Kaftan - what does that mean?

The vocabulary of modern word modders is much more than it was in ancient times. This is explained simply. Today, the fashion industry covers all the territories of the earth and all peoples, new words are borrowed from different languages and almost immediately come into use almost unchanged. For example, what was once called one common word "trousers" is now called not only trousers, shorts, jeans, trousers, but also snickers, leggings, chinoses, corderoids, flops, cargoes, jodpurs, pipes, afghans, etc.

Return of the caftan

The word "dress" has several meanings - this is a woman's outfit, which is a combined skirt and blouse, and in general the name of clothing as such. Kaftan is in the broadest sense the same as the dress, only its obsolete, obsolete synonym. Not so long ago, caftans entered fashion as an item of women's wardrobe in the form of a long dress, sometimes to the floor. So the word kaftan again became modern.

What is a caftan

In LM Mordovtsev's book "Wonderful Historical Women in Russia", published in 1911, the words-anachronisms "ohaben" and "zipun" stand side by side, duplicating each other. In encyclopedias of obsolete terms they denote variations of the Russian caftan. What does "kaftan" mean now? This dress without a collar, with long sleeves and blind, that is, not up to the very bottom, with a buckle from the front. The sleeves of this garment are straight or expanding to the wrists. Often they end with an original volumetric design, which remotely resembles old boyar caftans with very long sleeves with slits that used to be used instead of mittens in the cold, as well as pockets. Now they have a different, exclusively decorative purpose. The caftan is the subject of fashionable clothes. Dresses of this style can be seen on women in summer in resort areas. The free attire of the flying silhouette perfectly protects from the scorching sun and does not hamper the movement. An ancient Polish caftan had sleeves that curled around the shoulder and gradually narrowed from the elbow to the wrist. The Ottoman was straight, with high incisions in the lateral seams. Russian caftan-zipun - clothing tight silhouette, cutting off the waist line and expanding the bell to the bottom. Now this style is called "new bow". Language is a living and mobile system. The lexical meaning of words is not fixed. Many words eventually die completely or change their meaning. The words kaftan, epancha, shushun or completely out of use, or began to be used in a different form. The tailor's term "trousers" is now used only when describing items of the men's wardrobe. In the women's arsenal there are no pants, but there are more than forty names of the fact that the pattern has a stepped seam and historically originated from the pants. This is like a curiosity, is not it? A short dress, cut and trim resembling a caftan is a tunic. But the authentic Greek tunic has nothing to do with the modern long blouse.

What caftans are sold in stores

If you go to a fashion boutique of foreign brand clothes and ask if they can buy a caftan, then you will be offered a choice of long dresses for the beach, for the house or for a festive celebration. What does "caftan" mean in the presentation of the young saleswomen of these stores? This long, spacious dress with a variety of trim along the edges of the cut, hem and sleeves. Finishing can be from a contrasting oblique beika or from a lacy braid. The dress-kaftan usually has the upper part of the shelf and the back of the adjacent silhouette. It can not have any draperies, flounces, ruches, lush collars, just a small collar-stand.

Kaftans of famous contemporary designers

Young fashion designers are more focused on the caftans of the peoples of Africa, Asia and Arabia, for example, Muhra, Artka, Matthew Williamson.

Our famous compatriot - couturier Vyacheslav Zaitsev, gave a new life to a caftan-zipunu in his luxurious collection in the Russian style. His caftan is a short woman's cut-off waist with an adjacent bodice and an expanding trapezoid with the lower part. Those ancient outfits, which inspired him to create this collection, were sewed from a monophonic fabric. He also made his masterpieces from materials with a luxurious padding, traditional for kerchiefs of Pavlovo-Posad manufactories.

Couturiers of the highest echelons of the fashion industry for inspiration often turn to the storages of museums of ancient applied art. In the magnificent luxury of the glitter of stones and gold embroidery of the Dolce and Gabbana collection "Byzantium" the caftan is a dress of a straight, very simple cut resembling the outer clothing of Russian tsars.

Kenzo also gave him the style of safari. The downed shoulders, wide belt, fabric-khaki - a very peculiar vision of the old Russian dress. Roberto Cavalli gave the audience incredibly feminine flying dresses-caftans from the finest chiffon with an animalistic design.

How the outfit looks on different types of figures

The theme of the caftan is inexhaustible. This name means very different dresses that fit perfectly on all types of figures. They are suitable for any age category. A long caftan with vertical edges along the cuts of the side seams and on the front will make the narrower and more graceful lady of a corporal body build, and a short person will add growth. A thin figure trim on the chest and waist belt will give a seductive volume in those places where it is not enough. A woman in a caftan looks more slim, soft, sexy. But in fact initially this kind of clothes belonged to the objects of the men's wardrobe.

Will men again wear caftans?

Kaftans at different times for quite some time were uniforms of the military. They richly expanded themselves with a piece of jewelry, were decorated with fastening buttons fastened to metal buttons, trimmed with fur, supplemented with removable collars. Now a modern male caftan can only be found with very great difficulty. If it succeeds, it will take a lot of courage to put it on and wear it. Fashion in this issue so far on the side of women, but it is fleeting and very volatile. Who knows, maybe very soon men will again wear caftans. The fashion changes, some preferences come to replace others. But the meaning of the word kaftan remains the same - it is a comfortable and practical outerwear.