Georgian costumes in the Art Palace

The ceremonial dress of Queen Tamar represents a unique piece of art. It contains 3621 pearls, 154 gilded and 158 silver belts.
One of the most notable aspects is that the dress represents on the one hand the power of the country and on the other hand its political orientation. In the 12th century, after cementing the national unity, Queen Tamar began an active foreign policy, which was why the 10th-13th-century Georgian royal apparel was manly of Byzantine origin. Researchers believe, that political circumstances and cultural ties was due to condition Byzantine influence. Royal garments consisted of "kuartis" – Beason (apparel) and diadems.

Georgian Kings' Bisson differs slightly from the Byzantine one, it was relatively wide and short, did not have the belt and specified colour. According to preserved frescoes, Queen Tamar used to wear violet apparel which was decorated with strips of pearls and luxurious metals and stones on its collar and wrists. It is considerable, that the collar of the costume was called – ‘Maniac’ and it was used only with royal family members’ apparels. ‘Maniac’ firstly appeared in Egypt and Arabia and afterwards in Byzantine. The collar of Tamar’s dress is very much like of that of Egyptian pharaohs ‘maniac’.

In Georgia, masters generally embroidered on velvet, satin and other precious textiles. Ok’romkedi embroidery was exported abroad and sold at a high price in the Ottoman Empire and Iran. Ok’romkedi was very much in demand for its quality.

Main motives of Ok’romkedi embroidery were plant ornaments such as vine leaves, grapes, wheat, etc.

Costume of a Georgian Prince – a precious piece of art. The title is conditional, however, such costumes were worn by Georgian Princes and Noblemen in the 17th-18th cc. The costume is made of silver brocade.

History of the belt is very interesting and it begins from the Bronze Age. In 6th-7th cc., belts were often made of leather and fabric with a strap on it. The Georgian Prince’s costume also has a unique belt decorated with 14 precious stones and 635 pearls. The belt ends with a big buckle made of silver and is decorated with colored glass.

The breast and sleeves are decorated with unique 18th-century ornaments.

Detail of Ottoman Nobelman's pelerine from Georgian historical movie 'Mamluk'

SUBUN
Presented red costume is an interpretation of the old Osman ‘Subun’. It was worn by character Mahmud (Otar Koberidze) in the Georgian historical movie ‘Mamluk’ (1958). The Osman costume ‘Subun’, was created in Istanbul’s Beyazit district. This richly adorned, velvet man's cloak, which actually reminds more of a jacket, stands out with the generous number of ornaments. According to the tradition established in the 16th century, the Subun was embroidered, with fringes decorating the sleeves.

This costume performed in broadcloth, repeats the main elements of Subun, although it stands out with higher skill of adornment and thus reminds more of a festive cloak worn by Turkish soldiers (Askers). It seems that the costume designer Revaz Mirzashvili took as a sample the typical clothing and adornment of the guards who served with the last Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918).

The Georgian lady’s dress – kaba can be characterized by two main styles: Sakhlavtaviani (Laced in the front) and Gujastiani – a dress which included a square cut on the chest. Kaba's necessary items were: a chest piece, long, open sleeves, cuffs and a girdle.The Georgian dress was tight on the waist and wide and flowing on the bottom. It consisted upper and lower parts which joined each other at the back. The neckline was slightly cut out. Until the 1870’s the upper part was mainly gujastiani (fastened with hooks at the front).

Later, the sakhlavtaviani style of dress widely spread which was made with an open cut and was laced in the front. The cut-out upper part of the dress was filled with valuable embroidered pieces of fabric.

19th-century Georgia found itself under European influence which was reflected in the manner in
which people dressed. Old traditional clothing was still worn, but people were
beginning to wear European style clothing as well. European clothing was
cheaper and more practical, so it did not take long for it to become popular.
Fashion trends from London and Paris were spreading fast in Tbilisi. 

It was an interesting coexistence of both European and Georgian styles. Yet, with the beginning of the Communist era, in the 20th century, the national style and many other traditions were called outdated, that was why wearing style of the Georgian society changed thoroughly.

The costume consists of two parts: the inner golden cloth is called Kaba (dress). This is a Persian term, used in Georgia from the 13th century. A kaba (dress) used to be sewed from different fabrics and almost all of them were adorned with precious metals.

The dress of the costume is decorated with a bib and 13 grams of gilded silver pendants. It also contains 14 gilded silver buckles. The name of the costume is conditional as in 1942, it was used while filmmaking of ‘George Saakadze’ as a costume of the character of King Luarsab.

The costume is a reflection of Georgian kings' apparels and it is made of velvet and brocade. It represents an exact replica of a 14th-15th century Georgian national costume. It is taken from the fresco of Safar Monaster dated to the 14th century.

In the 14th-15th centuries, Georgian men’s kaba (dress) is tailored to emphasize the waist line. Sometimes dresses were cut below the knee and sometimes they were relatively short, above the knee.

While adorning a woman's dress, age and social factors were taken into consideration which determined the quality of the material, colour coordination and ornamentation.

Younger women and girls chose lighter coloured fabrics while older women preferred to wear darker colours.

COSTUME OF THE TOREADOR
The costume of the toreador was created in Milano, especially for the famous Georgian Opera Singer, barytone Sandro Inashvili. Using the same principles and technique as the real clothing for a matador, it was created for the theatre production ‘Carmen’. The festive costume of a matador is considered to be one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of the world fashion. It is called ‘traje de luces’ – the costume of fire.

Until the 18th century, this kind of outfit was made of suede, then sewn and embroidered with gold and silver threads, and adorned with shiny plates.

In the collection of the Art palace, there is another Toreador costume. The garment shows Georgian ethnographic diverse history as Georgian, Persian and Ottoman art traditions are united in one apparel.

Costume of Prince Désiré from the ballet ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, created by prominent Georgian theatre artist Soliko Virsaladze for famous Georgian ballet-dancer Nikoloz Tsiskaridze.

In 1997, wearing this costume the dancer performed on the stage of Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow). Nika Tsiskaridze gifted it to the museum in 2015.

Costume for Georgian National Dance 'Davluri'
The apparel belonged to the world famous Georgian National Ballet Sukhishvili.

It represents the spirit of an elegant city dance performed by couples of men and women.