A beshmet (from ; ; ; ) is an outer garment worn among the

Turkic peoples Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of West Asia, West, Central Asia, Central, East Asia, East, and North Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.. "Turkic peoples, any of various peoples whose members ...

Mongolians Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of Mon ...

and later by the

peoples of the Caucasus The peoples of the Caucasus, or Caucasians, are a diverse group comprising more than 50 ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus. By language group Language families indigenous to the Caucasus Caucasians who speak languages which have l ...

and the

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

. Beshmet is an open garment that reaches to the knees; sometimes it is quilted. It is in the form of a buttoned half-caftan with a standing collar and is gathered into folds, belted at the waist and is girded with a saber belt (which is a leather belt decorated with copper and silver plaques) to which a dagger or saber was attached. Beshmet tightly fits the chest and waist, and the sleeves are long and narrow. The length is slightly above the knees or knee-length, with a back cut at the waist, straight solid floors fastened to the waist with a hook, with side wedges. It was worn under caftans such as

chokha A chokha, or ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; also known as a cherkeska, is a woolen coat (clothing), coat with a high neck that is part of the traditional male dress of peoples of the Caucasus. It was in wide use among Avars (Caucasus), Avars, ...

or chekmen, but in everyday life it could be worn on its own. It shares similarities with the

arkhalig An arkhalig , is part of both male and female traditional dress of the peoples of the Caucasus and Iran. An arkhalig is a long tight-waist jacket made of various kinds of fabric, such as silk, satin, cloth, Cashmere wool, cashmere and velvet, ...

, although, arkhalig is worn as a jacket while beshmet is more comparable to a tunic. The beshmet was a part of uniform of all Cossack troops, it was worn according to color and cut. During off-duty time, the Cossacks could wear beshmets of any color and material. Beshmets were used both as streetwear and at home. Young Cossacks wore beshmets in the summer during festivities and holidays. Old Cossacks wore beshmets quilted on cotton at home. Beshmets were usually made of fabrics such as silk, satin, velvet or other materials such as wool, brocade etc. Elderly Cossacks wore beshmets of blue, black, brown colors, while young wore red, burgundy, green, and blue.

References

{{Clothing-stub Culture of the Caucasus Cossack culture