Lithuanian National Costume in the 19th Century and in the 2nd Half of the 20th Century: Cultural Pollution and Remains of Authenticity

Abstract

Lithuanian authors, authors abroad, and artists have presented Lithuanian folk clothes in their works. However, the oldest examples of these representations are not very reliable, because the authors painted them according to the descriptions of other people or copied works among each other. In the 20th century, the national costume of Lithuania changed considerably. Attention was not given to ethnographic regional peculiarities; instead, similar materials were chosen without any analysis. This article performs a comparative analysis of folk (the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century) and national (the second half of the 20th century) Lithuanian costumes to establish signs of cultural pollution and remaining authenticity. Over 500 articles of clothing with different purposes are collected from Lithuanian museums. Fabric parameters, such as raw materials, weaving technique, weave, pattern, decoration elements, etc., are established. The research results show that authentic folk clothes of the 19th century differ from the national costume of the second half of the 20th century in their cut, decoration, and patterns. No differences between ethnographic regions survived in the national costumes. Thus, at present, we must preserve our tangible heritage and re-create, as authentically as possible, national costume for folk songs and dance ensembles, folk restaurants, and rural tourism homesteads.

1. Introduction

Presently, becoming citizens of “the world”, interpretations and perceptions of traditions, and the cultural and historical heritage of each country (which were significantly distorted during the Soviet period) are very important. Searching for cultural identity and the desire to investigate our cultural heritage in Lithuania alongside the manifestations of cultural pollution in Lithuanian national textiles of the second half of the 20th century and describing this authenticity to others in Europe open the possibility to save elements of folk heritage, such as the folk textiles and folk costumes of different Lithuanian ethnographic regions.

Ethnographers have evaluated works of artists from the second half of the 18th century to the 19th century as important iconographic materials for investigating the clothes of Lithuanian peasants. There is little information about the iconography of Lithuanian peasants’ clothes, especially in 17–18th century and earlier. Single descriptions and illustrations can be found already in sources of the 16th century—Vecellio [1], De Heer [2], illustrations of old maps—Braun and Hogenberg [3], Ortelius [4]. The oldest Lithuanian sources are from the 18th century—Smuglevičius [5], Gizevijus [6]. In the 19th century, many sources depicting and describing Lithuanian folk clothing appeared, but it was also mostly foreign (Polish, French, Russian) authors [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. More detailed analysis of folk clothes began in the middle of the 20th century, when museums started to be established, scientific expeditions were organised, collections of emerging museums began to be collected. The first albums and investigations of Lithuanian folk fabrics and clothes appear only at this time. Some information is only available in single publications, such as the album of folk art called “Clothes” [14], and in the monographs and catalogues of professional artists [15], in which some works of peasants’ clothes can be found. One of the most serious researchers, Lithuanian art critic Rėklaitis, published a few articles in this field [16,17]. Important ethnographic sources on Lithuanian clothes and iconographic materials are discussed in Vyšniauskaitė’s work about Lithuanians in the 9th–19th centuries [18,19]. Milius’s article, which describes authors who wrote about clothes in Lithuania Minor [20], is important for researchers. The work containing Gizevijus’s and other authors’ works is also valuable [6]. The topics of Guzevičiūtė’s works cover a longer periods [21]. Šidiškienė investigated the evolution of folk costume, the traditional clothes of Lithuania Minor, and its descriptions in books and articles [22]. Bernotaitė-Beliauskienė described sheets, gloves, and socks in the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century [23,24]. Appearance [25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32], cut [26], decoration [33], territorial distribution of folk clothes are described.

