Winter top garment and spring-autumn apparel

Ihor Perevertniuk

The cold season requires, without doubt, extra outerwear. The ancient Polissia and Volyn inhabitants used different types of clothing made in particular of leather, sheepskin –– kozhukhy (sheepskin coats), pivkozhukhy (sheepskin half-coats), kozhushky (short sheepskin coats). There were variants of the woollen top garments with different cuts. Svyty (peasant’s overcoat) of various cuts were the most common option, but in fact, this piece of clothing had a different name depending on the region and differed in features.

There were white kozhukhy (undyed) and coloured ones (dyed). The tradition of wear differed in various localities. In some areas, white kozhukhy were intended exclusively for men, in some localities – the coloured ones, and vice versa. Kozhukhy were straight-backed and gathered in folds (faldy, zapory, and had other local names). Usually, men used the straight-backed kozhukhy. These had a wide fur collar, just a little widened downwards. Female kozhukhy were mostly amply gathered with a cut-off back, and could be decorated with leather applique, embroidered with woollen cord. Male kozhukhy were mostly detail-free (undecorated). While it certainly happened that female kozhukhy could also be detail-free and straight-backed. Older kozhukhy were still ample, i.e. with a cut-off back, with sinking or without, and had some minimal details. Well, it definitely depended on local tradition. There could be festive kozhukhy and ones not decorated at all.

Svyta could be put on top of kozhukh in cold weather, to prevent rain from falling over (since it could damage it). Usually, svyta and other options of woollen clothing were regarded as spring-autumn apparel. The same as kozhukh, svyta was ample (with folds on a back), and with a cut-off or partially cut-off back. The woollen cloth had several quality options: pure woollen cloth – when both the base and the weft or “pitkannia” were woven of pure wool; there was also a hemp-based woollen cloth, which was woven with wool – such a woollen cloth was considered not so expensive, of a lower quality, but was widely used in Polissia.

Outerwear called “sernieha” was widespread in Western Polissia. It had a straight back, and partially a cut-off back. White sernieha were common, usually decorated with decorative cords, sometimes with embroidery. Latukhy were also widespread, and sukman – within the areas next to Pidliashshia. Black sukman was considered an exclusively festive option made of spring yarn obtained from young black lambs.

Short woollen clothes were also quite common. It was shorter than svyta and called kurtka or kurta, kurtyna, kutsan (jacket) (within Zhytomyr region). It was also sewn of the homemade woollen cloth, straight-backed with wedges or with a partially cut-off back.

In addition to svyta, sernieha, sukman, the male clothing options included also the so-called burka. It resembles kobeniak, which was common on the Left Bank (Livoberezhzhia). It is a large svyta, usually dark-toned, extended downward, and straight-backed, with a high sewn-on collar, which could practically cover the head. There were also some with kobeniak – a rather large hood made of the same woollen cloth.

Hunki were also common – a subsequent clothing option in Polissia. It was usually straight-backed, made of a dark brown woollen cloth. Usually, it was an item of female clothing. Hunki were widely used until the middle of the 20th century.

Also, in the 20th century, conventional jackets replaced svyta and sernieha. These were like a nowadays-traditional jacket. People used to make a slightly wider jacket of home-made woollen cloth. It could be double-breasted with buttons sewn in two rows, with a belt, different pockets –– such an obvious urban impact on folk costumes.

In terms of decoration, svyta, sernieha, male and female latukh, usually differed in a cut in some areas. For example, the male svyta was straight-backed with side wedges (vusa), and the female one could have a semi-cut back and gathered into tucks on the back – folds. Although, in some areas, both male and female svytas could differ mainly in size and decoration method. Since the female svyta was usually decorated on the back with large tassels –– flowers made of coloured wool, the male one could be sewn in the same way, but with no details or with a minimal woollen cord decoration.

The top garment, as well as shirts and hats, had not exclusively functional but also sacral significance. For example, svytas were used for wedding ceremonies. Moreover, just like shirts, wedding svytas could be kept until death and used for burying. Even when in summer, the young marrieds still had svytas thrown over their shoulders during a marriage ceremony in the church, which was considered a sign of high status and wealth. That is, in Polissia, svytas have long been a mandatory wedding attribute of young marrieds.

Kozhukhy also had a sacral significance. In particular, in a wedding ceremony, the mother-in-law meets the son-in-law with a kozhukh turned inside out. Even some folk songs evidence and celebrate this moment. The bride is sitting on a kozhukh turned inside out. The young marrieds are sitting on their honorary place on the top of kozhukh turned inside out. The bed of young marrieds was made in a pantry, and also over kozhukh. That means, it had not only a purely practical function but also a sacral one.

