This pink suit consists of a blouse from a two-piece suit and a wedge panel skirt. The blouse belonged to Mariya Alekseyevna Zabrodina, who lived in the Onega Uyezd of the Arkhangelsk Governorate. The blouse was sewn on a sewing machine from pink sateen. The front was decorated with a lace inset on the chest and a strip of lace gathered at the top edge. There are also bone buttons and metal snaps. The long sleeves were tapered at the cuff. On the inside, this garment was lined with cotton fabric.
The panel wedge skirt is also pink. It was sewn on a sewing machine from five wedges of fabric, and the front was decorated with a row of four buttons. The folds at the back resemble a bustle — a padded undergarment that was placed at the back of women’s dresses. The lining was made of cotton fabric, and the bottom was hemmed with braid. This skirt was part of the wedding dress of a local woman named Anna Savvatyevna Lomteva.
In the early 20th century, urban fashion began to spread in the Russian countryside. Girls and young women tried to make their outfits similar to those they encountered at the market or on the city streets. For example, their patterns could be found in “Parisian Fashions” — a monthly supplement to the magazine “Niva”, which was sold throughout the Russian Empire.
There were also skirts and blouses made of the same fabric. The term “kazachok” was used to refer to elegant women’s blouses fitting at the waist, single-breasted, with long sleeves and a low stand-up collar, with many small buttons. The fitted silhouette of the blouse was achieved through darts and reliefs on the front and back or only on the back. The material for the blouses was factory-made fabrics such as satin, wool, sateen, and silk, which came in a plethora of colors.
Blouses of Russian peasant women could be pastel, dark, saturated or bright. The decoration included various elements: topstitching, box and vertical pleats, and pintucks, and quite often there were also braids and lace, either factory-made or hand-made. However, not all women wore blouses abundant in decor; some opted for minimalistic designs.
