Soviet Peasant Dress
The dress of the family is more difficult to describe than the house, partly because it differs in different sections of the country, but particularly because every community displays a…
From: 1927 C.E. To: 1927 C.E.
Location: Russia
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Village Life Under the Soviets by Karl Borders, 1927.
The Family Wardrobe
The dress of the family is more difficult to describe than the house, partly because it differs in different sections of the country, but particularly because every community displays a variety of dress that is seldom found together elsewhere. I believe one can wear more outlandish costumes in Russia without exciting comment, particularly during the last few lean years, than any place in the world. All within reason, of course.
When a bold American woman goes abroad in knickers or breeches for the first time in a community, all eyes are turned in her direction, and the things that are said are not always complimentary. But the same village may, within its hundred families, display dedushka in bark shoes, cloth wrapped calves and sheepskin coat, and his grandson, Ivan, in city shoes, bellbottomed trousers and a coat and cap that might have been bought at most any "gents’ furnishing store” on Main Street.
White collars have not yet gripped the throat of the Innocent villager, and the typical Russian blouse with a bit of tasteful embroidery at the collar and sleeve and down the front is still one of the most picturesque features of the peasant costume. Give the young swain a bright shirt of this description, generous breeches tucked into shining top boots, and crown it all with a rakish fur hat set at the proper angle and you have a combination hard to resist. Boots are, on the whole, the most practical footgear for the village because they are built waterproof. In the summer most of the family go barefoot or wear sandals.
In the more intimate facial outlines of the peasant, cartoonists will soon be reduced to desperation and humorists dependent on Russian jokes driven to beggary. For haircuts are coming more and more into vogue even in the village, and Gillettes are displayed in the humblest markets. The younger men are clean shaven, and there is little likelihood that the beards and flowing locks of the grandfathers who bask in the sun on the street bench will ever be in style again. And what is more, the boyish bob has come to the village. Not in great numbers, it is true, but frequently enough to make a short haired woman a not uncommon sight.
The increase of manufactured goods has robbed the women, particularly, of much of their picturesque dress. For while the cotton prints attempt bright patterns, often with good effect, the costumes of the more cosmopolitan villagers do not compare with the effectiveness of the bright homespun woolens and embroidered linens still to be found in the more remote sections, particularly in the Ukraine. The skirts are full and discreetly long, whatever the material, and all girls covet, if they do not possess, a pair of shoes or slippers with high French heels.
In the folk costumes, decoration is expended on the apron and the full-sleeved blouse, which are often beautifully embroidered. The skirt owes its success to color, which tends to run to bright orange or red. But whatever costume she may wear, the peasant girl invariably crowns the effect with her platok or "scarf,” bound about her head by a simple knot at the back of the neck or under the throat. These, too, run to gay colors, and red, which was always regarded as beautiful, even to the extent of being widely used as a synonym for loveliness, continues to be a favorite with its added significance.
The dress of the village is on the whole disappointingly drab and colorless to the foreigner who is expecting costumes out of Russian fairy tales, and he will have to go far into the hinterlands to find the gay folk dress of the different sections. This is a loss which must Inevitably be sustained in the leveling process of industrialization which is so devoutly desired throughout all Russia, and is already evident in the villages near the cities.
The winter outfit of the village, however, which is at once most sensible and very picturesque, will probably remain for many years to add a distinct character to the countryside. Assuming proper house clothing, let us begin at the feet to dress for a long drive in a sleigh on a midwinter day. First come the clumsy but comfortable heavy felt boots, called valenki. Then an ordinary fur-lined or sheepskin overcoat, and a fur cap of some sort, preferably one that comes down over the ears. And, last, that all enveloping mother-hubbard, sheepskin top-coat called a sulup.
It is distinctly a family institution, used by whoever is going on a journey. Its ample folds reach almost twice around the stoutest of figures, and drag the ground except on the tallest. The sleeves are always sufficiently long to cover the hands, and almost obviate the necessity of gloves unless the wearer is driving. The huge collar, when turned up, reaches high above the head.
Once in such a garment, the victim is helpless. A friend must come to his assistance for the final ministrations. A strong homespun girdle, dyed in bright colors, is produced and wrapped twice around the middle. The knee of the helper is then placed firmly against the back, as I have seen the loose girth of a horse adjusted, and the girdle is deftly tightened and made fast. Finally a string is produced and the collar is tied about the head so as to leave a bare peep hole. Dressed in this fashion you may ride for twenty miles in a sleigh with perfect comfort.
The first mentioned garments are the customary garb about the village during the winter. The felt boots are worn without any covering during the frozen weather. If it is wet under foot, goloshes are either put on over the boots or the usual leather boots are donned. The ordinary coat worn for walking and work is cut short for convenience. In every case the wool or fur is sensibly turned in, and the plain, village-tanned leather turned out. The effect Is not unlike a settlement of great brown bears going about their business.
Borders, Karl. Village Life Under the Soviets. Vanguard Printings, 1927.
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