Tag Archives: Russia
Practical Guide to Makeup, Moscow, 1940
Russian Art Deco Mystery Costume Designs
I have here two costume design renderings, (below) in gouache, for a dance piece, that I bought on eBay absurdly cheap:
They were framed, and sealed, and between the paper, and other indications, I’d guess them somewhere from 1920-1940. There is no signature, notes or stamps. The left image is of a Russian Folk dancer, the right, is a folk dancer of another nationality (Italian? Spanish? Hungarian?). They are obviously by a Russian designer, but who, and from what show? I’m not interested in selling them, but I am interested in finding out who did them, or the production they are from. Any suggestions may be sent to me. Chances are that if you don’t understand why I say they are definitely by a Russian from 1920-1940, you won’t have the answer. However, you might be able to identify the nationality of the dancer’s dress on the right better than I can. So far two people have sent me ideas, one that the designs are by Alexandra Exter the other idea was Tatiana Puni, but I can’t confirm either of these. The closest designs I’ve found in a book are by Pavel Tchelitchew, but they are not that close in style. A guy from Yugoslavia thinks that the figure on the right represents a Hungarian, and I think that guess may be correct. ……Dec., 3, 2017
1980s-1990s “Old Believer” Dresses from Alaska
These are a series of dresses I found in a thrift store in Fairbanks, Alaska, and put into the “History Collection” of the UAF Costume Shop in the Theatre Department. They are recently made (1980s-1990s) “Old Believer” dresses. Old Believers are a conservative offshoot of the Russian Orthodox Church that broke off from the main Orthodox church after Peter the Great’s reformation of the Orthodox rituals in 1700. Large numbers of Old Believers emigrated from Russia during the 20th Century because of religious persecution from the Communist government. Several small towns in Alaska are largely colonies of this religious group. These dresses most probably are from one of these towns. The traditional dress of Old Believers is a modern adaptation of traditional Russian peasant dress. Women’s dress is based on the Sarafan. These dresses include several unusual features that make them immediately identifiable as modern Sarafans:
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