The Beauty of Traditional Armenian Dress

I don’t know why, but these decorative plates featuring Armenian women in traditional dresses created by talented Armenian artist Anush Khemcyan have become top sellers in my boutique… People order them from all over the world – America, Europe, Russia… Of course each time it is so exciting to dispatch every new piece – but such a demand made me think, what actually makes people buy them? Don’t know maybe in the era of globalization, standardization, modernization, and other …zations – people just want to get back to their roots and have something authentic and heartwarming in their homes?

Plates, that Anush creates are always unique -she never repeats the same design – whether it is a dress, the posture, the face – each plate will be different from the others… Girls are depicted in traditional Armenian costumes and fascinated by their modest yet so decent beauty I’ve done a bit of exploration about them.

When I was living in Armenia, I was actually surprised about how many beautiful women I saw on the streets of Erevan. “Mesmerizing” – that’s the word coming into my mind when I try to describe their appearance:

And this effect was even stronger, when I saw them wearing their traditional dresses (of course they don’t do it on a daily basis, but during big national holidays and also some weddings you will be lucky to see it):

A traditional dress of Armenia is very colorful, elegant and diversified since it was influenced by many invaders during different periods in history. It reflects the rich cultural tradition of the country and its very long history. By sight. it is very modest and decent and is usually composed of loose shirt and dress in arkhaluk style with a cut on chest and cuts below hips. Typical fabrics included cotton, silk, satin, brocade, wools, and plush.

Various jewelry was an essential part of the costume and usually, it included silver necklaces with coins, numerous bracelets, and bangles, rings with precious and semi-precious stones.

The headdress was also an indispensable part of the costume and depending on the region it had a different look and style. In some areas, these were hats with cylindrical shapes and shawls, while in the other regions those were having different layers.

On the east headdresses looked like a “turret” made from fabrics with bold and colorful ornaments tied with several scarves, that covered part of the face. Armenian women in the West of the country used to wear ornate bands with capes.

If you liked decorative plates featuring Armenian women in traditional dresses, created by Anush, you can purchase them on Etsy.