The history of Altai beauty
Videos about how vision of beauty has been changing over years are quite popular on the Internet. On YouTube all kinds of videos on how fashion for woman’s swimsuits, man’s hairstyles or body types has been changing for the recent 100 years. The collection of such clips has been added with a 2-minutes video about how Altai woman’s clothes and vision of beauty has been evolving over 5 thousand years. The key role was played by ASU Faculty of Arts student Erkelei Toedova, and Facultu of Arts graduate Maxim Aildashev acted as a costume designer.
– Could you tell us more about yourselves? What are you majoring in?
Maxim: I graduated from Altai State University in 2011. I was majoring in costume design. Currently I am working at home: I take orders for tailoring woman’s and man’s clothing. My work is directly related to fashion, as I have to follow modern fashion trends and realize them in my projects.
Erkelei: I am a third year student majoring in Art of Costume and Textile. My future profession (costume designer) has been familiar to me since my childhood, as I always liked drawing. That is why after finishing school I decided to enter ASU to become a costume designer. My future profession is always relevant and unique, as a designer has to contribute their own feelings, notice surrounding beauties and make glorious things with their own hands. As a girl, I like creating stylish images, sew dresses, trousers, shirts and other clothes for others and for myself.
– How long have you been taking interest in Altai national fashion?
Maxim: I became seriously interested in Altai national clothes when I was on my 3rd year at the university. I had to come up with the topic for my graduate project then. Although, national clothes and their transformation started to amuse me long before that.
Erkelei: I have not worked on my own clothes collection just yet, but even in the form of sketches my clothes always have an Asian style: models always have narrow-shaped eyes, and costumes always have national ornamental patterns. I think it is genetically instilled. In my future graduate project I am going to develop that national topic even further and to continue Altai clothing traditions. I think it is important, because representatives of other nationalities, even Asian ones, know nothing about Altai.
– What was the purpose of the video made by your creative team? What objectives did you have as costume designer and model?
Maxim: The video shows the history of Altai fashion development in order to popularize Altai culture. My main objectives, as a costume designer, were picking clothes, jewelry, headwear, looking for suitable colour compositions.
Erkelei: I was invited to participate in the project by its producer Argymak Oshtushev. I do not know how he found out about me, probably he saw some pictures of me on the Internet. The audition was held in my native town Gorlo-Altaysk, in a photo studio located on the basement floor of the house, where my parents live. These circumstances gave me more confidence and helped open myself in front of the judges. The other models were very good and suitable candidates, by the way. In the course of shooting I had to work with my mimics, gestures in order to show the given image. I’ve been acting in fashion theatre “Art Silhouette” at the Faculty of Arts for three years, so I am familiar to working with a camera.
– There are 9 images presented in the project. How were you creating them? What did inspire you? Which of them do you like the most?
Maxim: It was enough for me to study deeper the history of our grandmothers and mothers. The image of a girl from those times instantly came to my mind.
Erkelei: All images are unique. The first one – the Princess of Ukok – was the most hard for me. It was difficult to fit into it, but it turned out well at last. I liked the image of a businesslike woman of 2000s the most, she is so independent, strong and charismatic. And the image from 2015 is also nice – elegant, adorable, gorgeous.
– The clip ends with the image of 2015, where the costume features national clothes again. Is it really possible to see an Altai girl wearing clothes with national elements today?
Maxim: Today wearing national head-dress – bychkak boruk – is considered to be fashionable, as well as putting on a stylized dress with Altai ornamental patterns.
Erkelei: I agree with Maxim. Moreover, I wear bychkak boruk myself not only in Gorno-Altaysk, but also in Barnaul.
– Could you share your impressions of the project results? Are you planning to continue working with your creative group on national costume popularization?
Maxim: I am happy that I got a chance to work with such talented people. I think, our joint work has just begun. Further project will be even greater. It will be dedicated to Altai culture, but we will show it through dances, music, costumes and nature.
Erkelei: I enjoyed participating in the project and working in a team. It was easy to come to an understanding with each other. The team supported me a lot during the shooting, and it helped me to open myself. I did not expect that the video will be taken up in such way. When it came out, it spread all over the Republic of Altai and Altai Krai at once. After the project was finished, I understood what a great responsibility it is to represent your nation. I am going to develop my modeling career in “Art Silhouette” fashion theatre, my personality as a representative of Altai nation. Of course, we are going to continue popularizing Altai culture in the whole world.
The video clip “The history of Altai beauty” has been published on YouTube on 17 March 2016