Lavrenyuk O. Ethnic Features of Ukrainian Dress in Sociocultural Context

The research is devoted to comprehensive study of the ethnic Ukrainian dress' peculiarities. The author analyses the ethnic and socio-cultural aspects of Ukraine's history from settlement by Slavic tribes to nation-building as the basis of folk clothing' formation and development. There is also stressed the deepening of local features of folk clothing in the XVI - XVIII centuries as a reflection of social and political changes. The traditional Ukrainian dress, which is a reflection of folk arts and culture, combines Slavic, Ukrainian nationwide, regional and local features in a holistic art complex. It is established that for the long time the costumes of Ukrainian peasant reflected the ethnic originality of Ukrainian traditional dress and became a regional and nationwide ethnic symbol. The corporate content of Ukrainian traditional dress exemplifies the Cossack and corporate clothing of the craft guilds from Podillia, Poltava and Kyiv. From the second half of XIX century the folk clothing has changed as a result of industrialization and urbanization processes. The author emphasizes the conventional type of folk (peasant) costume which had no direct ethnographic analogies, but based on primary sources of real models of the Middle Dnieper. Rethinking the role and importance of traditional folk clothing, its involvements in special events improve its viability as an effective element of modern Ukrainian culture.