Komi national costume
Costume is an important part of the culture of any nation. Everything is reflected in it. The conditions in which people lived, beliefs, even historical events leave their mark on the styles and elements of clothing. Preservation of the traditions of the national costume is the preservation of the memory of the nationality itself
A bit of history
Komi is a group of Finno-Ugric peoples who have lived in the North-East of the European part of Russia since ancient times. Their history can be traced back to the 1st millennium BC. Great Perm, the Komi principality, was first mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years and has been constantly present in Russian sources since then. 800 Komi warriors came to the aid of Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikovo field, later this region was actively involved in the fur trade with other principalities. In the 16th century, during the conquest of the principality by Ivan the Terrible, oil was found, and 300 years later, in the 1930s, rich reserves of coal were explored here. In 1993, the Komi Republic was formed. Today, most of the population of these lands are ethnic Komi-Zyryans. This nation keeps its cultural heritage: language, customs, folklore and, of course, costume.
Outfit Description
The traditional costumes of this people are varied and very colorful. Festive clothes were sewn from thin linen, cloth of the best quality, and in later times from factory fabrics.The wealthiest people could even wear silk, brocade, satin and cashmere.
Komi men's suit
The men of the Komi people were unpretentious in their clothes. The everyday costume of a peasant consisted of linen, trousers and a shirt, which were sewn from the roughest and cheapest materials.
Hunters, fishermen and lumberjacks, in addition to trousers and a shirt, wore special shoes with curved toes and a solid sole (kym), and a sleeveless jacket (luzan) or caftan was thrown on top if it happened in winter. Outerwear was sewn from white or gray homespun cloth, then sheathed with leather, the belt was sewn directly to the belt, and the shoulders were strengthened with pieces of triangular-shaped fabric. Sometimes such a sleeveless jacket had a hood.
Festive clothes differed from everyday clothes in colorful and expensive fabrics. Men put on a shirt-shirt made of bright silk or satin, girded with a leather or woven belt, trousers made of good soft cloth were tucked into high boots. And a jacket or caftan was thrown on top, depending on the time of year.
Komi women's costume
The woman's everyday costume consisted of a long shirt and a sundress.
The shirt usually reached almost to the floor and was sewn from two types of fabric. The upper part, visible to everyone, was sewn from high-quality thin fabric, and the bottom was coarser, but wear-resistant. A sundress was worn over such a shirt. In ancient times, it was cut with wedges, later sundresses became straight, a bodice or corsage was added to them, and it was held with straps. In contrast to the white and gray fabric of shirts, they tried to sew this wardrobe item from bright fabric. Even the everyday outfit of a Komi woman had to emphasize her beauty and skills as a hostess.
Outerwear was quite diverse.In winter, women wore sheepskin coats. In the most severe frosts, zipun could also be added from above. The most prosperous had velvet coats with fox or squirrel fur.
Festive clothing coincided in cut with everyday clothes, but was much richer decorated with embroidery and was sewn from better and more expensive fabrics. The rich Komi wore brocade sleeveless jackets over the sundress.
Skirts, dresses and shirts appeared in the Komi wardrobe only by the middle of the 20th century. But even in them, women adhered to the usual colors and styles.
Hats were a special part of the attire. It was they who pointed to the social position of a woman. Young girls wore hoops, brocade ribbons or stiff bands. Hair was not covered until marriage. If they remained so alone, then they walked like this until old age. Along with marriage, the headdress changed. At the wedding, the girl put on a baba-yur, similar to a Russian kokoshnik, and until her old age she had no right to take it off. To show hair, having lost a baba-yura, was considered a great shame. In old age, they began to cover their heads with simple scarves.
Peculiarities
The features of the costumes of the Komi people are considered to be a special cut of shirts, the use of two types of fabrics for them. The main part was sewn from a thin, bleached canvas, and the inserts on them were made of calico. Men's shirts often had a stand-up collar and straight sleeves.
Also a bright detail is the abundance of embroidery on both women's and men's suits. Sleeves were embroidered on the shirts with bright red, blue and black threads from the wrists to the shoulders. With the advent of chemical dyes, the choice of colors has become even richer.
Modern models
The Komi national costume is not a thing of the past.He is interested not only in ethnographers and historians, but also in ordinary modern residents of the Komi Republic. The main part of the costumes created now is based on the traditions of the early 20th century, often it is a shirt with a skirt and an apron, decorated with bright embroidery.
National costumes or only their elements are used for performances by various creative teams, for themed photo shoots and weddings. Young fashion designers working in the Komi Republic also do not forget their roots and often create collections using fragments of the national costume.
