Олена Пчілка про моду і вроду / Olena Pchilka about Fashion and Beauty

The article highlights the issue of fashion in the works by Olena Pchilka and considers it as a multidimensional phenomenon. The study reveals the artistic function of the clothing-description (in terms of R. Bart: vêtement écrit) and determines the disposition of fashion and beauty in the characters’ images depiction. The article provides an outline of the aesthetic views of the writer, with a focus on the political and ethical vectors. The political aspect is elucidated via the issues of national clothing and the Ukrainian language usage, which the author regards as a manifestation of public opinion. Exposing the cynicism of the vital positions of the townspeople and the petty nobility constitute the ethical vector of Olena Pchilka's aestheticism. The analysis of the author's texts has revealed a keen interest of the writer to the visible manifestations of the beautiful. Fashion trends are analyzed in many aspects: clothing, interior, cooking, education, etiquette, entertainment, etc. Clothes in the works of Olena Pchilka represent the social status, financial status, ideological and national beliefs. Vestimentary and gastronomic codes mirror the character system of different social groups. Beauty, in its disposition to fashion, appears both natural and acquired feature. A handsome person looks pretty even in plain (unfashionable) but appropriate outfits. External beauty reflects the inner perfection of a person. The writer often aesthetizes the portrayal of spiritually rich and nationally conscious people. Subsequently, Olena Pchilka's everyday aestheticism in the realistic works developed utterly in the modernist version of her nationally-biased writings, in prose, particularly