That’s it! From now on the computer goes with me when I travel so I can keep up with all the things I want to write about.

Today, I want to talk to you about keeping cool while staying Rus’.  I was recently able to go to Lilies War in Calontir.  I had so much fun that I cannot actually verbalize it.  It was a blast.  However, it’s also hot. Very hot and I talked to several people there who are doing or want to do a Rus’ persona and were struggling with how to get the right look without melting. It occurred to me that I have told all of you that versatility is one of the best things about Rus’ garb but I’ve never actually explained it.  Shame on me, so let’s do it!

So, Kievan Rus’ wore a lot of wool and silk and fur, but they also wore all different kinds of linen up to and including linen that rivaled our modern conception of gauze. For you wool wearers, merino wool (which is the most period appropriate wool for Rus’) is often very light and breezy depending on the weave.  Many of us can’t afford that amount of merino wool, at least I know I can’t so, let’s talk about keeping cool with linen and not breaking the bank.

Rule No. 1 when keeping cool.  IT MUST BE NATURAL FIBER!!  I know the poly-blend is cheaper and looks just as good but if keeping cool is an absolute must on the priority list, you are going to have to spring for that natural fiber. Poly-blends heat up in the sun because they are made of tiny plastic fibers that trap heat.  Seriously, I have worn two thick layers of linen that was still cooler than the single layer of poly-linen blend that I had on earlier that day. 100% linen is not that much more expensive and you don’t have to build an entire wardrobe with it, just a few interchangeable pieces.  Places like Fabric-store.com also regularly have sales so you don’t have to break the bank. For more places to find fabric, go to my Making good Fabric choices blog

So, its linen, what weight do you want? Places like Fabric-store.com list their fabric based on weight. It’s useful if you know what you’re looking for. After all, you don’t want super thick linen because that almost defeats the purpose and you don’t want something so thin that it’s uncomfortable. This is kind of a personal taste one. Like I said, we have very thin extant fabric that doesn’t appear to have particularly deteriorated over time. Still, personally, for hot weather, I would not go any higher 4oz (5oz is pretty standard for clothing) and I wouldn’t go any lower than handkerchief weight, or 3oz linen. If you are going to layer, I recommend a very light weight (3 or even 2 oz) under-tunic/dress in white and then a darker color over. The thin underlay will create a kind of breezeway between your skin and the over layer.

Color is also something to take into consideration when keeping cool.  This will shock some of you, but you actually want to go for darker colors.  Just like the poly-blend traps heat, darker colors repel it.  I’m not super science-y, if you want more info on why, you’ll need to google it. Dark colors also limit the chances of inappropriateness if you’re going with really thin fabric.

Now, cut.  It’s very true that the more the Rus’ liked to show how wealthy they were with lots of fabric and rich, gathers, but most of them also had day jobs, and I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to really work around camp with sleeves with thick gathers,  but it sucks. Those garments were for things like weddings, going to church and maybe going to court. On regular days, the average person, male or female, would wear one, MAYBE two light layers.  Sleeves were often only slightly tapered from the shoulder to allow for air to circulate up through the garment and also allowed the sleeves to be rolled up to the elbow.  They also liked ¾ sleeves.  There are illustrations of people working showing both styles. There is even evidence that they would have worn sleeveless tunics and shifts, though I have little written documentation of that.  All of this is just as true for men and for women. The keyhole neckline is also very helpful for keeping cool as it just adds to the ventilation of the clothing.  Now, if you want to do light weight linen but are nervous about modesty, here is where yokes come in to play.  You can create what I call an internal bib yoke, which allows an extra layer for modesty where you need it but not extra layers anywhere you don’t without looking like you’ve added to your layers at all.  If you still want to look a little fancy while keeping cool, I recommend a contrasting yoke.  I did one recently with very thin sari silk and the recipient did not melt into a puddle, but you can also just do linen. 

Undergarments also play a key role in keeping cool.  Hear me: BRAIES. Make them, love them, wear them.  There are several different patterns out there. I’ll do a tutorial at some point too. The Russian word for them is nizhneye bel’ye but you’ll get more hits if you search braies and they are basically the same as far as we know. They are just linen shorts, don’t be intimidated and enjoy the cool. For ladies, I have been looking and I really can’t find any info on what the Rus’ used for support.  The only theory I’ve heard was that they bound linen and tied in the back. If anyone knows any more than that, please, please let me know.

Side: there’s a 15th century bra and underwear set found in the Lengberg Castle in Germany and its two centuries out of my period and German but I’ve heard people swear by it and we have Slav finds in Bavaria so I’m willing to suspend my disbelief and I’m going to give it a go. If you don’t hear anything, it went poorly…

EDIT: I recently found information on a Rus’/Slav womens undergarment called a Ciasnocha. So far I have two pictures from the miniatures, one tripple-shot of modern women wearing reconstructions and a page in Polish that i can’t read.  Once I get that page translated, you’ll get the information I have, promise.

Finally, pants.  Honestly, you can just wear the braies, again, there are illustrations that appear to only be wearing braies or at the least, just short pants. You do not have to wear leg wraps, though depending on the wool, they aren’t all hot. If you do choose to wear full pants, linen is still the way to go.  I recommend the ‘Rus’ style’ poofy pants as they will help with air flow but straight leg pants out of a nice light linen are very comfortable too.

If you’re cool going sockless with your shoes, go for it. I feel like my feet sweat more when I don’t wear socks so I’ve made some linen ‘chausses’-type socks.  Neighboring area finds also have low ankle height socks made from linen and it is possible that the Rus’ had something similar but they disintegrated. I have no historical basis for this theory. It is right up there with my Lengberg suspension of disbelief.

As far as the actual shoes go, they put holes in them. All over the top.  We have so many examples particularly from where is now Poland. Poland can get up to 86 degrees in the summer, which doesn’t sound like much until you realize that their humidity averages about 80%. It gets warm, so they ventilated their shoes.  You can do it yourself or I have had luck with Facebook re-creation groups selling them.  Boots by Bohemond has also started selling some as an off the rack item.

There were so many ways that the Rus’ kept cool during the hot summer months so don’t put your Rus’ away for the summer. Bring it out and show it off!