Soul heat and shugai

The first snow has already fallen somewhere, and I want to wrap myself up in a warm fur coat. But until the bitter frosts have not yet struck, you can also wear a short fur coat, which will look beautiful ...

Looking at the new autumn-winter collections of designers, you admire what amazing and fantasy ideas are embodied in clothes and accessories. And how many ideas can be gleaned from folk costumes, especially here in Russia. Indeed, until the middle of the 19th century, in different provinces, and even in different villages, clothes were of a certain cut and tailoring, and it’s not easy to talk about embroidery and palette - they were so different for everyone. Therefore, it is very useful for designers to look into the wardrobe of old Russian women.

Let's and we'll see what would be useful to us now from this wardrobe, when the cool days have just come.

Soul heat. Dushegreya is an original Russian clothing worn by women of different classes. This is a short, just below the waist, and rarely up to mid-thighs, clothing. Sewed souls from expensive and elegant fabrics, mostly velvet, brocade.

Soul-warriors were embroidered with gold and silver threads with floral patterns, flowers, bunches of grapes. The edge was trimmed with gold fringe. They put them on top of a sundress. For poor women, soul warming was not everyday wear. It was worn only for a holiday.

Soul-heat was also called in another way - "shugai". It was already a short winter coat. Our Russian language is extremely rich and sensitive, because sometimes there are very similar words, and they mean different things. In the old days, women's clothing was most often loose, and shugai, one might say, is almost the only fitted clothing.

Shugai, like soul heat, had a narrow cut in front with a slit, which was made more often diagonally. The lower part of the back is shugaya - in the form of a peplum, which was gathered at the waist in tubular folds. The sleeves were long, tapering to the wrist, gathered in small folds from hand to elbow, and turned into squirrel fur along the edge. Clothes are short enough, occasionally reaching mid-thighs.

Shugai was sewn on fur or cotton wool and worn both in a saddle and in sleeves. In different parts of Russia, the shugai were called differently - "epanechka", "trumpet" (because of the tubular folds in the back), or even "magpie".

To the knowledge of history folk costume nowadays not only ethnographers and local historians turn to, but also many people who are not indifferent to folk culture. And there are more and more such people. And this is good news, because we must not forget the heritage of our culture and history.