Construction and Embroidery
Clothing does much more than protect the body. It can be used to mark a person’s social status, age, gender, marital status and so forth. In Ukraine, the clothing of the young differed from the clothing of the old. There was special holiday clothing and clothing to mark the major events in a life such as weddings and funerals. Clothing differed by gender. This not only means that women wore skirts while men wore pants. It means that the clothing of little girl was different from the clothing worn by a girl old enough to marry. When a woman married, her clothing, and especially her head gear, would change again. Thus, little girls wore unbelted shifts, sorochki, and could wear their hair loose. Young women wore single braids. They had to wear a belt over their sorochki and most often wore a skirt as well. At marriage, a woman’s hair was braided in two braids as part of the wedding ceremony. From then on, the woman was supposed to wear two braids, wear her hair up, and keep her head covered. Her clothing became more modest and darker and darker as she aged. The man, by contrast, wore the same hairdo and pretty much the same clothing throughout his life, though his clothing, too, became darker with age.
Clothing has magical power. The act of embroidery is powerful and clothing protects an individual, not just from the elements, but from the evil eye. Clothing was embroidered and holiday and ceremonial clothing richly so. Embroidery around all clothing edges served a protective function and, since individuals in transition, such as the couple getting married, are especially vulnerable, their clothing was richly embroidered and they were decorated with wreaths, flowers, pins, and other protective items
In the area of Central Ukraine, which is the source of most of the information here, there is a distinction between everyday clothing, which was minimally adorned, and festive clothing, usually called ukraiins’ke. Ukraiins’ke means a linen shirt, what we might call a shift, with heavily embroidered sleeves, embroidery around the neck, and at the bottom of the shift. Over this is worn a skirt, usually of colored brocade. The skirt is to be worn in such a way that the embroidered lower edge of the shift is visible from under it. An embroidered apron covers the front of the skirt and a woolen woven belt, usually called a poias or a kraika is worn on top. Over the shift and skirt a woman wears a sleeveless jacket called a korsetka in summer and a long sleeved jacket called a iubka in winter. Men’s ukraiins’ke is primarily an embroidered shirt. The linen trousers worn by men in the past and the home-made jackets and coats have mostly been replaced by factory-made slacks and jackets.
The shift or sorochka can be made of linen, cotton, or hemp. In the past, hemp was used for everyday wear since it is a courser fabric of a darker color. Everyday wear was ideally embroidered at least around the edges to protect the wearer. It was possible to omit embroidery altogether.
