On the Issue of Origins of Russian Traditional Dress with Shoulder Straps

Abstract

The article draws on a variety of archaeological, written, and ethnographic sources in an attempt to examine the issue of origins of the traditional Russian shirt with shoulder straps ( polika ). The primary sources for the study are archaeological data from the 16th–17th-century burials at the Voznesenskii monastery of the Moscow Kremlin. The authors analyze a variety of 12th–18th-century images depicting the decoration and specific features of the Russian dress. They argue that the origins of the shirts with shoulder straps could therefore go back to the 11th–13th-century period, and make conclusions about the further development of the style.