The investigation of any cultural heritage, including folk costume, is important to each country and not only promotes folk consciousness, but also helps to better understand the evolution of world culture. This aspect of folk costume investigation is especially important to the consciousness of contemporary people, for whom it is relevant to promote folk consciousness in a European and global context in the cosmopolitan world, despite the distortions of this heritage in the second part of the 20th century. Lithuanian National Revival began in the 19th century, but the biggest changes in folk costume were when Lithuania become part of the Soviet Union, i.e., in the middle of the 20th century. Because of that reason, namely, this period is in this article. The simplest way to disseminate this folk heritage is to use folk costume without elements of cultural pollution as the clothing of folk music and dance ensembles, workers of authentic rural homesteads and restaurants, and other Lithuanian patriots. All this will help save our folk identity and use authentic clothing details in contemporary national costume. Of course, some of the 16th century sources found may not reveal a detailed difference in clothing between different regions, so it is stated that these sources reveal only general clothing trends. However, abundant sources from the 19th to the 20th centuries already provide quite detailed territorial differences in folk clothing. It should also be borne in mind that during the Soviet era, any ethnographic research was prohibited, and this was one of the causes of cultural pollution.

The culture changes in the world were also described by contemporary anthropologists. For example, Anderson [34] examines the creation and global spread of the ‘imagined communities’ of nationality, and explores the processes that created these communities: The territorialisation of religious faiths, the decline of antique kingship, the interaction between capitalism and print, the development of secular languages-of-state, and changing conceptions of time and space.

Haskell [35] begins by discussing the antiquarians of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who brought to light and interpreted as historical evidence coins, sculptures, paintings discovered in the catacombs beneath Rome, and other relics surviving from earlier ages. He explains that, in the 18th century, historians gradually began to acknowledge the significance of such visual sources and to draw on them to validate and give colour to their narratives or to utilise them as foundation stones for a new branch of learning—the history of culture.

Lowenthal [36] analyses the ever-changing role of the past in shaping our lives. A heritage at once nurturing and burdensome, the past allows us to make sense of the present whilst imposing powerful constraints upon how the present develops.

Schnapp [37] examines the development of archaeology as a science and the process by which humankind developed an understanding of its past. The discovery of the past is not just the historian’s definition of his own territory. Even the term discovery invites us to reflect on the motivation which, since the dawn of human culture and history, has led humankind to recognise, preserve and at times study the traces of his predecessors.

All of these authors explore the past and cultural heritage through the prism of history and anthropology, i.e., they analyse the broad history of culture, covering various tangible and intangible heritage—coins, sculptures, paintings. They explore history and heritage from ancient cultures to the present day. Meanwhile, this study focuses more on a narrower period and covers a much narrower area of tangible heritage—Lithuanian women’s peasant clothing of the 19th century—the beginning of the 20th century.

This article performs a comparative analysis of folk (the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century) and national (the second half of the 20th century) Lithuanian costumes, thereby establishing signs of cultural pollution and the remaining elements of authenticity.

Several projects on the Lithuanian national costume were carried out in Lithuania by Savoniakaitė, Nėnienė, Šidiškienė, Bernotaitė-Beliauskienė, Jurkuvienė, etc. However, in all previous projects, only an authentic national costume and/or reconstructions of this costume were investigated. Meanwhile, this project differs in that in addition to the national costume, it also analyses the recently created national costume, which is compared with the national one, looking for errors and inaccuracies, which are recommended to be paid attention to modern national costume manufacturers.

2. Review of Visual Sources

2.1. Review of Visual Sources of Lithuanian Folk Clothes

One of the oldest pictures of Lithuanians clothing comes from the citizens of Nurnberg Heldt, who copied, with coloured pencils, many people from different sources and created 11 drawings of Lithuanian clothing types in about 1570–1580 [38]. Woodcarvings were made according to Adelhauser’s drawings [38], and three illustrations of Lithuanians were published in Cesare’s Vecellio’s book (Venece) [1]. Kossak [39] presented his drawing from the cycle “Ancient Apparel and Armor”, published in the periodical journal “Illustrated Journal”, according to Vecellio’s carving of a Lithuanian man with a soldier uniform.

French painter Norblen shows the Lithuanians among other nations at the beginning of the 19th century. “Set of Polish Clothes” [40], whose graphic works were created by Debucourt according to Norblen’s drawings, was published in 1817 [7,41]. However, Norblen did not visit Lithuania. He also noticed some inaccuracies during publishing: The man called Samogitian was actually Lithuanian [42].