The male spring-autumn apparel is called fandina or chemerka. This apparel originates from Western Polissia, Sarny district. This apparel was intended for both women and men. We have got here a male chemerka. Serniehas of this type were common in the Kamin-Kashyrskyi district, but they were intended mostly for women. As for the cut, this chemerka has a sinking. The back is partially cut-off. Incisions are made of one woollen cloth width, and a wedge is kept extended downwards. A rectangular piece of woollen cloth is inserted in-between the front widths, which is laid in folds. There are slots for pockets on the side, but they are purely decorative – there is no pocket itself. According to the respondents, these were more often used simply for warming hands inside. All the main seams, where fabrics are connected, are decorated with a woollen cord, called krasien in the Sarny region. This cord was especially twisted with a hook made of spun sheep’s wool. It was specially painted and decorated. The sleeves in older types of clothing (perhaps also borrowed from older urban clothing) had the edges of the sleeves turned inside out. In Polissia, this was often imitated and decorated with a woollen cord. The sleeves and some parts of the wedges could be cut of the remnants of woollen cloth. Therefore, a whole piece was taken and the sleeve was narrowed down by means of the wedges. In this case, a sleeve is formed of three wedges sewn together. In fact, there could be many more of them — five or six — depending on the fabric being cut. The front flaps of the svytas were usually cut of a solid piece of fabric and, depending on the regional type, special cuts could be made to better fit the sleeve. The shoulder seam usually was a little below the shoulder –– svyta is quite wide in the shoulders, regardless of whether it is a male or female one. Round buttons woven of woollen cord were used instead of the regular buttons, and corresponding loops were made on the opposite side. These were improvised versions of the fastener. The traditional buttons were also used, which could be metal, wooden, or made of leather. Mostly, there were stand-collars and they were short. Sometimes svyta could be with no collar at all. However, there were also open collars. Depending on the area, they could be larger or smaller in male or female svytas.

The straight-backed svyta from the Western Polissia, which used to be called latukha, has large side wedges (vusa). Like the previous svyta, one solid width was taken for latukha’s back. The only difference was that there was a partially cut-off back, and here – the back is up to the very bottom, straight and made of one-piece width, one cloth. On the sides, the female svytas had quite long (almost underneath the sleeve) vusa sewn – a triangular piece of cloth, which was inserted between the front and back widths. Male svytas –– latukhas were of the same cut, only vusa started a little lower and were slightly smaller, and they did not extend downward. Svyta is made of completely clean felted cloth. In Western Polissia latukhas were amply decorated –– appliques with woollen cord, appliques with fabric, embroidery, and flower-tassels. It is amply decorated near the pockets, on vusa’s folds –– flowers and embroidery. Quite interesting are the local options for decoration in Ratnivskyi district. The edges of the sleeves were decorated with wool embroidery and woollen cords. The front width is also quite decorated with embroidery and woollen cords. The point where svyta fastens has a semicircle – additional decoration. Latukh collar was already a little higher if compared to Rivne region. There, a collar was of about 2.5-3 cm, sometimes 5-6 cm. Grey latukh was quite popular in Ratnivshchyna, but in addition to grey colour, white, black and brown were also quite common –– it depended directly on the capabilities of svyta and latukh owners, and local tradition as well.

Chymerka is spring-autumn apparel originating from Stepan’ settlement, Sarny district, Rivne region. A cut version with the completely cut-off back. Rather than a single piece of fabric, the back is cut out of many (perhaps 10) pieces of fabric. It was quite complicated to sew it, and it required the skills to make it fit –– the professional tailors, using a woollen cloth given by the customers, made such products. In particular, it is known that there were such tailors in Stepan’ settlement. People brought their own homemade woollen cloth to tailors, so that they could create such apparel. Chymerka is made of pure sheep’s home-woven black woollen cloth –– one of the most festive versions of the woollen cloth. The edges of the sleeves are decorated with artistic stitching done on the sewing machine. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, sewing machines emerged, allowing to sew ornaments instead of simple stitches. Cut-outs –– imitations of pockets –– are also decorated with machine-stitching. The front flap was made of a one-piece fabric with cut-outs for sleeves, so they would fit better. It is decorated with a rather wide artistic machine-stitching in yellow and orange colors. The upper part imitates the expansion, the same as on the male shirt neckwarmers. It was quite a large open collar of 7-8 cm.

Straight-backed male svyta from the Western Polissia, Rivne region, Sarny district. Vusa on the straight-backed male svyta do not start as high as on the female one. In fact, the wedge is not just wedged under the armpits but is narrowed. It starts from the sleeve itself, gives expansion in the chest and down to the waist level, then this width simply expands downwards, stitched with several wedges. Felted cloth, when spun and fallen off, is uneven, it is very difficult to sew and fit on a person. That is the reason why stitching in fragments was used quite often to fix the fabric and make it smoother. The male svyta unlike the female one, is decorated much more scarcely. It is decorated with only one row of woollen dyed cord, although it is also decorated on the sleeves and on the front flap. It also has imitated buttons and loops. The collar is quite small –– 2-2.5 cm, decorated at svyta’s main fabric suture with two rows of woollen cord –– krasien. The front flaps, as usual on ancient svytas, are sewn of one-piece fabric.

Definitely, these are only some of the types and kinds of winter and spring-autumn apparel common in Volyn and Polissia. We do know a lot, but still, a lot is lost and remains unknown. However, we did our best to show everything that is available.