Each of us knows what an edge is. We all read and listened to fairy tales in childhood, where there was certainly a hut at the edge of the forest, and in it lived an old man and an old woman, or three bears, or Baba Yaga Bone Leg. But the word "edge" has another meaning, which is directly related to the history of fashion and our country.
What the word "edge" means in relation to the forest, everyone knows. In other words, the edge is the edge of the forest, its border. But what does this word have to do with clothing and a fur collar? Yes, the most direct!
Historical background
If you could go back to the past, to the 17th century, and ask the oncoming citizen what the edge is, he would most likely take off his hat and point to its fur edge. For the Russians of that era, and the eras before it, it was a matter of course to decorate clothes with fur.
Already something, but Russia has always been rich in furs. From the very beginning of its history as a state and almost until the end of the 18th century, furs remained one of the main items of Russian export. In those days, when the Russian currency did not yet exist, fur was a unit of account: they collected tribute, gave gifts to foreignersand subjects. Thus, fur was practically available to the public. Returning to what the edge is in this context, it is necessary to recreate the appearance of a typical inhabitant of Russia in the 16th-17th centuries.
Fur trim in clothes of different Russian classes
Decorating clothes with fur has always had class differences. What is the "edge" for people of different incomes and origins, it becomes clear first of all by the type of fur. More pedigreed and richer people trimmed their suits and headdresses with sable and beaver fur.
Boyars and other service people often wore high felt or cloth hats with an edge of black-brown fox, arctic fox, marten. The fur edge was most widely used in a women's suit. Any outerwear or cape of a noble townswoman certainly had a fur collar, cuffs, or was decorated with fur along the entire bottom edge.
Ordinary citizens, if they had the opportunity, also used natural skins in their clothes. Men and women trimmed weekend and festive clothes with squirrel, ermine, and fox fur.
The fur trim in the clothes of Russians was widespread right up to the revolution itself. And then quickly returned to fashion. One has only to glance at a winter coat or jacket with fur on the hood, and there is no longer any question of what an edge is.