Leon Zienkowicz published the book “Polish Folk Costume” [9], which features 39 lithographs by Jan Levicki coloured by hand in 1841. Two of them are dedicated to Lithuania: “Peasants of Vilnius District” and “Samogitians”. It is difficult to determine from what sources Levicki sampled data about Lithuanian clothes. Notably, the wimple of the peasant woman from the Vilnius district is presented similarly to the lithographs of clothes from the Grodno, Minsk, and Jaroslav districts in the same book. The Samogitian female apron is also like that in the lithograph “Kijacy from Podgórze”.

An illustration with a Lithuanian woman and a Polish man is included in the first volume of the book “Historical, Literary, Monumental and Imaginative Poland”, prepared by Leonard Boreika Chodzka [43]. The method of tying the wimple and clothes is very similar to those in Norblen’s picture, “Lithuanian Women” (just under the armpit). Moreover, all clothes are smoothed out like in Levicki‘s work, “Peasants of Vilnius District“. The same work was included in the periodical edition “Friend of the People” and simply called “Lithuanian Peasants” [44].

Smuglevičius’s picture “Lithuanian Peasants” provides very valuable material about the hats of Vilnius district men in the second half of the 18th century, especially interesting are the methods for tying women’s kerchiefs tying, the cuts, the decoration of coats, and the peasants’ shoes. Ruseckas’s “Cutter Woman” is presented with shirts, the necks and cuffs of which are tied with coloured lace. The painting “Lithuanian Girl with Palms” illustrates a rarely included accessory—a scrotum hung at the waist. “Lithuanian fisherwoman” casts doubt on the conformity of the clothing depicted and actually worn at the time. The reality of the time is reflected by the same artist’s watercolour, “Peasant with Brooms”. This painting has a very similar composition to the lithographs of the beginning of the 20th century, based on about 1905 postcards from the series “Lithuanian Types” [5].

Carlos [45] created a small stamp, in which a Pavlov peasant is presented, using the etching technique. Supposedly, this picture illustrates a Paulava Republic soldier with his uniform. Paulava Republic soldiers painted in P. Smuglevičius’s painting [5] wore uniforms of a white colour, where the open edges of the squares were red, the belts were black, and close-fitting hats were red with black edging.

Also noteworthy are the drawings of women from the Druskininkai district by Kraševskis, which were lithographed by Ozemblauskas and included in the book on Druskininkai by Kraszewski and Wolfgang [10]. Three peasant women wearing characteristic clothing of Dzūkija in the 19th century are presented in this work. This indicates the limits of the spread of the Lithuanian language (and in the broadest sense, the clothing) of that period—halfway from Grodno to Druskininkai [10].

Gerson was a painter who did not copy the works of others, and the materials for his works were sampled by himself. In 1849–1853, Gerson, along with graduates of Warsaw Art School, walked along the district, documenting people from different districts in Vilnius, Kaunas, Augustow [46]. Gerson was a painter (not a costume scientist or ethnographer) and paid attention firstly to what was considered pleasing for him without considering accuracy. Consequently, he was criticised by Polish scientists [11,12,47]. One of M. Kaminskis’s articles about traditions in the Ukmergė district [13] is illustrated with drawings of the artist.

People from present-day Mikališkės in Belarus (Astrav district) and their clothes are described in a few sentences by Tiškevičius, where images of five women and one man grouped into pairs are presented. Importantly, the author shows the limits of the territory populated by Lithuanians [48]. Such hats presented in Figure 1, often sewn from cashmere with flowers, are found in Lithuanian and Belarussian museums, and how these hats looked at the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century can be determined by photos.

After Lithuania became part of Tsarist Russia, attention often was paid to the so-called Nord West State. Activities of the Imperial Society of Russian Geographers were especially notable in the second half of the 19th century [49].

As a member of the Imperial Society of Russian Geographers, Russian ethnographer Pauli published a large luxuriously bound work entitled “Ethnographic Description of Russian Nations” [50] in 1862. As announced on the first page, the book was dedicated in honour of the millennium of the Russian Empire and Emperor Alexander II, and five pages were dedicated to Lithuanians in the book. Notably, Lithuanians of the Vilnius government can be seen in the drawings.

