The dissertation is dedicated to the comprehensive analysis of Ukrainian children's folk costumes as a unique ethno-cultural phenomenon, exploring its distinctive features and studying the transformational processes in the socio-economic and spiritual spheres that have influenced children's clothing culture during the 20th century and the first quarter of the 21st century. The relevance of the topic is determined by the significant importance of traditional clothing, and children's clothing in particular, as an expression of the identity and uniqueness of the artistic heritage of the Ukrainian people. In the context of today's existential threats, it serves as a stable basis for the identity and civilizational subjectivity of Ukraine.
The scientific novelty of the study is that for the first time in Ukrainian ethnology, the topic was covered in a special scientific work. The study utilizes a unique collection of archival, visual, and material sources, which allowed for the identification of the distinctive features of children's attire as a special phenomenon of traditional culture and to consider changes, modifications and innovations of folk children's clothing in Ukraine. The obtained scientific results allowed us to improve the methodological foundations of studying Ukrainian costumes, including approaches to revealing the information potential of visual and material sources, as well as to further argue the impact of socio-cultural and economic processes on the transformation of folk culture. The issues of socialization of children in traditional society and the role of folk costumes as a manifestation of national identity have been further developed.
A whole range of scientific approaches was used to comprehensively cover the topic of Ukrainian folk children's clothing. In particular, the methods of analysis and synthesis (for studying historiography and source materials), classification and systematization (for determining the main forms and special types of children’s clothing), comparative historical and chronological methods (for identifying periods of development of children's clothing culture and its transformations), the cultural and semiotic principle (for studying clothing as a sign system), as well as the method of content analysis (for systematizing source texts, describing illustrations, and making conclusions) helped to reveal the research tasks and draw appropriate conclusions.
The changes in children’s clothing of Ukrainians in the second half of the 20th century, characteristic of the socio-cultural realities of the Soviet era, are considered. Attention is focused on the determining socio-economic transformations and ideological factors of the totalitarian state of that time, which led to transformations in the sphere of traditional rituals and the economic system. The article reveals how children's clothing culture was affected by the destructive processes of the 1920s and 1930s (collectivization, dekulakization, the Holodomor), the consequences of the Second World War, and the principles of post-war reconstruction and industrial modernization in the USSR. Based on the oral testimonies of the period, the author summarizes that there was a process of moving away from the use of traditional children’s clothing made of home-made materials, purchased materials and ready-made clothes became widespread, although the textile industry did not meet the needs for children’s clothing, and there were significant problems with the financial capacity of the population. During this period, standardized school uniforms were introduced, which deprived children of any individuality in their external expression and completely eliminating the regional specificity of children's clothing culture that still existed in the pre-war period. A separate aspect of the study is the Soviet era tendencies to rethink the role and functions of folk costumes, including children's costumes, their simplification and theatricalizing for stage use.
In examining the period of the late 20th to the early 21st centuries, the primary focus has been on the specifics of the functioning of nationally labelled children's clothing as a factor of self-identification and an expression of the consolidation processes inherent in modern Ukrainian society. The use of traditional Ukrainian children's clothing in modern times has shown its role as a representative of the continuity and reactivation of folk traditions, the basis for preserving the identity of the Ukrainian nation and its statehood in the context of more than a decade of ongoing Russian armed aggression against Ukraine.
