Молдаванское платье в иерархии придворного костюма Российской империи конца XVIII в.

Русин. 2026. № 87. С. в печати–в печати.

Mitina E.

At the end of the 18th century, various types of ethnically oriented costumes emerged at the court of the Russian Empire. These included the Russian dress, which appeared in the 1770s – the formal attire of court ladies – as well as Greek and so-called “Moldavian” dresses. The latter came into fashion in the Russian Empire in the 1790s. The author argues that the Moldavian dress at the Russian imperial court was not a variant of the Russian dress but an echo of the pan-European fashion for oriental motifs in clothing. This style more closely resembles the robe à la turque (“Turkish dress”), which was common in European fashion. In Russian fashion the category “Turkish” is not used due to Russia's successive wars with Turkey. The choice of the term "Moldavian dress" can be associated with the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1791 and the celebrations organized by G.A. Potemkin in 1791 on the occasion of the capture of the Izmail fortress, in the design of which ethnic elements were used. In the final years of Catherine II's reign, the Moldavian dress became widespread and was worn as everyday or home wear, both in the capital (including by the empress herself) and in the provinces. During the reign of Paul I, the practice of wearing the Moldavian dress changed: it became one of the mandatory styles for court wear. Despite Paul I's desire to distance himself from the image of the imperial court created by Catherine II, the emperor retained the Moldavian dress as a dress style. The costume style that was sharply at odds with the fashions of revolutionary France was appealing to the monarch. The fashion for the Moldavian dress at the Russian court proved to be very fleeting, ending early in the reign of Alexander I.

Keywords: Екатерина II, Grigory Potemkin, Catherine II, Russian dress, русское платье, Г. А. Потемкин, national costume, национальный костюм, русский придворный костюм, court dress, 1790s, 1790-е гг.

Publication based on the results of: War and Post-War Peace in the Russian Empire and the USSR (2025)