Clothing of Ancient Russia

Since ancient times, clothing has been considered a reflection of the ethnic characteristics of each people, this is a vivid embodiment of cultural and religious values, climatic conditions, economic order.

All these moments were taken into account when forming the basic composition, the character of cut and decoration of the clothes of the inhabitants of Ancient Rus.

Names of clothes in Ancient Russia

The clothes of the people of Ancient Rus had its own unique style , although some elements were borrowed from other cultures. The shirt and the ports were considered the main outfit for all social classes.

In modern terms, the shirt for the nobility was a underwear, for a simple peasant it was considered the main clothing. Depending on the social belonging of its owner, the shirt was distinguished by material, length, ornament. Long shirts made of colored silk fabrics, decorated with embroidery and precious stones, could only be imagined by princes and grandees. At that time, as a simple man in the times of Ancient Rus was content with clothes made of flax. Small children also wore shirts, but, as a rule, up to three years they were changed clothes from the parent. Thus, trying to protect from evil forces and a bad eye.

Typical men's clothes were ports - pants, narrowed at the ankles, sewn from rough homespun linen. Notable men wore over one more pants from more expensive foreign fabrics.

Features of women's clothing of Ancient Russia

Women's clothing in Ancient Rus did not have an intricate cut, but at the same time pointed to the status and financial position with the help of a light and pleasant to the touch matter, as well as the decoration of the outfit.

The main components of the women's wardrobe in Ancient Russia are presented in the form of such clothes:

  1. The first and irreplaceable thing is the above-described shirt or shirt. Popular among the girls of Ancient Rus was the canvas garment, called the vile. Outwardly it resembled a piece of cloth bent in half with a cutout for the head. They dressed the robe over their shirts and girded them.
  2. Celebratory and elegant clothes were considered to be the forefather. As a rule, it was sewed from an expensive fabric, decorated with embroidery and various ornaments. Outwardly, the forte was like a modern tunic, with different sleeves or without it at all.
  3. A distinctive element of the clothes of married women was poneva, was a woolen fabric, which was wrapped around the thighs and picked up by a waistband at the waist. Ponew of different ethnic groups differed in color, for example, the Vyatich tribes wore ponevu in a blue cage, and the Radimichi tribes preferred red color.
  4. Shirt for the holiday was called long sleeve, worn by women for a special occasion.
  5. It was considered obligatory for a woman to cover her head with an anvil .

Winter clothes of Ancient Russia

Geographical location and climatic conditions with severe winters and a fairly cool summer, largely determined a number of features of clothing of the inhabitants of Ancient Rus. So in winter, as a outer garment used a casing - made of animal skin turned fur inside. Simple peasants wore a sheepskin coat-sheepskin casing. Fur coats and fur coats for the nobility served not only as a means of protection from the cold, but also demonstration of their status in the warm season.

In general, the clothing of Ancient Rus was distinguished by its multi-layered, vivid ornaments and embroidery. Embroidery and drawings on clothes also acted as wards, it was believed that they are able to protect a person from evil and evil forces. Strongly different quality clothes different classes of society. So among the nobility the expensive imported materials prevailed, ordinary peasants wore clothes made of homespun cloth.