The exhibition "Russian Empress: Fashion and Style" opened in the exhibition hall of federal archives. The Womanhit correspondent learned the details of the daily lives of Russian sovereign, which sometimes had a very serious impact on fashion zigzags.
Tsarist Fashion
Salto Morthala Danish Bride
Maria Sofia-Frederica Dagmara Danish - Empress Maria Fedorovna, wife Alexander III
In his youth, it was just a "fountain" of energy. The princess adored swim, ride a horse, knew how the real acrobat was "twist the wheel" and was able to dance all night without tired until the morning. Add to these outstanding qualities the impeccable taste and style, a huge female charm - and it will become clear why the young Dane from the first days of stay in Russia acquired great popularity here. The "branded" feature of the behavior of Maria Fedorovna in humans during the years of her "imperators" was the unchanging courtesy and inimitable smile.
Well, of course, helped winning appearance. A spectacular brown with brown eyes was distinguished by a magnificent figure, which was able to save for many years. Even in a mature already aged, giving birth to six children, she retained the "Osin" waist - about 65 cm in girth. And her tiny leg (35 size) was its grace, according to the expression of journalists of the time, "Sandrill's shoes worthy."
Dress Mary Fedorovna. Photo: Garf Archive.
With such data, Alexander III wives walked any outfit. Her taste and ability to wear a suit admired the head of the most popular company and the legislator of the Parisian mod Charles Vourt. (This wonderful tailor, whose clients were almost all the royal houses of Europe and the most fashionable ladies of the world, Maria Fedorovna ordered toilets for more than 30 years.)
From the wardrobe of Her Majesty to this day, quite a lot of things have been preserved. Including, for example, 48 pairs of stockings. - And all of expensive silk. The reasons for this waste can be found by looking at the pages of the Lady magazine, which published 130 years ago: "No matter how cheap stockings of filvecos, but silk stockings are preferred to add the elegant toilet." ("Fashionable Light", 1881) Logson stocking most often the same: they have a sock, heel, an arrow from behind, and in front - openwork finish with a traditional pattern. Most of the stocking was worn on an elastic band, to make the top edge, has a special hole. The stockings number was indicated at elastic bands using openwork symbols.
Stockings Maria Fedorovna. Photo: Garf Archive.
Another of the "intimate costume details" - the corset on the basis of a whale dealer, stored in the Hermitage collections, allows you to find out the pure secret of the empress: from the bottom inside the corste Loin.
Corset Maria Fedorovna. Photo: Alexander Dobrovolsky.
Maria Fedorovna was an excellent draftsman and often decorated her emails to her husband and sons of elegant drawings. She worked with oil paints, "the" Portrait of the Kucera "brush of the August artist is kept in the Russian Museum. In addition, Maria Fedorovna One of the first in Russia was fascinated by the "daily" photo and a lot contributed to the emergence of fashion for amateur photographs (from the Mushkin-sovereign, this hobby moved into the family of her eldest son - the future of Emperor Nicholas II). The sovereign adored various baubles - boxes, photo frames, tobacker articles made of lapisite. Specially commissioned by Maria Fedorovna was made purchases of this diverse stone at the Irbit Fair.
Fan Maria Fedorovna. Photo: Garf Archive.
Fate Maria Fedorovna has developed tragically. After the death of the spouse-king for more than three decades, she was in the rank of "widowing empress," survived all the revolutions in the country, the collapse of autocracy, the terrible death of the Son-autocrat and his whole family ... Ex-Tsarina was able to leave the Russian revolutionary fire of Russia, recent years Spent in Europe, returning to his Danish "sources". She died in 1928, but still persisted "in real form" one of the secrets of this outstanding woman. On June 24, 1899, she wrote and sent a letter to her son, Zesarevich Georgia, who was seriously ill with tuberculosis and lived in the Caucasus in the estate of Abas Tuman. But while the message went to him, George died, and therefore the correspondence was returned to Empress. Maria Fedorovna retained a letter in all his difficult wanders after leaving Russia. After the death of the sovereign, the content of this letter remains still not known to anyone: the envelope has never been printed.