by the great Moscow princes and governors, and only in the 17th century it became a part of only women's wardrobe.

The sundress emphasized the social status of the hostess: the well-to-do estates sewed rich sundresses from velvet, silk and other expensive fabrics brought from Turkey, Persia, and Italy. Such sundresses were decorated with lace, embroidery and braid. By the sundress it was possible to find out about the social status of a woman - whether she is married or not.

Kokoshnik is an old Russian headdress in the form of a fan or a rounded shield around the head. It was decorated with beads, beads, braids, pearls, and among the wealthy class and precious stones. The kokoshnik was worn only by married women, and the girls wore a headdress called a magpie - a scarf with a tail and two "wings", a sort of old bandana.

In different Russian provinces, the characteristic features of the kokoshnik were different. So, in the Vladimir, Kostroma, Pskov, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov provinces, the kokoshnik resembled an arrow in shape. In Simbirskaya, they wore a kokoshnik-crescent. And there were also kokui, gold-domed, heel, tilt, stag.

The kokoshnik was a kind of amulet and a great family value that was inherited.

The beauties in the photo from the Shabelskys collection convey the wealth and greatness of our ancestors to the modern man.

It is always interesting to look into the past, especially if eyewitnesses tell about it. The artists who created 33 drawings about life in Russia in 1872, drew what they saw with their own eyes, and this makes the drawings especially valuable and interesting.