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Start With the Basics....
Renaissance Russian clothing is fraught with issues in re-creation.
Other than the obvious language barrier - almost nothing is available
in English - much evidence of sixteenth-century clothing was destroyed
in the Russian revolution. There is an abundance of information on
regional and ethnic clothing of the nineteenth century, but there are
notable stylistic differences that developed in the intervening 300
years. It would be a mistake then to base period Russian clothing on
the readily available literature, and thus the issue becomes
conundrum.
A Sixteenth-Century Married Russian Woman
The ensemble of a Russian woman is composed of a startling quantity of garments. The complete outfit
would have been worn only on very special or festive occasions. The Russian feminine ideal was
a stately, static profile, with the woman appearing to glide rather than to walk. Cheeks and lips
were to be well-colored; the complexion should be pale. The woman's hair was never to be seen following
marriage.
- Sarafan - the typical A-line jumper-like dress; ornate
fabrics, with a false center front opening. Suitable for wear outside
the home.
- Rubashka - the white shirt, an undergarment of linen with a
keyhole neckline; nineteenth century versions had red underarm gussets.
- Gornichaya Rubashka - a dress cut on the same lines as a rubashka, usually brightly colored. Suitable for domestic wear.
- Litnik - outerwear; a gown with wide and long sleeves, the
body is also cut on an A-line. This is actually not a coat-like
garment, but is put on over the head.
- Kokoshnik - the main, elaborately decorated part of the headdress. Forms most typical to
period include pillbox and (perhaps) crescent (fan) shaped.
- Ryasy - the fringe of beads or pearls strung on threads,
and hung to the sides of the face. Usually removable. By the fourteenth
to fifteenth centuries, ryasy were somewhat common, and "were
passed on from generation to generation, standing in 16-17th cent. as
the basis for diverse modifications."
- Podniz - Forehead fringe or netting. Also removable to be attached to a different kokoshnik.
- Povoynik - a cap that encloses the hair, which is braided and wound around the head. The
povoynik is probably a band of embroidered fabric to which a cap is sewn. The povoynik is
secured to the head by ties at the back. Extant examples are hard to find.
- Ubrus - an embroidered rectangle of linen or silk (usually red or white) closely draped
around the head, with the ends left dangling over the woman's shoulders in front and back.
Special decorative pins were used to hold the ubrus in place.
- Volosnik - a net cap with an embroidered fabric border. The volosnik is worn over the
povoynik, and under the ubrus. The embroidered edge might be adorned with dangling pearl
attachments, and would show under the ubrus.
My Russian Woman handout from KWCS II is here in .pdf form
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Men's Russian Clothing
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