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Gallery of Costumes : Our Reconstructions
Authentic Village Costumes Everyday clothes "by idea"


  • From:
    Archangel region.
  • Time:
    1890s.
  • Ethnicity:
    Northern Russians.
  • Age group of the wearer:
    18-25 years old (from the first child's birth).
  • Social category of the wearer:
    a young married woman who has at least one child.

    • Made by Irina Zhoukova (shirt and sarafan), and Sonia Krugloff (headdress)
    ..to be precise, the outfit represented here combines items, which belong to different parts of the Archangel region... more info >>>>>



    Made by Irina Zhoukova
  • From:
    Altay region.
  • Time:
    mid 1800's.
  • Ethnicity:
    Russians-"polyaki" (old believers).
  • Age group of the wearer:
    15-25 years.
  • Social category of the wearer:
    unmarried (getting ready to marry) young man from a middle class/wealthy family.

    • ...the bachelor's outfit was required to be rich and attractive - to show to neighbours (practical level of thinking) and spirits of the ancestors (spiritual/religious level) the wealthiness of a family, and the ability to feed one more branch of a family (new-married couple and their children). The whole bachelor's outfit consisted of 15-20 parts... more info >>>>>


  • From:
    Yaroslavl region.
  • Time:
    mid 1800's.
  • Ethnicity:
    Russians from the north of the Volga River.
  • Age group of the wearer:
    pre-teen and teenage girl, a.k.a. from 9/10 years of age to the initiation into the "age of 'marriage'" (about until 15/16 years of age).
  • Social category of the wearer:
    not an orphan, from a family of any wealth.

    • Made by Irina Zhoukova
    ...around the age of 9, a child changed social category from kid to "otrok" (pre-teen). This transition was reflicted in his/her costume. Boys got their first pants and "grown-up-like" hats. For girls there was a special ritual called "Jumping Into a Skirt"... more info >>>>>



    Made by Irina Zhoukova
  • From:
    Yaroslavl region.
  • Time:
    mid 1800's.
  • Ethnicity:
    Russians from the north of the Volga River.
  • Age group of the wearer:
    starting from "the age of marriage" to the end of childbearing age.
  • Social category of the wearer:
    a young girl (NOT a spinster!) or a married woman.
    • ...Mother Earth literally gives birth to a harvest and spends some of Her power for it. So, harvesting people suppose to give some of their energy back to Mother Earth (as a reward). If they wouldn't do so, nothing would grow next year...
    more info >>>>>


  • From:
    Vologda region.
  • Time:
    mid 1800's.
  • Ethnicity:
    Russians.
  • Age group of the wearer:
    starting from "the age of marriage" to the end of childbearing age.
  • Social category of the wearer:
    a young girl (NOT a spinster!) or a married woman.

    • Made by Irina Zhoukova
    ...this dress is the ritual outfit ALL village women (married and non-married yet) supposed to be dressed for the first day of harvesting...
    more info >>>>>


  • From:
    Ust-Zilma region (North-West Russia).
  • Time:
    the end of the 1700's.
  • Ethnicity:
    Russians from the north of the Pechora River.
  • Age group of the wearer :
    a woman of childbearing age.
  • Social category of the wearer:
    married woman.


    • Made by Irina Zhoukova

  • What is this:
    Man's shirt decorated with ritual "Kupala" embroidery

    • Made by Anna Nikolaeva (embroidery) and Irina Zhoukova
    …the cut of this outfit is a common Russian one. It is a chiton-like shirt… the most interesting part of the shirt is the design of embroidery. It is taken from a needlepoint collection published by an ethnographer K.Dalmatov in 1896…
    more info >>>>>



    Made by Sonia Krugloff (headdress) and Irina Zhoukova
  • From :
    Orel region, Bolkhov district, Aleshna village
  • Time :
    1890's - 1920's.
  • Ethnicity :
    Russians from the north of the Oka river.
  • Age group of the wearer:
    starting from "the age of marriage" to the birth of the first child.
  • Social category of the wearer:
    a young girl or a young married woman.



    • Made by Nataly Marchouk
  • From :
    Altay region
  • Time :
    mid-1800's.
  • Ethnicity :
    Russians "kerzhaky" (old believers).
  • Age group of the wearer:
    30-50 years old.
  • Social category of the wearer:
    respectable married man (probably, a head of a family).
    • ...a wearer could be 25-30 years old, but if he was the last adult man in a family, he supposed to wear dark-blue as a sign of his status and responsibilities...
    more info >>>>>


  • From:
    Arkhangelsk region, Kargopol district.
  • Time:
    1890's.
  • Ethnicity:
    Russians from the Northern Russia.
  • Age group of the wearer :
    from the first child's birth.
  • Social category of the wearer:
    a young married woman who has at least one child.

    • Made by Sonia Krugloff
    ...Kargopol-style soroka consists of three parts... more info >>>>>



    Made by Irina Zhoukova
  • From:
    the city of Nizhny Novgorod.
  • Time:
    the end of 1800's.
  • Ethnicity:
    Russians.
  • Age group of the wearer:
    20-40 years.
  • Social category of the wearer:
    a 2nd(medium)-guild merchant's wife.
    • ...speaking of merchants, among them a pretty interesting clothing style appeared at that time: it combined "the ancectors' fashion", on one hand, and European-like taste in coloring and decoration, on the other hand... more info >>>>>


  • Time:
    the 12th-16th century.
  • Ethnicity:
    Russians and Slavs as a whole.
  • Age group of the wearer:
    15-30 years old.
  • Social category of the wearer:
    a peasant girl/woman.

    • Made by Irina Zhoukova
    ... such a dress was mandatory for "rusalka" rites. Those rites were dedicated to spirits of trees and rain clouds... more info >>>>>


  • From :
    Archangel region, Kargopol district
  • Time :
    late 1800's.
  • Ethnicity :
    Russians.
  • Age group of the wearer î:
    25-45 years.
  • Social category of the wearer:
    a married man

    • Made by Irina Zhoukova
    ...this shirt is of an archaic chiton-like design. It is the most common for Slavic and Russian shirts. The cut is: a rectangular piece of cloth is folded half-by-half across a warp (along a woof)... more info >>>>>



    Made by Irina Zhoukova
  • From :
    Kharkov region.
  • Time :
    mid-1800's.
  • Ethnicity :
    Russians.
  • Age group of the wearer:
    15-25 years old (or, till a marriage).
  • Social category of the wearer:
    a peasant girl.
    • ...when we announced "a Kharkov-style sarafan", our Ukrainian friend replied angrily: "Nonsence! There is no such a thing! Kharkov women have worn poneva-skirts, no sarafans!" Generally speaking, she is right... more info >>>>>


  • What is this:
    a boy's shirt
    (adapted to contemporary life)


    • Made by Irina Zhoukova
    ...traditional costume is not an everyday clothes for us anymore. It became just... just costume for special occasions. Therefore we decided not to follow the tradition literally... more info >>>>>



    Made by Irina Zhoukova (the shirt) and Sonia Krugloff (the hat)
  • From :
    Baykal Lake region
  • Time :
    the end of 1800's.
  • Ethnicity :
    Baykal cossacks.
  • Age group of the wearer :
    10-14 year-old.
  • Social category of the wearer:
    pre-teen boy.

    • ...cossacks people felt themselves different from peasants because peasants were enslaved in tsarist's Russia, and cossacks were not. And, cossacks demonstrated this difference in every way of life, including their costumes... more info >>>>>