The colourful lithography was then re-done. The same Lithuanians were re-drawn from Pauli’s book and depicted in one drawing with a Latvian couple, as printed in the book “Russian Nations” [50] in 1877 (Figure 2). However, the album published by Pauli is unavailable due to its high cost. Consequently, Ilyin’s Cartographic Company began to publish a more affordable book for consumers. The compilers explained in the preface that they do not intend to present any scientific summaries; their aim is only to present nations with drawings, with the texts included only in the annexes. These charmingly detailed drawings in Pauli’s book are no longer present in the mentioned illustration.

The pair from the Švenčionys district in Videniškės village presented in Kostin’s watercolour is somewhat similar to the two above-mentioned colourful lithographs. This watercolour was presented at the exhibition of the Vilnius public library in 1911 and was dedicated to commemorating the 100th anniversary of its founder, Kornilov [51]. Kornilov organised expeditions to investigate the Nord Western country in 1864–1867.

Three of Cheglov’s drawings of Samogitians wearing holiday clothes from the Kaunas government, Telšiai district, made with pencil and watercolour, are archived in the Vilnius University library; two of these illustrations were published in the catalogue of the same exhibition [52]. The presented way for women to wear their kerchiefs [36] is somewhat similar to the wimples of the peasants from Aukštaitija to protect the neck from the cold.

The series of 19 books called “Picturesque Russia” [53], published in 1881–1901 and one of the most expensive collections of Russian books in history, is illustrated with 3815 drawings and articles written by 93 authors. In total, 423 people participated in publishing the book [54]. The Lithuanian cultural and scientific actor, publicist, ethnographer, historian, and archaeologist Kirkoras is the author of 18 chapters about Lithuania in this book. The several summarised clothing illustrations do not give much information for ethnographers. The peasants of the Ukmergė district are shown (Figure 3 and Figure 4) with warm upper clothes, and different hats can be seen on all four men. The women’s headdresses here can be seen from the back, with the wimple cut from the torso coat, and the kerchiefs of the three Samogitian women are tied at the nape of the neck.

Not much information is included in the later book “Russian nations” [54]. The introduction notes that the book aims to interest the reader by presenting short reviews and several drawings of Russian nations. The fifth page of illustrations is related to Latvians and Lithuanians (Figure 5). Four women, a man, and a child are shown as Lithuanians; it is noted that these are peasants from the Vilnius government Trakai district. Interestingly, Beliakin drew these people according to photos.

The work of Romer, the main artist in the second half of the 19th century [55], is known among ethnographers to be very good. The “Peasant from Švenčionys” [56] (Figure 6) was not published in the title page of the “Illustrated Journal” presenting knowledge about hats. Investigating the creative legacy of this artist, a few similar pictures of peasants with fur hats were presented.

The Lithuanian Museum of Art and the Šiauliai Museum “Aušra” each have four almost-identical watercolours featuring Elena and Klementina Veisenhofaitės wearing clothes of Aukštaitija in the middle of the 19th century along with a peasant from Kriaunai parish. Large floral cashmere shawls were very popular in Aukštaitija. They are most often found with a sandy colour background and more rarely in brown or purple. Shawls with shiny strips were very popular and were known as “šilkaruožės” [57]. The artist paid special attention to the archaic female headdress, the wimple, whose representation we see from all sides and was used as an illustration for the article “Clothes and Crosses of Peasants in Samogitia” [58] (Figure 7 and Figure 8). One of the most famous Lithuanian ethnographers of the 19th century, Jucevičius, wrote about the high sheep hats worn by old women from the Svėdasai and Užpaliai districts in winter and summer in a book published in 1846. In a wedding ceremony, the matron of honour must wear a sheep hat [59]. It is probable that Romer never saw such a head covering with his own eyes. It can be deduced from the Romer’s drawings that there was a fashion trend in the middle of the 19th century to decorate the bottoms of skirts with the edges of gallons [60]. A few works featuring later representatives of the Romer generation, Romerienė (Dembovskytė), were also included in the catalogue. “Vilnius Woman” stands out for the realism in its depiction of clothing and could represent a woman from Dzūkija.

