walking distance & et cetera -

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Historians suppose that traditional Russian costume started taking its shape in the 12th-13th centuries. It was during that period when intensive formative process of Russian ethnos was taking place. Russian costume, just like garments of all the Slavic population of Eastern Europe – i.e. Ukrainians and Byelorussians – was quite peculiar and in accord with living of the nation of tillers. Up to the 18th century it fitted well all layers of Russian society: it was worn by tsars, boyars, merchants, craftsmen, and peasants.

A peculiar feature of Russian national costume was a big number of outerwear. The clothes were of throw-over and throw-open types. The throw-over clothes were put on through the head and the throw-open ones had a top-down slit and were fastened line-on-line with hooks or buttons.

As a rule peasants sew clothes of their own fabrics – wool, hemp, staminate hemp, and linen. Poor families could purchase garments extremely rarely. If purchases occurred, though, it was done in turn, by clubbing of several families – first for one person, then for another, and so on. Even ritual garments, like wedding dresses, were available for collective use.

The costumes of nobility were of Byzantium style. In the 17th centuries there came some borrowings from Poland, such as the Polish caftan (man's long outer garment) and the Polish fur coat. To protect national originality the order of 6 August 1675 prohibited stolniks (a courtier rank below the boyar in Russia in 13th-17th cc), solicitors, Moscow gentry, dwellers and their servants from wearing foreign style clothes.

Dresses of the noblemen were made of expensive fabrics, with use of gold, silver, perals and expensive buttons. Such garments often descended. The cut of costumes remained unchangeable for centuries. There was no such notion as fashion.

These are costumes from central Russia…

Russian folk costume XVIII the first quarter of the XX century in the collection of the Saratov Regional Museum of Local History : Illustrated catalog PDf.

BOYARSKY costume set (Ensemble Barynya musicians)

Russian fashion designers are up to and whether they were drawing inspiration from their national costumes

Russian round dances were within reach of people of all ages: maidens and women, young men and old men alike took part in them. The places, where folk round dances took place, got special names and kept this special right for many years to come. Rivers, lakes, meadows, country churchyards, groves, cemeteries, gardens, heathlands, and yards – this is where round dances would be held. Some places were used for festive round dances, whereas others suited regular, common round dances. -