Ukrainian national clothing is the clothing worn by people living in Ukraine, mainly ethnic Ukrainians. The most famous Ukrainian clothing items are the embroidered shirt (vyshyvanka), a cloth sash and avinokflower crown. The clothing styles differed between the four macroregions of Ukraine: Polissia, Lisostep, Step and Carpathians.[1] Traditional clothing differentiated people by gender and social status, by place of residence and wealth.[1]
The embroideredsorochka shirt (Ukrainian:сорочка), also known asvyshyvanka, is the most important element of the Ukrainian costume.[1] Vyshyvankas were typically made from hemp of linen and differed significantly between regions, in bothcut and decor.[1]
The earliestvyshyvankas appeared in Ukrainian villages in the middle of the 18th century despite the fact that Ukrainian embroidery is known from 10 to 11 centuries, but it is limited togoldwork for the feudal nobility.[1] After villagers started making vyshyvankas, they acquired a new symbolic meaning as magic talismans and even started being seen as wearer's substitution: for example, selling one's own vyshyvanka would result in selling one's happiness.[2] Wedding shirts were especially prominent: they had a lot of symbolic adornments and had to be made from a single piece of fabric; one of the wedding traditions was the exchange of the groom's wedding shirt made by the bride for the bride's footwear, another one included newlyweds wiping their hands with their spouse's shirt after the marriage'sconsummation.[3] Wedding shirts were kept for the rest of the person's life as amulets and put into the woman's grave after her death.[3]
The typical silhouette of a Ukrainian shirt included a long straightsleeve that ends with a wristbandcuff; the typical adornment was located at the cuff, the sleeve above the elbow and the shoulder, which is a custom adopted fromByzantium along withChristianity.[3] The cut, colours, sewing and decorating techniques, the shape of the collar, the sleeve's shape and manner of attachment to the body are varied between regions.[3]
_(14769218534).jpg)
Sashes were also used as symbols: of fertility, libido and child-bearing, as well as a representation of protection, unity and connectedness.[4] Folklore characters who wore no belt were considered dangerous, such as witches andchthonic monsters likeberehynias,mermaids andmavkas.[4] People believed that stepping over a red wedding cloth sash would ease childbirth.[4] Other than red cloth, a wedding sash could be made of an embroideredrushnyk cloth, especially with theTree of life pattern.[5]
Vinok, or thewreath, is the third national symbol of Ukraine.[5] Flower crowns were worn by unmarried women and brides during the wedding, but the symbolic meaning of the wreath is wider:vinok is an ancient pagan talisman, it is used in thewinter holiday season divination [uk] and other rituals.[5] In winter time, wreaths were made from hay, wool, feathers and dried plants and leaves.[6] Regionalvinok variants include the featheredkarabulya (Ukrainian:карабуля) from CarpathianBukovina, silk ribbon wreaths ofKyiv andPoltava oblasts and others.[6]
The married women's head covering,ochipok, was mainly an indicator of the wearer's marital status: she had to cover her hair after the wedding ceremony.[6] The ochipok was in turn often covered by a piece of cloth (anamitka wimple or akhustka kerchief).[7]
_(cropped).jpg)
Polissya Ukrainians worebast shoes (lychaky) whileCarpathians had theirpostoly shoes made from leather;choboty boots with a seamed or seamless shaft were popular throughout Ukraine.[7] The groom giftedchoboty to the bride and her mother; this custom is centered at theChristmas Eve story byNikolai Gogol.[8] They were also featured in many winter divination rituals.[8]
Thecherevyky (Ukrainian:черевики)dress boots made from leather and colourfulSaffian became popular among villagers in the 19 century.[7] The colour of the materials would inform the name of the whole garment: green (zelenі)cherevyky were calledzelenytsi (Ukrainian:зелениці) while the Poltava yellow-and-black ones were known aschornobryvtsi (marigolds).[8]
Kozhukh fur coats are prominent in Ukrainian culture as fertility-related symbols: the kozhukh turned inside out covered the bench from which the parents blessed their children's wedding; it also covered the seat of the bride during the unbraiding and the marital bed.[9] A kozhukh worn wrong side out was worn by the bride's mother before the marriage.[9] Kozhukhs could be decorated with black and grey wool,appliqué, embroidery and sewn-up colourful stings.[8]
The most prominent colour of Ukrainian clothing is red.[10] It can be found in every region, especially on festive clothing where it dominates.[10]Polesian daily clothing is also decorated with red and white ornaments whilePodoliyan costume was mainly using black and white;Hutsuls used a lot of orange and yellow while the clothing ofCarpathian Ruthenia andLemko Region employed blue even on festive wear.[10]
Ukrainian embroidery decorated various items of clothing; historically, the most popular techniques were types ofcounted-thread embroidery such aspattern darning (both lineworknyz and brickworkzanyzuvannya) andsatin stitch, but later they lost their popularity due to the rise ofcross-stitch embroidery.[11] The typical motifs for clothing are geometric (lines, squares and diamonds; it is the most ancient type) and floral (mostly employed in the Western parts of Ukraine).[10] Starting from the 1880s, Ukrainians added popular motifs printed in fashion magazines to their embroidery repertoire.[12]
The Polesia region includes Volhynian Polissya, Zhytomyr Polissya, Kyiv Polissia, Chernihiv Polissya and Novhorod-Siversky Polissya.[13] The clothing of this region has Polish, Belarusian and Russian influences.[14]
TheLisostep region [uk] includesVolyn,Galicia,Opillia,Podillia, the Middle Dnieper region,Poltavshchyna andSlobozhanshchyna.[13] The typical Lisostep clothing ensemble includes a variety of sleeveless garments worn with wide or fitted skirts for women and trousers for men.[15] The clothes are colourful and have both geometric and floral ornaments.[15]
_(cropped).jpg)
TheUkrainian Steppe [uk] comprisesBudjak, theOdesa Region, the Lower Dnieper, Tauria, theSea of Azov region andCrimea.[13] It includes many influences fromMoldovan,Bulgarian,Greek,Crimean Tatar andRussian traditional clothing, but the information about the dress of the early steppe Ukrainians is very limited.[16]
The Carpathian macroregion includes theLemko Region, Boyko Region, Transcarpathia,Pokuttia, Hutsulshchina andBukovina.[13] Local clothing traditions carry influences fromPolish, Slovak, Hungarian andRomanian clothing.[14] The Carpathian embroidery is colourful and includes many floral motifs.[17][10]
