In this article, we will examine the clothing of Karabakh, Western Azerbaijan, and Eastern Zangezur.
Art critic Sabira Dunyamaliyeva says that the national men’s and women’s costumes of Karabakh differ from other regions due to their appearance, decorative decorations, and shape. It is more solemn, more complex and has a more philosophical meaning.
These clothes can be divided into two types. One is the chepkan-nimtana clothing set that belongs to all of Azerbaijan. This clothing set is based on our ancient robe.
The second type of clothing is the so-called backcloth, which was formed during the khanate period. He also has two uniforms: one with a square collar and the other with a bush collar. We don’t actually see this dress in the 18th century. But it is described in the writings of Molla Panah Vagif. An upper garment with square collar, buta collar, lotus or “playable” and decorative cuffs was worn.
(Photos related to Karabakh from the personal collection of Professor H. Guliyev)
Each of us knows Vagif as a poet, and I would say that he is also a folk artist. Because he expressed not only the beauty of these clothes, but also the shape characteristics and construction in such beautiful words that a person who has not seen them can describe the clothes while reading the writings.
After Vagif’s works, there are original photos of this clothing, images in the museum, and good opinions of other peoples about Karabakh backs. The caretaker of the girls’ school said that the women’s backs of Karabakh were so beautiful that the Armenians who came there threw off their clothes and wore them. From here it is also possible to come to the meaning that Armenians came here later. That is, they saw these clothes after coming here. This fact is mentioned in the work of Armenian researcher Babayan.
(Photos related to Karabakh from the personal collection of Professor H. Guliyev)
Embroideries are used a lot in Karabakh clothing. Women’s clothes, like other Azerbaijani clothes, consist of bottom and top clothes, and in turn, shoulder and waist clothes. The cutting and sewing technology was almost the same, being the lower and upper tuman. The skirt decoration and material of the upper skirt differed from the lower skirt. The fog is long and covers the heel. The waist is gathered with folds. Two rows of lanes are built in the lower part. If the fabric is decorated, then this strip was counted.
In the waist part, a double-folded tie is sewn from another fabric. In the waist part, a tuman tie is passed through a special slit instead of a tie. The edges of this slit are neatly braided so that the threads of the fabric do not fall out when passing the waistband.
Belt is a special woven cord or a thick thread consisting of several layers, which is passed through a slit in the place of the belt by means of a bone or metal pin. Tassels, beads are attached to the ends of these ties or they are simply knotted. This part looks quite aesthetic. The appearance of the waist belt was considered bad.
(Set of clothing belonging to Karabakh)
Chepken is also worn in Karabakh, as it is a common outerwear throughout the territory of Azerbaijan. The cap is lined and tailored to body size. The difference of the cap from other over-the-shoulder clothing was that it had a so-called arm-new (armlet) ending with a glove. Such an armlet hangs freely from the shoulder. Sometimes buttons were sewn along the outer line of this cuff.
In the national costume, since there is no collar at all, we transfer the waist collar of 1.5 cm to the side seam line to construct the middle part of the back, due to which the elastic waist part fits the body.
(Chepken belonging to Karabakh)
A scar is formed on the sides of the scar. Due to these scars, the width of the scar is given in the oma part. The middle line of the hat is also constructed analogously to the middle line of the back, and a smooth curve is obtained on the collar. The side attachment of the front side is also built according to the side attachment of the back. The length of the hat was different. The width of the back of the hat is half the normal width of the back, so the rest of the width of the back is added to the arm circumference. Bafta is sewn to the edges of the arm, neck, collar, hem, and edges of the scar. Also, in national costumes, when the fabric is thin, a folding collar is sewn on the waist, and when it is thick, a cut collar is sewn.
There are two ways of connecting the pleated skirt to the waist seam in Karabakh backcloths.
The complex construction of the back, which is the main element of the Karabakh clothing set, gave it a special aesthetic beauty. The back was made of precious fabrics. Mostly “saturated” colors were used, neither young nor old women wore “screaming” colors. The pleated and pleated additions to the sleeves and collar section make the back look neater and more beautiful.
