Central Asian clothing of the 19th-20th centuries

It is worth mentioning that Samarkand munisak (mursak), dated back to the late 19th – early 20th centuries, was made of brocade, had a silk ikat lining and was designed with a hand-woven ribbon.

The footwear in the collection is represented by tall boots etik and shoes mahsi, which have a decorative element made of shagreen on the back of the heel. A wide range of skullcaps forms an important part of the clothing collection. These include the first item purchased for the Central Asian collection – an embroidered skullcap from Tashkent, which came into the Museum as early as 1863. The collection of skullcaps includes articles made in various local styles using traditional types of stitches and dated from the second half of the 19th century to the present day.

Central Asian clothing was designed to meet climatic conditions and the lifestyle requirements of the local population, as well as the tastes of the inhabitants of certain regions. There were certain differences between casual, festive and mourning clothing. But there were a lot of common features, mainly in the cut of men’s, women’s and children’s clothes. The color of clothes could indicate the age and social status of its owner. Young girls and women used to wear bright dresses, while elderly ones preferred softer colors.

Men’s clothing was based on a cotton shirt with a direct cut called a kuylak, a quilted robe called a chapan belted with a scarf, wide trousers called ishton and a duppi skullcap.

Various types of chapans differed from each other primarily in material and color. Cuts in the sides are considered to be their unique feature and originally were made for convenience in horse riding. In the past chapans were rather long and had long sleeves. By the end of the 19th century, they became shorter. During warm months, men wore light chapans, and during cold ones – with cotton lining.

Women wore a long dress (kuylak) and wide trousers called lozim. Girls’ dresses had a horizontal neck; married women wore dresses with a vertical neck. Trousers were made of two types of fabrics. The lower part visible from under the dress was made of expensive fabric, while the upper part was made of cheaper and comfortable cotton fabric.

Uzbek women also wore an outer robe mursak. This type of robe was distinguished by the slightly draped fabric under the sleeves, sewn in pleats at the sides, which widened it, and by the woven ribbon that adorned the hem. Until the late 19th century, mursak was sewed from local fabrics: adras, bekasab and shoyi (shokhi). Later, single-colored, factory-produced fabrics were used. Local differences in the mursak coats were mainly seen in the length and width of the sleeves. In Tashkent, mursak had shorter sleeves compared to other types; in Samarkand – long sleeves narrowed at the ends; in Bukhara, on the contrary, wide and short, so that the embroidered sleeves of the dress were visible. Mursak was the main part of women’s outerwear, especially in the 1870 – 90s when they became parts of wedding ceremonies. The dowry of a bride from a wealthy family could include from 2 to 18 mursaks made of expensive fabrics. The robe was often a present to the bride from her parents-in-law. In the 1920s, mursaks were already very seldom used for wedding ceremonies; it had been replaced by other types of robes. Later, it completely lost its original meaning and was used only for funeral ceremonies to cover a dead person ’s body.

You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "The Collection of the Czech Republic" (Volume XVI) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".

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