The sight of Russian women trudging in synthetic stilettos through snow and slush is slowly becoming a thing of the past as fashionistas rediscover valenki – traditional felt boots worn to ward off the chill of the country’s harsh winter.
“In Russia, everything is backwards,” says Olga Chernikova, a popular valenki designer in Moscow. “If women go out, they wear heels, if they exercise, they wear heels. Our Russian ancestors wore valenki, why aren’t we carrying on the tradition?”
For centuries, handmade valenki covered the elite feet of the Russian empire, from Peter the Great to Nicholas II. Historians say that felt boots cost a lot of money in the 19th century, and families could only afford one pair, which were worn in shifts.
“It was always an expensive item,” says Elvira Garayeva, director of the valenki museum in Moscow. “People could only start affording valenki after the revolution when factories opened up across the country.”
During the perestroika era, when the Soviet Union slowly started opening its doors to Western goods, valenki fell on hard times. Suddenly presented with a myriad of options, urban Russians turned their noses up at the peasant garb. About 25 percent of valenki factories closed and the valyalshiki, the craftsmen who made them in the villages, took other work.
Over the years, designers like Chernikova have battled to turn the boots into a fashion statement by adding new decorations, such as embroidery, in an attempt to attract new buyers.
“I am picking out my first pair,” says Maria Tretyakova, 25, as she slips her foot into a red boot. “Of course I wore them as a child, but I want them again. Russians seem to like Uggs, but I just find them hideous.”
Long before the emergence of Uggs –bulky, sheepskin boots from Australia – artisans made valenki in their homes and later en-masse in factories. With Russia’s unforgiving winter approaching, valenki are becoming a hot commodity once again. Chernikova’s shop is snowed under with orders, mainly from fashion forward customers in Moscow. She is so busy that she barely has time to answer my questions as she juggles phone call after phone call.
“Valenki are gaining popularity around the world, not just in Russia” says Chernikova before picking up another call. Ten minutes pass by, she inhales, apologies and continues her sentence: “We are now getting orders from clients in Europe and even in Africa. People want to remember their culture.”
Traditionally, craftsmen rolled the wool by hand and molded the bottom of the foot. The loosely woven and extremely large sock was then taken to a Russian steam bath and dipped into hot water several times to shrink it. The boot was placed over a wooden mold, beaten into shape with a stick and left to dry overnight over a fireplace.
In the Moscow museum, a photo exhibit of soldiers in felt boots carries on the legend that valenki helped Russians prevail in the Napoleonic wars and World War II. The Western European leather boots worn by the enemy were supposedly inadequate for the Russian winter.
In Chernikova’s boutique, boots are stacked one on top of the other, ready for purchase. A simple pair sells for about 2,000 rubles ($65). They are not rainproof, and must be worn with galoshes to protect them from getting wet. It is a quite the family business, with her son helping her out in thestore, and her uncle and his sons supplying the wool from their village outside of Moscow.
“I put all of my passion and heart into making valenki fashionable again,” says Chernikova. “Maybe ten years ago people didn’t care for them, now they are setting themselves apart from the rest of the crowd.”
MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti, Diana Markosian)
