Armenian dress

[1][2] The collection of Armenian women's costumes begins during the Urartu time period, wherein dresses were designed with creamy white silk, embroidered with gold thread.

The costume was a replica of a medallion unearthed by archaeologists at Toprak Kale near Lake Van, which some 3,000 years ago was the site of the capital of the Kingdom of Urartu.

Being in an area at the crossroads of diverse eastern styles, Armenian dress is significant in not only borrowing but also often playing an influential role on neighboring nations.

The famous centers of Armenian embroidery – Van-Vaspurakan, Karin, Shirak, Syunik-Artsakh, Cilicia – stand out with their rhythmic and stylistic description of ornaments, color combinations and composition.

[1] The Urartians who were the predecessors to the Armenians wore a dress similar to that of Assyrians which consisted of short-sleeved tunics worn bare or with a shawl surrounding it.

[5] The traditional dress of Armenians underwent a significant shift following the emergence of the Kingdom of Armenia as a distinct political entity.

[5] In her 1836 novel titled The City of The Sultan; and Domestic Manners of the Turks, Julia Pardoe described the Armenian merchants she observed immediately upon disembarking in the port of Stamboul:[6] As I looked on the fine countenances, the noble figures, and the animated expression of the party, how did I deprecate their shaven heads, and the use of the frightful calpac, which I cannot more appropriately describe than by comparing it to the iron pots used in English kitchens, inverted!

The graceful pelisse, however, almost makes amends for the monstrous head-gear, as its costly garniture of sable or marten-skin falls back, and reveals the robe of rich silk, and the cachemire shawl folded about the waist.Pardoe also mentions they wore bejeweled rings and carried in their hands "pipes of almost countless cost.” Armenian traditional clothing started to fall out of use in the 1920s and was almost completely replaced by modern clothing by the 1960s.

Today, Armenian traditional clothing is mostly used for dance performances where girls put on an arkhalig and long dress to simulate taraz while boys wear dark colored loose pants and a fitted jacket.

Photo studios in Armenia allow for new generations to take pictures in traditional clothing and some women in recent times have begun to wear taraz again.

[2] The overall fashion of the Eastern Armenian costume was Caucasian, close to similar clothing worn by neighboring peoples in the Caucasus such as Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Dagestanis, and Chechens, among others.

Arkhalugh was sewn from purchased fabrics (satin, eraser, chintz, shawl), black, blue, brown tones, lined.

[1] Arkhalugh (Armenian: արխալուղ) – a long, tight, waist-jacket made of fabrics including silk, satin, cloth, cashmere and velvet, depending on the social status of its owner.

According to traditional etiquette, in certain situations, the man was supposed to take off his hat at the entrance to church, during funerals, when meeting highly revered and respected people, etc.

The wealthy Armenians chose the thinnest, especially Shatakh cloth, mostly of domestic and local handicrafts, and tried to sew all parts of the suit from one fabric".

The goat's jacket, covered with braids at the edges and with bundles of fur on its shoulders, was worn mainly by wealthy villagers.

[11] The silver belt was an accessory of the city costume, it was worn in Karin, Kars, Van and other centers of highly developed craftsmanship production.

[1] The headgear in Western Armenia consisted of hats of various shapes (spherical, conical), felt, wool knitted and woven, which were usually worn in addition to the handkerchief.

[15] The widespread arakhchi, also known as arakhchin (Armenian: արախչի), was a truncated skull cap, knitted from wool or embroidered in single youth with multicolored woolen thread, with a predominance of red.

[16] The way this traditional headdress was worn was a marker of its owner's marital condition, just as in Eastern Armenia, the right to wear an arakhicki belonged to a married man.

By the end of the 19th century, this costume included an undershirt, a top cover shirt, an Arkhalukh, and a short Chukha which reached a little below the waist.

As everyday headwear, men wore a Bashlyk made of silk or wool which was tied around the head to form a headband.

Long body pants were sewn from the same red fabric as the shirt, on a white lining and waist held on hold with the help of honjang.

In the women's complex of the provinces Syunik and Artsakh, an important part was the upper shirt – virvi khalav (Armenian: վիրվի հալավ) made of red silk or calico with round gate and chest incision with black velvet or satin, as well as sewn silver small jewelry.

[18] The clothes for the exit were a dress – mintana (Armenian: մինթանա), worn on solemn occasions on top of the arkhalig of the same cut, but without side seams.

[20] Due to Islamic influences, many Armenian women wore a Chador when going outside per the rules of the dominant Persian or Turkish cultural norms.

[5] The western Armenian variety of women's clothing was distinguished by a bright color scheme and rich decorative design.

Experienced braiders skillfully braided woolen threads in the color of the hair, decorating them with silver balls and brushes.

Knitted patterned socks – Jorabs and gulpas, which, along with men's leggings, were known as early as the Urartian period and occupied an important place in Armenian footwear.

In the Ottoman Empire, Armenians and Jews were required to wear blue or purple shoes to denote their status as minorities.