UNIT 7 - Russian Fairytale Heroines

I have re-read the Russian folk fairytales and picked out the female heroins which seem magical and beautiful to me.

"Vassilisa the Beautiful" 

A fairytale character from a folk tale of the same name - a young peasant orphan girl who was not loved my her stepmother but had a magical doll (present from her mother) which guided her through the impossible tasks her step mother set her. In the end her impeccable needlework skills and beauty got her to be the wife of the king.





















"The Frog Princess"

A fairytale character from folk tale of the same name - a beautiful young female who had the knowledge of witchcraft (Vasilisa the Wise) so was cursed to live for a while in the form of a frog, so that her husband had to take her word and marry an frog in hope that she turns back human from his true love for her.




















"Mistress of Copper Mountain" 

A mythical image of the spirit of the Ural Mountains, the keeper of the precious rocks and stones, sometimes appears before the people in the form of a beautiful woman with a black long plait, decorated by ribbons with thin copper tinkles on them, and in the dress of a silk malachite. Sometimes she is also represented in the form of a lizard with a crown. She is a character in many stories from Bazhov's "Urals tales" collection.


























"The Swan Princess"

A fairytale character from Puskin's poem "Tale of Tsar Saltan" she is described as:

"There's a young princess, they say,
That she charms all hearts away.
Brighter than the sun at noon,
She outshines the midnight moon,
In her braids a crescent beams,
On her brow, a bright star gleams.
She herself is sweet of face,
Full of majesty and grace.
When she speaks, her voice doth seem
Like the music of a stream.
That's a wonder, now, for you -
Marvellously strange, but true."




























"Maria the beauty - the long braid"

A fairytale character from “The Tale of Tsar Berend, about his son, prince Ivan, about the tricks of Koshchey Immortal and the wisdnom of Mary-princess, Koschey’s daughter” by Zjukovski. She is the doughtier of Koschei, who in Slavic folklore is an archetypal male antagonist, described mainly as abducting the hero's wife. He cannot be killed by conventional means targeting his body. His soul is hidden separate from his body inside a needle, which is in an egg, which is in a duck, which is in a hare, which is in an iron chest which is buried under a green oak tree, which is on the island of Buyan in the ocean.





"Tsarevna Vasilisa, golden braid, uncovered glory"

A fairytale character from folk tale "Fairy tale about Vasilisa, golden braid, uncovered glory, and about Ivan Peas". She is the daughter of the king and is described as: "Had she many colorful dresses, rich gemstones... Her hair was thick, gold and silky, covered with nothing, tied in a braid, which fell to the floor..."












UNIT 7 - Modern Boyarsky Dress

Having been researching the traditional Boyarsky dress I came across a fashion brand which currently produces the replications of the authentic costumes. All garments are hand made from new fabrics and finishes (therefore are expensive), but are true representation of what rich females would have worn in the 16th Century Russ. This is high relevant to my work because I was thinking of going down the (almost) replication route as well. 












UNIT 7 - Russian Traditional Boyarsky dress

This is an exceptionally interesting research source, because the Boyarsky dresses are represented in their authentic state in photographs and are not illustrated. Here they show off the richness of textiles and the sumptuousness of decoration. This high class look is what I am aiming for in my work.













UNIT 7 - Russian Churches

Having seen many beautiful churches for myself around Russia I decided to narrow down my research to the five that strike me the most by either their architectural perfectionism and breathtaking decoration, or in some cases both. Having been looking at these churches I realized that they have a strong link to the Boyarsky dress - they are both high class, gold, very decorated and use the combination of straight lines and curves, but rarely any angles.

Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (St Petersburg)






Stroganov Church (Nizhny Novgorod)







Holy Cross Cathedral (Lesosibirsk)






St. Basil's Cathedral (Moscow)





Transfiguration Church






UNIT 7 - Russian beauties depicted by artists

The traditional Russian female beauty representation can now be observed only through paintings. I have researched some Russian painters who focused on this. Through their painting it is possible to get the idea of how much the beauty mattered in those days - females decorated themselves to be beautiful.

Nagornov

Kustodiev


Makovsky





Vasnecov


Argunov


Gribkov