Kaminski’s articles [13] about the traditions of the Ukmergė district were published in the journal “Illustrated Journal” in 1863–1864 and illustrated with drawings by Gerson and Kostrževski (Figure 9 and Figure 10). A young woman decorating her kerchief with flowers is presented in one of the illustrations. The same kind of kerchief tying and decorating was recorded by Romer and Zaleskis, albeit without specifying the location.

Not only fully completed costumes, but also separate parts of clothes were used as book illustrations at the end of the 19th century. The periodical journal “Illustrated Knowledge” was illustrated with watercolours from the Polish artist Turek in 1913 (Figure 11 and Figure 12). Decorations of Samogitian girls—“rangės”—and watercolours of Samogitian female costume were made according to the researcher (mostly Samogitia history), archaeologist, and ethnographer Brenstein’s collection exhibits [61]. “Rangė” folded from white, red, and violet floral ribbons interested the artist. Exhibits of this type in Lithuanian museums are very rare.

Peasant clothes were already showing innovations at this time based on photographs from the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. There are many surviving photos from this period. Traditional clothes of this period were presented in one style, with national costumes shown in another style. Peasant clothes in photos taken by earl Tyszkiewicz [62] in Viala (not far from Minsk) are almost identical to the clothes worn in Eastern Lithuania in that period. The distribution area of hats with “ears” worn in Eastern Aukštaitija and shown in Viala is important for ethnographic research. Collections of the Russian scientist and ethnographer Serzhputovski and professor Volter, featuring clothes of Lithuanian peasants of the beginning of the 20th century, significantly added Lithuanian iconography found in the Russian Museum of Ethnography [63].

2.2. Review of Visual Sources of Lithuanian National Costume

Very valuable data about peasant clothing in the second half of the 19th century are presented in the photos of earl Shuazel, in which people from the Plateliai town or district are shown in 1870–1880 in the Samogitian museum “Alka”. Zahorski showed peasants of the Birštonas district in 1902 “in the outdoor conditions” and according to the fashion of this time on the wall of a house as background nailed fabric. Three photos are presented by Jurašaitis: (1) A directed photo of a barefoot man worn in white with a shovel, which is noted to be Ipolit Poznarovski, one of the last with knowledge of the Lithuanian language at the Kalvarija parish, in the Vilnius government; (2) a woman with a girl from the Kaunas government; and (3) writer Sofija Ivanauskaitė-Pšibiliauskienė (Lazdynų Pelėda) [64]. The influence of urban fashion is especially highlighted in female clothes, where skirts of one colour and blouses extended at the bottom using industrial fabric were worn. Charming bouquets of live flowers worn by girls show the importance of the illustrated event (photography) for the young people of that time.

In addition, national costumes of the interwar period are shown in photos, include individual wearers of national costume and group photos of a few dance ensemble participants. The artistic photo “Women from Suvalkija” by the famous photographer Augustinas was presented in the International Exhibition of Technique and Art in Paris in 1937 and again at the international photo exhibition in New York in 1940, earning the author a gold medal and recognition [65]; this is one of the most interesting photos of its time.

Photos were often used for postcards. The first postcards went to Lithuania in the second half of the 19th century. Their publishing increased during the beginning of the 20th century. Traditional clothes and national costumes are shown in the postcards featuring ethnographic content. A photo of an old woman with a sheet by a photographer and editor from Tilsit Minclofas was also published in a few books about Lithuania Minor. In Zweck’s photo, the author describes the evolution of clothes in Lithuania Minor until the end of the 19th century using works of earlier authors [65]. The postcard “Warm Hats” from the series “Lithuanian Types” is composed interesting, with a diagonally rotated photo of a Švenčionys county man with a linen coat and Balzukevičius’s drawing of a man with pipe and hat (shaped like the hats of Smuglevičius’s peasants). Davainis-Silvestraitis published a postcard that immortalised a collector of folklore, the bookbinder Vincas Bakutis [66]. Less fortunate people and beggars are also seen in a few postcards. Postcards featuring photos of people with folk and national costumes in the first half of the 20th century were combined with folk symbolism, folk ornamentation (sashes of pick-up patterns), verses of poems, lessons, etc., to promote patriotism.

