Moscow Kremlin Museums:

Catherine II

Portrait of Empress Catherine II
Unknown painter.
Russia, the early XIXth century.
Canvas, oils.
Coronation dress of Empress Catherine II
Russia, 1762.
Brocade, decorative embroidery on applique work, lace.
Pair of shoes of Empress Catherine II
Russia, 1762.
Brocade, silk, cottonade, embroidery.
Handkerchief
France, second half of XVIIIth century.
Lace, linen thread, linen batiste; weaving, embroidery.
Portrait of Empress Catherine II
Russia, XIXth century.
Unknown painter.
Oil, canvas.
Wedding dress of Empress Catherine II
1745.
Silver brocade, silk, silver sewing, embroidery.
Belonged to Grand Princess Ekaterina Alexeevna (future Empress Catherine II).

Russian court under Catherine the Great was no less sumptuous than that of her predecessor. Dresses of the court ladies were trimmed with gold and silver laces and finished with precious stones. Costumes and accessories of the court dandies, having been made of precious fabrics and metals, were studded with gems. The extravagant Russian court life has forced the Empress to issue and edict regulating ceremonial and court fashion. One point of the edict specified that gold and silver lace on kaftans should not be wider than nine centimeters.

By the 1770s new tendencies in dressmaking have appeared. It led to development of a new fashion for national costume, in the so-called "Russian" style. Such dresses served as specific imitation of long garments and festive national clothing of the pre-Petrine age. The main characteristics of the style were the long turn-back sleeves of the lower robe, broad sleeves of the upper garment, the decoration on the front of the dress in the form of the Russian sarafan and also a headwear in the form of kokoshnik with veil. Having underwent numerous modifications during several periods, this stylized Russian costume served as a ceremonial uniform up to the late XVIIIth century; from the early XIXth century it has been worn by Russian Empresses during coronation ceremonies.