Alena Lidzhieva, Traditional Clothing

Alena talks about Kalmyk clothings. Alena: In the past married women wore a tight waistcoat for beauty. It was worn underneath the dress, like another dress. Karu: What was the difference between the dresses of married and single women? A: Married women had two pigtails and wore a tsegdg (dress without sleeves). Single women wore a dress and had one pigtail. They also wore a hat. Of course, dresses of married and single women differed, which is not the case today. Today one cannot say whether one is married or single. K: Can you talk about hats? A: Married women’s hats were round in shape, with the top made from black velvet and had a thread. Old women wore hats made from lamb skin, also with a thread dangling from them. K: Was there any difference between hats of young girls and single women? A: Children did not wear hats. They run in the steppe without hats and looked like small black dots. They cleaned their noses with their hand and then smeared their faces. K: What did men wear? A: Men wore black beshmet and black hats. K: Did they wear something underneath their beshmet? A: They wore a shirt. K: What shirts? With buttons? A: With buttons. But buttons were not in the centre of the shirt but on the right side. Men wore the same beshmet every day. They also had a special one when going out. K: What did men wear during holidays, at weddings? A: A black beshmet. K: Did they wear belts? A: Yes, silver belts. They also had wool scarves around their neck. K: What were their boots like? A: Black boots. K: What were their trousers like? A: Black trousers just like men wear today. But they were made from real cloth, and pushed into boots. K: Did they wear socks? A: Of course, they did. It is not that they walked barefooted. K: Did men wear knives? A: Every man had a knife on his left waist. Knives were kept in wooden scabbards covered with leather. K: Who made knives? A: Some bought at the market, some made themselves, I don’t know.Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin