Armenian national costume

The national costume is a kind of chronicle that through the centuries tells us about the way of life of the people, about its history and soul. By fabrics, cut and set of clothes, one can judge the climatic and geographical conditions, the social, religious structure and economic development of the people. You can even understand what challenges he faced. For example, weapons have always been an integral part of the Armenian national costume. And the reason for this was the troubled life in the Caucasus.

The Armenian people are very ancient. Its history begins in the first millennium BC. In general, he is three thousand years old. Historians give the same amount to the national costume. It is not difficult to trace its development. There are enough sources. There are archaeological materials, and descriptions in ancient books, and engravings, and even ancient sculptures, bas-reliefs of temples.

The set of everyday clothes of an Armenian woman included a “khalav” shirt, “pokhan” pants, an “arkhaluh” top dress and a “gognots” apron. On holidays, another mintana dress was added to this set.

The shirt "khalav" was long. Wedges were sewn on the side, which had an oblique cut. The sleeves of the halava were straight, and the neck had a round shape. An incision was made in the chest. Pokhan pants were worn under the shirt. They were usually red and made of cotton. The trousers were adorned with embroidery at the ankles.

Over the shirt and trousers they put on the dress "arkhaluh". It had slits on the sides. Mintana - a festive outer dress - was cut in the same way as the arkhalukh. But mintana had no cuts. They girded the mintana with a long scarf, which was made of silk. The sleeves were fastened separately on small buttons in the form of balls or attached to a cord. The edges of the sleeves were trimmed with braid.

The headdress played a special role. He carried information about the social status of a woman. Girls braided a lot of braids, into which they wove woolen threads of the same color as their hair. Thus, they were lengthened and visually made thicker.A small felt cap was put on the head. Decorations in the form of leaves, rings, moons and so on were attached to it on special chains. When a woman got married, her headdress changed. Now the felt cap was decorated with precious stones and pearls. If the family was poorer, then small flowers sewn from silk fabrics. When a woman went out into the street, she threw a large veil over her headdress, which was sheathed with a border. If the woman was young, then the embroidery was white, and if the elderly - blue.

Small children who were not even a year old were dressed in a simple shirt. After a year, archaluk was added to the shirt. Often it was made too long, which prevented the child from crawling and walking freely. They did this in order to make it easier to keep track of the child.

Until the age of seven, boys and girls were brought up together, and after that they were separated. In general, the children's costume did not have significant differences from the adult. The boy put on his first adult arkhaluh at the age of 10-12.

Children's clothes, as well as adults, were embroidered. Embroidery was of particular importance to her. Often used crosses and similar elements. They were supposed to protect the child from evil spirits, sorcerers and everything unclean.

The costume of an Armenian man included a shirt, pants, trousers and a caftan. Silk or chintz fabrics were used for sewing shirts. Also, the shirt had a low standing collar, which was fastened on the side. Bloomers were made of cotton or wool and girdled with a wide belt. A purse and a dagger were attached to it.

Eastern Armenians, like women, put on “aralukh” over everything. Only he was shorter than the female, and reached the knees.Western Armenians did not wear aralukh. Instead, they put on a vest - "yelak". A short jacket was worn over the elak. Her sleeves were one-piece. Such a jacket did not have fasteners and was called "bachkon". All clothes had very beautiful embroidery.

Often the choice of color for Armenian clothes depended on the area where they lived. Somewhere they preferred red, somewhere white. Also used blue, purple and green.

The choice of fabrics, as well as colors, was huge and depended on the locality. Cotton fabrics and silk were used for lower clothing, cloth, wool, satin and even brocade for upper clothing.

The male arkhaluh was cut with a detachable back. At the waist, she was going to gather. Sometimes the back was cut from several wedges. Sew the top and lining with one seam.

The lower men's pants ("vartik") were made with a wide insert strip. Often this strip was wide enough, and therefore the length of the pants was equal to its width.

The female arkhaluh also had a detached back and a beautiful long neckline on the chest. Side cuts were made that went from the hem to the waist. Because of this, three floors were obtained: two in front and one behind.

Wedding clothes in a traditional society differed only in that arkhalukhs were sewn from more expensive fabrics. Another was the color of the wedding clothes. For example, socks were always made in red, which was considered protective. An important element of the wedding attire were silver belts. They were handed over to the newlyweds by the bride's parents during the wedding. Previously, an apron made of expensive fabrics, which was embroidered with gold threads, was part of the wedding attire. The wedding dress was decorated with embroidery.

Often, embroidery on wedding dresses was done in red and green. In this case, green symbolized spring, youth, a new generation.

Armenian headdresses are very diverse. Men's hats were made of fur, cloth, felt. Western Armenians preferred hemispherical woolen hats.

Women's headdresses were also different and more complex. More often, women wore a small fez-like hat, from which they hung a lot of jewelry. Married women covered such a hat with scarves, which were supposed to cover the neck as well. The lower part of the face was also covered with a white scarf.Another color was worn over it. Most of the time it was red or green. In the presence of a man, a woman always had to hide her hair, so she could take off her headdress only if none of them were at home.

Western Armenian women used various headbands for their hair. They were made of wood and sheathed with velvet and pearls. The headbands were also made of papier-mâché, which was also sheathed with velvet.

The Armenians used the so-called trohi as shoes. They were made from rough leather. The three were shod on special woolen socks "gulpa". Women wore flip-flops with pointed toes and also wore socks.

Today, the Armenian national costume has received its second development. A number of famous Armenian designers brought back into fashion not only the traditional Armenian wedding dress, but also many elements of cut, ornaments and decorations. By the way, they also used museum collections for inspiration.

Arpi Avdalyan's jewelry was the most famous. Designer Arevik Simonyan, the owner of the Kivera Naynomis brand, skillfully complements her models with traditional necklaces and bracelets.Designer Gevorg Shadoyan also uses national motifs for his models.