Introduction to Dress and Fashion in East Europe, Russia, and the Caucasus

Abstract

The regions of East Europe, Russia, and the Caucasus are known for their richly embroidered ethnic clothing. The varied styles of ethnic dress and the associated social practices throughout these regions were strongly influenced by both ancient traditions and highly diverse climatic and geographic conditions, ranging from subtropical to Arctic and from high mountains and rolling plains to northern oceans and southern seas. But the rich history of dress in this vast area is not confined to ethnic dress. The past and present of dress in these regions have been complicated by the wide variety of political circumstances, cultures, and religions in which dress was, and is, embedded. Restricted to a small area and a tight-knit community, ethnic dress differed from national dress in that the latter resided symbolically in vast imagined spaces and served to engage the masses in the period of national awakening from the middle of the nineteenth century on.