In Karabakh, the kerchief worn over the arakhchi is folded diagonally, the two ends are brought to the front and the throat at the bottom with the condition that the center falls on the hill, then either the right end is thrown back from the left shoulder, and then the left end is folded back, going back from the left shoulder, or opposite the coming ends were taken to the opposite sides and knotted behind the neck. In well-to-do families, the veil, made of precious fabrics, tied to a valuable hood, is freely thrown behind. In this case, the throat is covered by the high collar of the top shirt.
“Nilufar Gol” backrests, “Tulip Age” lily collar
Speaking about the peculiarities of Karabakh clothing, Gulzadeh Abdulova said that backcloths took a prominent position in the clothing set of Karabakh women.
“Our clothes are formed on the basis of two bases. One is the back, and the other is the braces. Baku-Shirvan, Karabakh, Ganja, Guba are almost the same. The skirt part is different. But the clothing of Nakhchivan, Iravan, Tabriz, Lankaran-Astara, Sheki was formed on the chepkan. The foothills of Karabakh are a little shorter than the foothills of Baku-Shirvan.
Although the backs of Karabakh formed after the end of the 19th century were formed on the basis of this base, the arm part was taken from Europe, they are called “lily arm” backs. The collar is a lily collar from the “Tulip era” of the Ottoman palace. Both men and women wore the carved collar back of Karabakh.
As a result of the contact of the noble families of Karabakh with Europe and Russia, foreign influences began to manifest themselves more quickly in their clothes.
Eastern Zangezur used to be part of Karabakh. It is identical with Karabakh clothing. Eastern Zangezur is located in such a zone that they could be influenced by Nakhchivan clothing, but despite this, they wore mostly Karabakh clothing.”
Collector, one of the founders of “FR collection”, researcher Ruslan Huseynov says that children’s clothes in Karabakh were cut in the same way as adults’ clothes, the only difference was in sizes. The ladies from the groom’s family were taught the secrets of national costumes, displaying them correctly at the required level, walking without even the sound of jewelry and other rules of behavior befitting the title of ladyhood from childhood.
(Shusha XIX century)
This is the male national costume of Karabakh. It belongs to the end of the XIX century. It is a chukha with a fee. The fabric is woven from goat hair. Shawl is called fabric. It was mostly used in the winter season. In many places it is also called back. The shirt is a straight collar shirt. Men had different types of shirts. The shirt is made of silk.
(Iravan clothing)
The layered style of clothing in Yerevan clothing is very spectacular.
“Iravan clothes are considered luxurious clothes. The shorts were an inch above the ankles. If in Shamakhi or Karabakh, a bafta or shahbasan was sewn on the skirt of the district, it was seen in four or five rows in Yerevan clothing.
(Iravan women’s national costume: the end of the 19th century)
In their outerwear, nimtan was used underneath, and bahari or kulacha was used on top. Bahari is a simple type of garment decorated with laces, it is similar to a bahari, with small details and decorated with fur. This is an outerwear that is mostly worn in winter.
In this set, nimtana is worn from the bottom and bahari is worn from the top. It is a 19th century dress. He has a tick on his head. The shawl is made of shahnaz wool. It is made of silk and 94 prob silver. The name of the factory and the grade of silver are marked on the outside. They were made in Moscow specifically for Caucasian women. And they took the silk from us – from Nukha. Because some of them mentioned where the silk came from on their labels.”
Sabir Dunyamaliyeva says that it is impossible to find many factual materials about Yerevan clothing. He shows us a picture of a woman from the personal collection of the poet Ramiz Heydar, which he also published in his book, and says:
“According to the information I received from a tailor who is an internally displaced person from the Yerevan zone, women’s clothing consists of a tunic, a long-sleeved back and a shirt. The women’s tunic and back are the same as in Nakhchivan clothing. The shirt is relatively different, the collar is flat, not a cut collar, but a carved collar is cut, and a border is sewn on the edges of the back. the outer lines and the hem of the tuman are decorated with koba”.
This article was prepared in the framework of the project called “Promotion of national costumes of Azerbaijan – “From tradition to the future” carried out by the Public Union “Women’s Consensus Center” with the financial support of the State Support Agency for Non-Governmental Organizations.
Note: Many photos in the article are taken from Sabira Dunyamaliyeva’s book “Artistic and decorative features of Azerbaijani clothing”.
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