Typical Lemko house with grass roof. This photo is from Shevchenko Grove Museum in the Lemko sector from Zaricheve village in Zakarpatski oblast. 
1.) Photo on left:
Notify us if you know which region this costume is from.
To Olga,
An acquaintance of mine, from Ukraine looked at the costume, and told me that it comes from the Mostyskyi raion in the Lviv oblast. The girl could have been a bridesmaid at a wedding or a dancer. This costume is very old.
Lorne Carpenter
Hello Olha,
The costume pictured is from Halychyna (Galicia) in the period between the two world wars, probably from a larger town or city in or around Lviw or east as far as Ternopil. It is not an "authentic" regional costume. That area experienced an upsurge of Ukrainian national sentiment in the face of Polish overlordship. They were the most westernised, and especially in the towns, were mostly wearing western fashions. They still loved their heritage, and loved to embroider. They would often dress like this for special occasions, or for Ukrainian cultural activities. The dense blouse design is typical, and they extended the area embroidered in order to impress. The narrow apron is basically like a rushnyk. They did three rows of embroidery instead of the traditional one row. The many colors used is a result of DMC embroidery thread entering the market, so many colors to choose from! The macrame and fringe on the bottom edge of the apron is also typical of this era. I can't tell where the ribbons are attached, but they are store bought. The large number of glass beads, however, is also found in the costumes of the Ternopil area.
Roman Kozak
Thank you for providing an interesting place on the web. Feel free to email; I have a lot of material on folk costumes, esp Ukrainian.
2.) Olga's illustration on the right,
shows a
Lemko women dressed in a chemise, a skirt, a kind of apron, an embroidered vest and, in winter, a sheepskin jacket. They wore a hood or very embroidered babushka and leather footwear (kierptsy) or boots (choboty).
3.) photo by Sergei Mikhailovich Malo Rosii (Little Russia - meaning Rusyn) Lot 10333
Typical costume: babushka, puffy sleeved embroidered blouse, long warm vest, long skirt and apron. Apron looks to be heavily embroidered. She wears a babushka on her head which may be embroidered also.
4.) Pani Olyu,
By the design on the front of the blouse, it looks like it is from the Poltavska oblast. The design on the sleeves is not very clear. I could not distinguish the sleeves very much, but the front panel of the shirt just hit me when I saw it.
The reason why I think it is a Poltavskyi design it is because it resembles very much the Reshetylivka embroidery style presently popular in Ukraina. Reshetylivka is a small town about 60 kms from Poltava famous for its embroidery school and it used to be famous for its big embroidery plant during the Soviet years.
Lada
It's not a full costume, central Ukraine or eastern Podillia maybe, judging by the cut of the sleeves of the shirt (with the vustavka). The apron is woven, but that could be in a few regions. Lovely faces
This is not an old traditional sorochka(shirt), unless it's from a very particular place. Women's shirts rarely if at all had embroidery on the bodice - esp. as much as this shirt. This has more than enough for a man's shirt, since women wore a large namysto (necklace), usually coral, and a kersetka (the sleeveless long fitted "jacket") over the shirt, there was no point to do all that embroidery just to have it covered up.
In Ukrains'kyi Narodnyi Odiah/Ukrainian Folk Costume (Toronto / Philadelphia: SFUZHO, 1992), there are a few sorochky with similar sleeves (not bodices) - from the regions of Poltava, Chernihiv, Kharkiv...
Not only the embroidery, stitches, and colours are important -- the CUT of the shirt is regional also. and this one fits with these areas. Except for the embroidery on the front.
This could be a photo from the beginnning of this century. Maybe this is a pieced shirt, from two others, or just one the person wanted to make this way.
I forwarded the photo to a friend in Yuzhny, which is located up the coast from Odessa. She and her mother could not determine the location for certain, because it was not a color photo. The mother speculated it might be from western Ukraine, but needed to see the colors to be certain. more info is needed, but -- based on the outfit -- not western Ukraine.
Orysia
Hello Orysia,
You're right that is not a full costume. The coat is missing. I would guess Transcarpathian, Hutzul or even Lemko. With the poyas (belt) and the shoes I would lean toward Hutzul. With the beads and the blouse probably not Bukovina but more Halychyna region. With the long braid (or kossa) she is probably single.
Bill E.
Hi, Olga
The girls probably belong to some dance school, right? The black stockings and white shoes?!?!?!? Anyway, sort of attempts at a costume, but....... And not fair to judge, since people try their best and mean well, and do what they can with what they can and what they know.
The first outfit is sort of central Ukraine (Kyiv region); the second one, no real place. Blue is NOT traditional as a solitary embroidery colour. Touches of blue appear in S.W. Ukraine (Zakarpattia, some Hutsul, Boyko areas) but not alone.
The embroidery on the last shirt is who knows from where? No such traditional embroidery. The skirt is the typical shalianova / challis skirt for girls
Orysia
6.) Men wore black hats while women sported embroidered kerchiefs; both wore embroidered vests and white shirts with colorful hand cross stiching.
7.) Three native Carpathian & Ukrainian male costumes, painting by A. Vacuna.8.)
Ukrainian costumes (left) and 9.) Carpathian costumes (right) 1989 by A M Trubnukov
Painting by L. Denysenko
10.) Carpathian vest, possibly Hutsul, worn by male on right. The Hutsuls are very big on orange in their embroidery and weaving.
11.) Kozak costume (blue wide pants with red sash) worn by male on left. The shirt front will be embroidered for festive events.
12.) Ukrainian costume worn by female
13.) Ukrainian dance ensemble from Kiev in Los Angeles 2001
14.) Ukrainian dance ensemble in Los Angeles 1989
15.) Ukrainian dance at UCLA, Los Angeles 1988
This photo is from the booklet "Ukraine and Ukrainians," printed by the Ivan Honchar Museum of a Kosmach couple in 1920. The small booklet of postcards has many such interesting photos!