National costumes were worn as an expression of folk identity from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. National costume started to be re-created in Lithuania Minor at the end of the 19th century. In the larger scope of Lithuania, this shift occurred around the beginning of the 20th century. The resolution of folk identity and patriotic feelings in Lithuania through national costumes were especially significant in the interwar period. Girls and women wore such clothing on solemn occasions in the first half of the 20th century, especially in the 1930s and 1940s, during public holidays, when welcoming guests, when attending weddings, and when participating in church processions. Girls in this period liked to take photos wearing such clothing. The acquisition of national clothing was due to a few reasons: Patriotism, dependence upon different organisations, social circles, and family financial situation. For women, most things were their own and only in rare cases were borrowed. Women wove clothes by themselves or asked for the aid of local weavers and woven in single or multiple styles (e.g., skirts might be the same or differ slightly according to colour combinations). Some details (aprons and crowns) were sometimes bought from shops. Women used materials published in different books or periodic journals or based on other women’s clothing. Colour combinations and cuts were chosen according to the woman’s taste, but not according to regional identity. The wearing of national clothes on special occasions in Soviet times, the 5–7th decades of the 20th century, was sometimes perceived as a sign of protest against the current regime. At this time, national clothes were worn during weddings, baptisms, graduations, diploma services, and church processions.

Folk costumes of the first half and the middle of the 20th century were exhibited in 2011. The oldest costume was from 1910–1912. Some parts of this costume were not dissimilar from authentic holiday folk clothes of the 19th century in their patterns, cuts, and decoration. The aesthetic criteria of the weaver or customer to reflect territorial peculiarities was more pronounced in the costumes made in different ethnographic regions, as demonstrated in the exhibition. National costumes and their fabrics in the interwar period were woven and sold by the joint-stock company “Marginiai” and in the post-war period by the company “Dailė”.

Projects created by Kulakauskas, Tamošaitis, Kairiūkštytė-Jacinienė, Palaima, Balčikonis, and Mataitienė for performances, Festivals of Songs, “Lietuva”, and other ensembles reflect the period of creation of each national costume.

Costumes for performances, which must reflect the clothes worn by peasants of the relevant period, were created, and decorative elements were added. Graphic artist and scenographer Kulakauskas created costume outlines for the Krėvė drama “Žentas” with eight paintings; this drama was staged at the State Theatre in Kaunas in 1931, Tamošaitis. For Šimkus’s opera “Pagirėnai” (“Village Near the Palais”, State Theatre in Kaunas, 1942), Žukas painted the sketches of costumes in watercolour for the ballet in 1942 (as seen from the records with pencil).

National costumes were created only by amateurs after the war for different singing, dancing, playing collectives. The most attention was paid to the state ensemble of songs and dances known as “Lietuva”. The artist Palaima created the costumes for this production in 1945. Textile specialists Balčikonis and Songailaitė-Balčikonienė later became involved in the work. Later, scenographer Mataitienė and Povilas Mataitis established the Lithuanian Folklore Theatre and created costumes for that theatre. Palaima and Balčikonis (with his wife) also worked on Song Festival projects. In Soviet times, the first Song Festival was prepared in 1946; its participants wore their own costumes and started to create projects and centrally weave costumes in 1950. In 1955, Glemžaitė published a book [66] where, in addition to the museum material, she provides recommendations for amateurs and participants of the Song Festival on how to get dressed in a national costume. The colourful illustrations of the book were drawn by Palaima, and samples of fabrics were included by Balčikonis. The dissonance between the folk clothes sampled in museums and the national costumes recommended to be sewn can be seen very clearly in this publishing. Leaflets with recommendations and projects for costumes and their fabrics by Palaima and Balčikonis were published five years after the Festival in 1960 [67]. Tamošaitis emigrated to Canada and created projects related to national costumes; he illustrated and published a book with those projects in 1979 [68].

