Yelena Guschina: ‘A folk costume is a surprising, harmonic outfit’
“Russian Style: Tradition and Soul of Folk Culture” exhibition opens in Kazan
Results of the work of Russian Collections in Tatarstan Museums historical and ethnographic project that has been successfully implemented in the last three years with the republic’s Rais Rustam Minnikhanov’s support was presented in the Kazan Kremlin. Russian Style: Tradition and Soul of Folk Culture exhibition of re-enacted authentic clothes of the Russian population in the Kazan Volga area opened here too. Tatarstan Vice Premier Leyla Fazleyeva, leading Russian scientists, researchers, folklorists and historians of popular culture participated in the meeting. Read more in Realnoe Vremya’s report.
Festival for devotees of Russian folklore
Results of the work of Russian Collections in Tatarstan Museums historical and ethnographic project that has been successfully implemented in the last three years was presented in the Kazan Kremlin on 23 May, Slavic Literature and Culture Day.
As a result of long-term expeditions, there were issued five volumes on Russian folklore. One of them — Folk Costume of the Kazan Volga Region in the late 19th — early 20th centuries — was presented at Russian Style: Tradition and Soul of Folk Culture exhibition of re-enacted authentic clothes of the Russian population in the region. The re-enactment of Russian folk costumes from Tatarstan villages became one of important results of the ethnographic research.
The festive atmosphere united all devotees of Russian folklore in one place. The project turned out to be interesting for the ethnographic community and researchers from different regions of Russia. Moreover, representatives of different ethnicities and religions interested in this topic gathered because many ancient exhibits were presented for big public for the first time.
“We understood it was really the first time”
23 museums of the republic participated in the project. National costumes, shoes, hats in Russian traditions were presented at the exhibition.
Invited guests talked about the significance of Slavic Literature and Culture Day in the modern world. Artist, expert in arts and ethnic culture Andrey Borovsky, leading researcher of the project, Candidate for Historical Sciences, acting head of the Department of Anthropology and Ethnography of Kazan Federal University Yelena Guschina, famous collector and researcher of the Russian folk costume Sergey Glebushkin, art director of a studio of decorative applied arts and crafts, senior lecturer of the Department of Fine Arts and Design of Kazan State Institute of Culture Yekaterina Mengden were among them.
Director of the Pushkin Culture Centre Galina Yelistratova opened the exposition, the exhibition was sponsored by the centre.
A catwalk show of a new collection of folk costumes opened the presentation of the project’s results when Yelena Guschina talked about difficulties of creation and history of every suit: “A folk costume is a surprising, harmonic outfit that combines clothes, shoes, hats, accessories and adornments.”
“I am very happy to present you our works. Russian Collections of Tatarstan Museums are a presentation, museum collections of Tatarstan carefully store our samples. Our collections are available to a big amount of people,” the speaker noted. “When the idea was just shaped, many seemed unattainable for us, we understood it was really the first time, it was very exciting for us. There were a lot of doubts because there hadn’t been yet such projects. But the most important thing is that we did it!”
“Nowadays more and more music groups dress our costumes”
Founder of a traditional Russian costume workshop Yulia Akhmetzyanova delivered a speech after that. According to her, all costumes were created according to museum samples and illustrate all five volumes of the book. Each of the samples reflected the financial wealth of its host, corresponded to the age and certain event.
A wedding outfit of the early 20th century won the audience award. Every appearance of models was accompanied by a performance. After the end of the runway, all people were invited to listen to lectures by leading art experts, ethnographers and traditional culture researchers.
Famous music bands performed in front of the guests of the exhibition as an entertaining programme.
“Nowadays more and more music groups dress our costumes, and we are very proud of this,” noted Tatarstan Vice Prime Minister Leyla Fazleyeva.
The exhibition is also held as part of events by the Year of National Cultures in Tatarstan. The presentation of the book on Russian folklore was available for all specialists and people interested in this culture. Thanks to the Tatarstan Ministry of Culture and the republic’s rais, all five catalogues of the museum collection are available absolute free. According to the project’s authors, the catalogues will become an important source of information when re-enacting folk costumes for any purposes.
At the end of the exhibition, all museums involved in the project that made their contribution to the research on Russian folk were awarded.
