Girls' headdresses

The girls' headdresses originate from the wreath principle: they cover the head, but the crown and hair braided into one braid remain open. The collection includes many headbands from the northern, central and southern Russian regions in the form of a rectangular strip (sometimes with a bracket-shaped notch along the lower edge), of greater or lesser height, with one or two blades or ribbons falling down the back. Headbands often have a lower part that descends onto the forehead, strung together in the form of multi-tiered festoons or woven in the form of an oblique net of mother-of-pearl or beads. The Olonets-type headband is unique in the form of a detachable hoop (it is often deaf), decorated with braid and embroidery with fake pearls. The collection includes several types of crowns: blind with a semicircular upper edge (Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Pskov) and openwork with a crenelated upper edge in the form of a crown (Novgorod, Olonets).

The girls' headdresses are made of expensive materials (brocade, semi-brocade, taffeta, damask silk), some are decorated with braid, many are decorated using gold embroidery techniques and/or pearl embellishment, chopped mother-of-pearl, colored faceted glass in metal castes, etc. Rare headdresses include the Arkhangelsk-type crown, which is part of the wedding headdress (it is worn over a festive bandage with a rectangular forehead protector), and the Kostroma-type crown. The crowns are decorated with embellishment on white, colored glass, and embroidered with metallic sequins "in bulk". The Tver crown and the Vologda wedding crown, which were also worn on a maiden headband, also have a complex shape; Both pieces of headwear consist of a rectangular detachable band, on top of which a relief openwork strip is sewn.

Women's headdresses

Women's headdresses are extremely varied in shape, materials and decoration, but, unlike girls' headbands and crowns, they always completely cover woman's hair, twisted into a round bun or braided into two braids and laid on the head.

The multi-component soroka is the most archaic type of women's headdress. Its base - a hard kichka made of quilted canvas, sometimes with wooden details - shapes the headdress (hoof-shaped, horned, etc.). The soroka itself is usually sewn from beautiful bright fabric, decorated on the forehead and sometimes on the back with embroidery made of gold, silk, wool or cotton threads, sequins. Often the third detail of the headdress is an overhead back, decorated with gold embroidery and / or woven bead mesh. Natalia Shabelskaya's collection presents a large number of sorokas from different regions (southern Russian, included poneva-type costume, as well as northwestern Tver and rare northern Olonets, which were worn in an outfit with a sarafan).

Kokoshniks of various types are the pearl of Natalia Shabelskaya's collection. Comb kokoshniks demonstrate a variety of sizes and shapes. These are headdresses with pointed triangular combs (Kostroma), with rounded combs directed upwards and/or forwards (Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza, Vladimir, Tver), conical combs (Olonets). Among the kokoshniks, the ancient Kursk two-comb headdresses are rare. The collection also includes various types of collections - kokoshniks, in which the comb is gathered in a frequent or sparse assembly (Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Kostroma). In addition to comb headdresses, the collection also has many kika-shaped kokoshniks of varying sizes, consisting of a forehead and a one-piece bottom and back. Here are large Novgorod kika with voluminous folded bottoms, medium and small heels with different bottom slopes, bottom shapes and applied or sewn-on backs (Tver and Smolensk), kokoshniks of the single-yard type, low Kostroma caps and one rare Vologda headdress. The kika-shaped kokoshniks are joined by soft Vologda-Kostroma caps, distinguished by additional embroidered details on the sides - wedges, and obligatory multi-tiered scalloped bottoms. The collection includes povoinik-shaped kokoshniks (with a band around the head and a round bottom) of the Moscow and northern Russian types, which have unique features in the stylistics of the decor.