The folk artists presented national costumes in the exhibitions and wove them for folklore ensembles. Gudonytė, Baumilaitė, Zaronskienė, Kriūkelienė, Garnelienė, and Baublienė were the most famous. Of six samples, three of them were woven in Simanavičius’ company. The designer Tomkuvienė from Kaišiadorys, who wrote a book about the national costume of Kaišiadorys district, is the author of another three samples, representing the work of creators of national costume in the 21st century [69].

3. Materials and Methods

Samples from published and internet sources were investigated using the analytical method. We were looking for the references (sources) in National Martynas Mažvydas Library of Lithuania, Vrublevskiai Library of Academy of Sciences of Lithuania, Kaunas District Public Library, internet and Central State Archive of Lithuania. Information in libraries and the internet was sampled similarly, i.e., search words, such as “folk clothes”, “national costume” or names of potential authors (“Romer”, “Lowenthal”, etc.), were entered in the search box and information about the topic was found. The analysis was performed after careful overviewing of the source. The short review and/or comment was written in the article. Information from the Central State Archive of Lithuania was sampled, overviewing the thematic list of funds. Some information was found in funds “15. 02 Companies, Organisations of Culture, Art”, “15. 04 Press”. The documents were overviewed, and appropriate information is selected and reviewed. Over 500 clothes with different purposes were sampled from different Lithuanian museums. Materials were collected, and the fabrics, cuts, models, etc., of the clothes with different purposes (skirts, sashes, shirts, aprons, vests, etc.) were analysed in museums. Fabric parameters like the raw materials, yarn structure, method of production, weaving technique, weave, pattern, decoration elements, details of cut, etc., were thus established.

All these details of the clothes and their fabrics were established using organoleptic, or experimental methods. Experimental methods were used, for example, for the weave and other quantitative characteristics (colour and/or weave repeats) establishing. These methods are described in Reference [70]. When determining the weave, the initial point is first freely chosen. The arrangement of the floats of the first warp is then examined upwards from this point until it begins to repeat. This can be done with the needle by slightly separating the threads of the fabric and observing through a textile lens or optical microscope. The adjacent warp, etc., is then examined from the initial point until a complete weave drawing is obtained. Colour and/or weave repeats are established until the fabric weave, or colour pattern begins to repeat. These repeats are measured with a metric ruler. Thus, the main tools were a needle, counting glass or optical microscope, and ruler. The organoleptic method is based on touching and/or careful overviewing of the garment or the fabric. Some organoleptic methods of a few fabric properties are described in Reference [71], and some of them are described below.

The raw material was established by touching and inspecting the fabric. For example, woollen yarns are rougher and fluffier than flax and cotton, while flax yarns are stiffer and harder than cotton yarns.

In addition, the weaving techniques and weave of the fabrics were established. Weaving techniques fall into the following main groups: Two-harnesses, beaten-up, twill, satin, overshot, pick-up, damask, overlaid, and five-harnesses. Plain, rib, and basket weave fabrics for which two harnesses are enough can be woven using the two-harness technique. Plain weave fabrics, which rarely warp and whose weft is beaten-up very densely, are woven with the beaten-up technique. For this reason, only weft threads are seen on the fabric surfaces. Fabrics woven with the twill technique can assume various appearances depending on the type of the twill weave: Elementary, reinforced, fancy, broken, diamond, or waved. Fabrics woven using satin or sateen weaves are assigned the satin weaving technique. Four- and five-harness satin weaves are the most commonly used in folk fabrics. Fabrics whose patterns are formed from additional weft patterns that are raised upward in certain places on the fabric and then lowered underneath, forming the pattern, were categorised as fabrics that are woven using the overshot technique. Pick-up fabrics are made similar to overshot fabrics, but the patterns in overshot fabrics can be larger and more compounded because they are formed by hand or using special lathes. The patterns of damask fabrics are made by combining two contrasting weaves, i.e., the warp floats dominate in one weave, and weft floats dominate in another weave. These fabrics can be woven using checked twill or checked satin weaves. The pattern is formed by inserting a multi-coloured figure weft according to the desired pattern in the fabrics woven via the overlaid technique. Each element of the pattern can be of a different colour. Only fabrics of a mock-leno weave combined with elements of a plain weave are commonly woven with the five-harness technique. The variety of weaves is even larger. The varieties were divided according to the well-established terminology of woven fabric structure specialists. Fabric weaves were established experimentally using a needle and counting glass or optical microscope. Using the above-mentioned means, the interlacing of a single thread was first determined, i.e., the position of the warp and weft floats in the thread, until the order of the thread interlacing started to repeat. After that, the interlacing of the neighbouring thread was examined. Warp floats were marked on pattern paper.

