The researcher, sculptor, graphic designer, reenactor of the Cossacks era Sergei Shamenkov tells about what united the Ukrainian warriors with European fashion.

The dramatic era of Cossacks begins in 1572 when the Cossacks joined the Polish crown. The privileged registered and free Cossacks participate in international conflicts against Muscovy, the Ottoman Empire, raise uprisings against the same Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It is written a lot about the glory and dishonor of the Sich warriors. But we are still deluded about their appearance.

The image of the Cossack in pants appears on the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in the books of folklorist Dmitry Yavornytsky, who was guided by the late ethnographic sources of the 18th century. The image was picked up by theatrical collectives, which fixed in the mass consciousness the idea of a Cossack - in huge red pants, embroidered shirt and with a forelock on his head.

But the Cossack fashion had its own trends, and they have changed over time.

HOW A HAT WAS WORN?

In the 17th century all men wore hats without exception. They took it off only when they greeted someone and in church: only women were supposed to be with the covered head in the temple. Walking in a hat even in the room was normal.
Despite the fact that the hat was a demi-season item, it were sewed out of fur, and it was made a lining of fabric inside. It was unbearable when it was hot, the fragrance of male sweat and bestial fur choked everyone around. How could you make your life easier without disrupting your customs and social norms?

METHOD 1

Inventive great-great-grandfathers solved this issue in the following way: they began to put a hat on their heads so that the fabric lay on the head, and the fur band was behind or on the right side. The description of this method is found in the chronicles of the Hadyatsky colonel Grigoryi Grabyanka.

An engraving depicting a Cossack 1620, "Peter Konashevich Sagaydachny". Source: national Museum of Taras Shevchenko

METHOD 2

The second option was to turn the hat over and put the cloth on its head, and the warm fur edge up.
In the preface to the book "Skarbnitsya Demanding" by Ioanikia Galyatovsky, where it is told about the emblem of Zaporozhye's Army "Knight with a self-propelled", the method of wearing the hat "upside down" is mentioned.

"So Stephen Batory, the king of Poland, Zaporozhye army gave instead of the emblem while printing a knight with a self-made belt, on his side - a saber, and on his head he had a skewed cap, since the Zaporozhye knights are at war with the enemies not only in the field, but also at sea, they shoot with self-propelled and cut enemies with sabers, also galleys and penal Turkish servitude on the sea, in the image of an upturned hat, upside down and inundated in the sea, and the cities of Turkey and Tatar receive and how their hoods are turned out. "

A large number of documents of the times of the Cossack-Moscow conflicts and the Ruin period have been preserved, where it is possible to find prints of the hetman seal with silhouettes of Cossacks. Ivan Vygovsky and Yuri Khmelnitsky wrote angry letters to each other, applying a seal with a warrior who had a hat on his head. When the sultan of Ukrainian origin Mehmed IV received from Peter Doroshenko proposals to unite against Muscovy and Rzeczpospolita, he also saw an impression of a Cossack with a strange headdress.

A hat lying on the head, depicted on the military seals of the hetmans Ivan Vygovsky, Yuri Khmelnitsky and Peter Doroshenko. Source: Blog of the community of history and reconstruction of the Cossacks / 17c.in.ua

Taras Timchak from Lvіv shows two ways of wearing caps by Cossacks. Photo: Sergey Shamenkov

The fur up hat is also found on the prints of Demian Mnogogreshny, Ivan Samoilovich, Ivan Mazepa and Daniel the Apostle.
The elite of the Commonwealth and Muscovy adopted the fashion to wear hat with a fur up from the Zaporozhye Army. On the Stockholm scroll you can see how the gentry put a hat on their heads, even sitting on a horse among the royal wedding procession.

The author of "Encyklopedja staropolska ilustrowana" quotes the priest Kitovich, who in the 18th century collected descriptions of the old customs of the Polish gentry. Enumerating the options for wearing hats, he writes "or flat-laid on his head, held against the sun".

Fragment of the "Stockholm Scroll", 1605. Source: The Royal Armory, Stockholm / Wikipedia

AND WHERE ARE THE SHAROVARY?

Unconfirmed fantasy - the image of a Cossack in large pants of the times of Sagaidachny-Khmelnitsky and the arrival of Ivan Mazepa. It is based on works of art that conditionally depict the wardrobe of the Cossacks, formed in the late 18th - early 19th centuries under the influence of wars with the Ottoman Empire and the stay of the Cossacks behind the Danube.
From the Middle Ages to the 18th century, narrow pants were popular in Europe - the chauffeurs. Were worn by their aristocrats and military, in particular Hungarian infantrymen. Therefore, this model is sometimes called "Hungarian". With minor changes, the model has taken root among the Ukrainian Cossacks.

French engineer and cartographer Guillaume Levasseur de Boplan, author of the first manuscript map of Ukraine and "Descriptions of the countries of the Kingdom of Poland", in mentioning the clothes of the Cossacks wrote about d'vn caleçó - narrow pants.

The trousers repeated the silhouette of the leg and tied on the belt with a cord. Sewing the "Hungarian" model did not require a large amount of fabric, that is, reduced the cost. Therefore, even peasants and poor residents of cities who could not keep up with fashion could afford them.

Fragment of the map of Boplan. Pay attention to the trousers. Engraving of Wilhelm Gondius, circa 1640. Source: Blog of the community of history and reconstruction of the Cossacks / 17c.in.ua

Some idea of the clothes of the Cossacks of the times of the War of Independence is given by paintings of European artists, in particular an eyewitness of events - the Dutchman Van Vesterfeld. The Cossacks were portrayed in short outer clothing: a gray coat, a caftan or a dolman. Therefore, it is clear that they have comfortable short pants.

In the sources relating to the Cossacks, until the end of the 17th century, we will not find a single image of wide bloomers with motley.

In the city of Dubno in Volhynia, the remains of such narrow trousers of the 17th century were found. Reconstructors from the "Pechersk Hundred of Predrimir" stitched similar pants, using books for tailors of that period. Their convenience is proved by several campaigns.

Reconstruction of the appearance of the Cossack of the 17th century. Photo: Military-historical group "Kuren of Pechersky Hundred of Athanasius of Predrimir" / 17c.org.ua

WHAT WAS NOT TOLD AT SCHOOL?

Stockings were an indispensable attribute of the wardrobe not only in Western Europe of the 17th century, but also on the territory of Ukraine. The socks were not invented then, but they did not wear footcloths. So that the shoes do not rub and do not spoil the sweat, warriors and civilians put on stockings.

The universal of Bohdan Khmelnitsky in 1655 of November 26 "On the prohibition of Cossacks demanding from Kiev petty burghers and tribute" contains a separate ban "neither boots, nor stockings and other crafts are not to be dragged."

They made stockings of wool and even silk. In the 18th century, red stockings became fashionable, like the Cossack Mamai in the painting of an unknown artist.

"Cossack Mamai", a picture of an unknown artist. Source: Wikipedia

Sometimes on Mamaia's images it is evident that the stockings are covered with shoes - shoes made of a piece of rawhide that was fastened with a rope to the calves. The posters were cheaper than boots and more convenient for walking, even in the mountains. Such wore Carpathian springs.

Thank you for your attention and have a nice day!
Best regards, @ostapko