Lithuanian national costume: interpretations of the folk dress

The article is focused on the analysis of one major aspect of the national costume - its relation with the authentic folk outfit. The national costume has to be a follower of the folk costume, therefore, it is possible to produce it only on the ground of the preserved historical material. Since this material is exceptionally from the 19th century, the folk costume of this period in particular became the background of the national costume in various countries. The history of the Lithuanian national costume ought to be conceived as part of all-European cultural process. In fact, a great number of ideas and problems raised in Lithuania were characteristic of Central and Eastern Europe and at times included even broader regions. From the very beginning of the 20th century and on, the national costume bore a naive character and was interpreted by Lithuanians in a romantic spirit. The costume gained an assessment as of a symbol of the related form rather than the reconstruction of actual folk fashion. The former 20th century model as well as later interpretations of the folk dress were influenced by this approach, therefore, the spread of new ideas gained less intensity in Lithuania in comparison with the advanced countries, and out-of-date interpretations found an easier way to be canonized. In Lithuania research on the Lithuanian folk dress, which gained ground in the second half of the 20th century, had no direct links with practice of creating the national costume. Due to this tendency the type of the national costume, which was precisely reconstructing the folk dress and was prevalent throughout the entire Europe, encountered the delay of its dissemination