After a short pause we are continuing with our inspiromat. This time we are looking at a young Russian reenactor Yevgenia Andreyevna from the group White Lynx (Белая Рысь).
Yevgenia aims to represent a Slavic woman from Novgorod in the period from half of 10th century to the beginning of 11th century. Due to the absence of textiles it is a rather difficult reconstruction, mostly based on found jewellery. The reenactress adds that she has two costumes – a simpler one (for work) and a richer one. The simple work dress and under-dress are made from linen and belted with a woolen strap with a cross-shaped pattern. There is a knife hanging on her belt and additional accessories. Her feet are protected by low embroidered shoes based on a find from Novgorod (see Изюмова С.А. К истории кожевенного и сапожного ремесел Новгорода Великого // Материалы и исследования по археологии СССР, Вып. 65. Труды Новгородской археологической экспедиции, т.II, М., 1959).
The richer costume is accompanied by a silk-hemmed woolen coat, a (borrowed) printed cloak already mentioned in Inspiration #4, or a fur-lined cloak and blue silken printed dress. An important part of her costume is her headgear – silken red or pink scarves fastened with a headband of leather and silk decorated with freshwater pearls. On the headband there are replicas of characteristic brass rings and carriages (Yevgenia adds that she is going to buy silver variants, which are more suitable). These as well as her necklaces (beads with a lunette) and other jewellery are based on finds from Novgorod (see Седова М.В. Ювелирные изделия древнего Новгорода X-XV вв., М., 1981).
I would like to thank Yevgenia Andreyevna for granting me permission to use her photographs and for detailed description of her costume. Here we will finish this article. Thank you for your time and we look forward to any feedback. If you want to learn more and support my work, please, fund my project on Patreon or Paypal.