The folk Mordvian costume, especially women, is very colorful. Being the common in its base, it is subdivided, first of all, into Erzya and Moksha types.

Erzya and Moksha folk costumes had reached their complete artistic expressiveness be the middle of the 19th century.

A belt was of utmost importance in a men’s costume. Apart the fact that it served as an adornment, it was convenient to suspend weapons (sword and saber) and other necessary things. The belt was usually made from a strip of skin and had silver, bronze and iron buckle.

The main part of women’s costume was a blouse without a collar which was girdled with woolen belt. A traditional costume included something like a dress put on over the blouse.

A special part in a national costume was assigned to headwear which strictly satisfied the age and marital status. Erzya headwear was high and had cylinder and cone variants. Moksha headwear represented a kind of trapeziform soft cap.

The decorative center of Mordvin pectorals is a fastener which pins up the collar of the blouse. The same adornments occur in other Finno-Ugric peoples. The chest is also decorated with beads, silver coins and seed bead, as well as a complicated breastplate (Moksha).

The Moksha and Erzya have remained a traditional folk costume in different ways. If the Mordvin Moksha put on it quite often, the Mordvin Erzya do it less often, only for holidays or amateur arts festivals.