What is the difference between a shirt and a chemise? Perhaps for the majority there is no difference. But in the world of fashion, a chemise is called a product made of fine fabric, pastel colors and without pockets (in extreme cases, with one). And almost the same, but made of dense fabric of bright color and with pockets is a shirt. Moreover, it should be worn only outside.
The ancient Slavic word "srachitsa" in modern people will cause awkward associations. Meanwhile, in Russia, this was the name of a long canvas shirt, which was later transformed into an ordinary shirt. Moreover, the Slavs got "shrachitsa" from the Scythians.
Wealth on the shoulders
Ancient Greece is undoubtedly the birthplace of European civilization. It is from there that the fashion for a long tunic originates. The Romans transformed it into a tunic - a convenient wardrobe item for almost all occasions.
Even after Rome fell, the fashion for the undershirt, which in a sense was a tunic, did not disappear. In the early Middle Ages, both men and women wore two tunics - the upper and the lower. Interestingly, the underwear tunic was more spacious in length, while the lower one had short sleeves.
In the XIV century, fabric production technologies improved, and the undershirt, which had a length to mid-thigh, began to be sewn from thin snow-white cambric. A rounded or square neckline could be decorated with lace, embroidery or braid. Needless to say, only the rich could afford such a thing?
So that people around could see this stylish element of the wardrobe, tailors came up with a jacket with numerous slots through which one could judge the quality and cleanliness of the shirt. Sometimes the shirt was released over the pants under the short outerwear. For women, Italian tailors invented dresses with excised sleeves, through the holes of which the snow-white fabric of the lower shirt was deliberately pulled out. This technique made it possible to contrast dark outerwear and a light undershirt.
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By the quality and color of the shirt, you could tell who was in front of you. Only aristocrats and rich people could afford snow-white shirts made of cambric or thin linen. After all, 80 hours of labor were spent only on the production of 1 square meter of expensive fabric. In European countries, there was a saying about this that a nobleman "wears his wealth on his shoulders." It got to the point that the nobles wrote down the shirts as an inheritance, as a valuable property.
Ordinary people wore products made of rough gray canvas. It was possible to work in such a shirt without fear of being corroded by sweat or tearing the fabric. Nobody thought of ironing or starching these clothes.
Beauty on display
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spain was the trendsetter in Europe. Noble hidalgo liked to wear thin shirts, over which a fitted vest, called a tunic, was worn. The shirt of that time had a mesentery collar and high cuffs that protruded from under the outer garment. For noble ladies, the undershirt was under the dress, but its collar did not just look out, but opened in front, exposing the neck. In history, it was called the "Stewart collar". In the same 16th century, Italian craftsmen began to weave lace, which immediately found application on lush collars and shirt cuffs. Moreover, all this "tuning" further increased the price of already expensive products.
The beauty and value of the shirt led to the fact that at the beginning of the 17th century in France, aristocrats began to wear it both as underwear and as overcoat. Why hide such beauty ?! At the same time, the first cufflinks appeared on the cuffs - two pairs of glass buttons connected by a gold or silver chain. By the middle of this century, the French considered it the norm to wear two shirts. One is close to the body, lower (underwear), and the other is wide and decorated with lace and frills, upper. At the same time, much attention was again paid to the design of false collars. As a result, already at the beginning of the 18th century, French fashion became a role model for the whole of Europe.
But the French went further. Lush frills and even more ornate lace on the cuffs are the trend of the early 18th century. However, over the years, a part of the bourgeois has increased in society, who are not used to spending money on silk and lace. So, in Foggy Albion, French chic was transformed into English practicalism. The frill and lace disappeared, and the collar became stand-up with slightly curved ends. This shirt went well with the tailcoat, which became fashionable in the 70s of the 18th century.
At that time, both European traditions and European fashion had long been adopted in Russia. Although the shirt was actively worn by the ancient Slavs, having adopted it from the Scythians. In the middle of the 10th century, Byzantine fashion penetrated into Kievan Rus along with Christianity. Now the Kiev princes, like the Roman nobles, wore tunics made of expensive fabrics. True, unlike the Roman ones, they had long sleeves and slits at the bottom on the sides. Under a tunic, a prince or a boyar could wear an undershirt, which was called "srachitsa" ("shirt").
Commoners, on the other hand, wore an ordinary shirt made of canvas or motley, with lining in front and on the back, which were sewn with red threads. The shirt was worn outside and belted with twine or a narrow belt. On holidays it was adorned with overhead collars-necklaces of a rounded shape and embroidered sleeves - a kind of cuffs.
White and blue collars
Slavic girls wore a long shirt that went down to the feet. Peasant wives sewed white linen shirts. The richer ladies ordered colored silk products. In such shirts, the neck, hem and bottom of the sleeves were embroidered with bright threads or decorated with fabric appliqués. As a rule, princesses and boyars wore tunics and dalmatics on their shirts. From under the sleeves of the outer clothing, it was supposed to show the embroidered sleeves of the lower shirt.
In the 15th century, the famous kosovorotka appeared in the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Its difference from a regular shirt consisted in a shorter length and a slit for putting on not in the center, but on the side. This was due to the fact that during the work, the cross from the neck always strove to jump out, and in the shirt it was under the fabric. And it was more convenient to work in a short shirt.
At the same time, maids of white cotton or silk shirts appeared - they were worn exclusively in the room (upper room) and were protected like the apple of their eye. These shirts had a straight cut, narrow sleeves and gathered at the neck.
The reforms of Peter I forced the Russian nobility to accept European fashion, while the blouse remained the lot of peasants, merchants and bourgeoisie. Although at the end of the 19th century, Slavophiles, even of noble birth, were demonstratively wearing kosovorotki as a sign of love for the past.
And in Europe and America, by this time, the "American shirt" had become popular - a shirt that was worn not over the head, but by unbuttoning the buttons in front. Most men wear them today. The stand-up collar has been replaced by a practical turn-down collar. The company Brown, Davis & Co., who invented this type of shirts, started their mass production. As a result, the price became so democratic that even a poor man could afford a shirt. True, now the position of a person in society was judged not by cuffs and frills, but by the color of the collar. It was then that the opinion was formed that "white collars" are managers, bankers, politicians, and "blue collars" are engineers, designers, workers. Although in 1924, the founder of IBM, Thomas John Watson, introduced a dress code requiring employees, regardless of position, to wear exclusively white shirts.
At the end of the 19th century, "American shirts" gradually became part of military uniforms, and by the middle of the 20th century, they were "adopted" in almost all armies of the world.
Alexey MARTOV