MOSCOW, May 4.Today, the popularity of festivals and clubs of historical reenactment is growing in Russia. Members of such clubs should not only be well versed in history, but also be able to make themselves clothes and armor of a chosen historical period and region. What were the clothes of the inhabitants of the Golden Horde during the Battle of Kulikovo? How difficult is it to reproduce today for a non-specialist? This was told by an expert in historical costume, a member of the clubs of historical reconstruction «Golden Dragon» and «Sirin» Elena Zhuravleva.
– Elena Vladimirovna, how long have you been engaged in historical reconstruction?
– For more than 10 years. The first time I took part in the military-historical festival «Kulikovo field» in 2013. I create Horde costumes for myself and friends. In order to assemble even the smallest set, the simplest and most convenient, we study historical sources with our club colleagues, compare all the information available to us, trying not to miss a single detail. When selecting fabrics and their design, we focus on archaeological finds from the Golden Horde period, of which quite a lot has been preserved.
— What fabrics are used to create the Horde costume?
— Basically it is silk, cotton and felt for warm clothes. Archeology gives an understanding that expensive, unusual fabrics were used, in the modern view — dense cotton, dense silk with a bright pattern. Often silk was decorated with a heel — this is a way of applying a pattern to a fabric using paint and a wooden stamp.
By the way, the Russian historical costume is much easier to sew than the Horde costume, since its cut is simpler, the details are based on the simplest geometric shapes — squares and rectangles. Linen is more commercially available, much cheaper than silk. But cotton, which in terms of weave and color corresponds to historical samples, is not so available today, mainly thinner or inappropriate material with the addition of synthetic fibers is sold.
For our purposes, homespun cloth (cloth woven on handlooms) and other fabrics created on the basis of archaeological finds are suitable. Craftsmen create them from threads carefully selected in thickness and composition, using weaving techniques of the 13th-14th centuries. «ar16x9″ data-crop-ratio=»0.5625″ data-crop-width=»600″ data-crop-height=»338″ data-source-sid=»rian_photo» class=»» />
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– What was the Horde costume like in the era Battle of Kulikovo?
– The suit was quite complex in cut, consisted of several shirts, robes and thus ideally suited to climatic conditions. Both women's and men's costumes had an analogue of modern underwear — a shirt with long sleeves and pants, knee-length for women and ankle-length for men.
for the Golden Horde, this was in the order of things, since the Horde women, being representatives of nomadic tribes, rode horses.
A bottom robe or even several robes of different cuts were worn over linen. These could be dressing gowns, and caftans with an axial slit and short sleeves. One of the variants of the lower dressing gown is wrap-around, detachable at the waist, skirt panels are gathered at the waist in large folds. Another option is a one-piece, trapezoidal shape, in the Yuan fashion.
In women's clothing, a short-sleeved caftan was sewn to the knee or slightly higher. Archeology has preserved such clothes made of silk, with a silk lining. In men, a similar thing could be shorter, almost to the hips. Women's and men's suits differed, in addition to length, in trim, while having a similar cut.
The robes were tied at the sides with silk ribbons; caftans were fastened with buttons — for this, a cord was made from strips of silk, and a round knot was formed from it. Buttons and hooks could be metal, for example, made of silver — this spoke of the status of their owner. Leather boots were worn on the legs, the tops were of an interesting shape, with a notch in the middle, and often decorated with silk cords.
The men's suit was sewn mainly from one fabric. Women's overcoats could be made from several fabrics and be two- or three-colored. They differed from men's in the first place in the finish, which was wider and more colorful. In addition, men's and women's dressing gowns differed in folds: the former had small and bow-like folds, while the latter had large and flat folds.
– What were the headdresses like?
— For women, in my opinion, the most interesting was the richly decorated status headdress called «bocca»; it is based on a birch bark frame, which is called a «boot» — it has the shape of a wide tube with a spout. In profile, it looks like a duck or goose with folded wings; it was believed that the bird is one of the most favorable symbols for women, a symbol of family, motherhood.
The lower cap played the function of a base, helping to secure the entire structure with silk ribbons. The top cap was also silk, with a silk lining; the edges were tucked up and fastened at the back of the head with bows of silk ribbons or buttons, ribbons richly decorated with beads and pearls descended under the neck. =»ar16x9″ data-crop-ratio=»0.5625″ data-crop-width=»600″ data-crop-height=»338″ data-source-sid=»» class=»» />
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There are also headdresses of a less refined form. At the heart of their cut is a rectangle, but the simplicity of the design was compensated by beautiful ribbons with tassels, which were located at the back of the head. Such «hats» could be worn in different ways: fastened either under the chin or at the back of the head.
Men had similar hats, which were also based on simple geometric shapes, but the edges could be rounded. In addition, on many historical miniatures you can see men's hats with brim. Similar headdresses are also known from archaeological sources. They had a rather rigid shape.
– What decorations did the Horde have?
— Women wore rings, large and bright beads made of glass and stones, pearl earrings — pearls were fixed in them with gold or copper wire. Among the finds are hairpins. Unfortunately, we do not have accurate information about the hairstyles of Horde women. According to medieval images, one can understand how the ladies of that time wore braids in combination with headdresses known to us. We borrow more complex hairstyles with hairpins from the neighboring region, according to Chinese fashion.
Men wore belts with metal plaques, knives, purses, belt sets, rings were hung from the belt. Could wear an earring. And even, imagine, weaving braids!
– How do modern reenactors cope with the manufacture of complex Horde costumes?
– There are really not so many specialists in tailoring historical costumes. The fact is that there are also few clubs in the Golden Horde, in addition, not all reenactors sew, and beginners create a kit from scratch. At first, the guys try the simplest things, the manufacturing technology of which is clear and well-developed. It is not necessary to make more complex items of clothing yourself, you can order from the masters. «0.5625» data-crop-width=»600″ data-crop-height=»338″ data-source-sid=»rian_photo» class=»» />
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I saw that re-enactors often sew as they go: for example, not everyone manages to align the bottom of the product, although historically the bottom of the dressing gowns has always been even, despite the side folds. And you need to find the right line for rounding the bottom corners.
Reconstruction for most people is undoubtedly just a hobby, but it seems so only at first glance, because it is an accurate work on costume and life and experiments based on a detailed study of historical materials. And in order to apply the experience gained in practice, there are really serious festivals, with an admission system, with costume passports.
Reconstruction is not only about an interesting vacation that you can get just by renting chain mail. Reconstruction is an interest in history and a lifestyle in general.