Regarding the arrangement of fabric colours and weaves, the following types of patterns were suggested: Plain, fancy, checked, vertically striped, horizontally striped, and motley. Surfaces of plain fabric are fully plain, do not show any patterns, and are neither fancy nor coloured. Patterns that reflect the same distribution of fabric floats or weaves and colours of the warp and weft are expressed on the surfaces of the fancy fabric. The warp and weft of the checked fabric are from groups of different coloured threads. The warp of the vertically striped fabric and the weft of the horizontally striped fabric are multi-coloured. The weave repeats in motley fabrics were combined with colour repeats, but the trends of this pattern cannot be described unequivocally.

The warp and weft settings, i.e., the number of threads in one centimetre in the warp and weft directions, of the fabrics used for the clothes were also established.

Decoration elements are very important for clothes, including the buttons, embroidery, decorative stitches, laces, tassels, different additionally sewn decorative details, etc. In addition, particular details of the cut were described, such as the shape of the skirt cut, the placement of the vest waist, etc.

4. Results

Lithuanian peasants’ folk holiday clothes formed over the centuries until the middle of the 19th century, as shown by historical and economic conditions, as well as traditions and customs. Due to the introduction of urban fashion into the Lithuanian countryside, clothes from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century take on a Pan-European look. The most information is about clothes of the 19th century—the beginning of the 20th century. Unfortunately, there is a lack of information about earlier peasants’ clothes of the 18th or 17th centuries. Because of that reason, the authentic folk costume is that of the 19th century.

Lithuanian women spun and wove at home themselves. The main raw materials were linen, wool, and later cotton. Threads were dyed with floral dyes, and fabrics become brighter and more colourful when chemical dyes started to be used in the middle of the 19th century. Villages made relatively little use of factory fabrics in the 19th century. Silk and thin woollen shawls, kerchiefs, fabrics for vests, and decorations—different ribbons, necklaces, contours, and colourful threads—were bought.

Five ethnographic regions are located in Lithuania: Aukštaitija, Dzūkija, Suvalkija, Samogitia, and Lithuania Minor. Holiday clothes were made from the same parts in all regions in the 19th century: Skirt, shirt, vest, apron, and sash. People wore skin shoes, while the poor wore claws, clogs, and champs. Heads were decorated and covered with different headdresses.

As shows the material collected during the expeditions in Dzūkija in 2006 and in Suvalkija in 2008, three materials were used for one holiday shirt: For sleeves, collar, shoulders and cuffs—thinner, often fancy (eight-, five- or sixteen-harness) canvas, for stature—thicker two-harness, for bottom part—thick tow fabric, which can be demolished and replaced by another. Richer women in the upper part of the holiday shirt of the middle of the 19th century used purchased white fabric (percale).

According to oral sources, the skirts were made of homemade or bought material. Various home work materials were used for the skirts: Wool, semi-wool, linen, tow. Linen skirts were worn during mowing or rye cutting, tow skirts were worn during manure and potato digging, and wool and half-wool skirts were used on holidays and for guests. Purchased material skirts were worn only by rich peasants, and only on holidays. The skirts were long, wide, wrinkled or pleated at the waist. Four to five pods pieces of fabric were used for upper skirts, 3–4 pieces—for the underskirt. Often, for reasons of economy, the front upper skirt piece under the apron was fitted from the half of the skirt with a completely different, older or inferior material. At the waist, the skirts were tightened with an embossed ribbon, or the top of the skirt was folded and sewn to a waistband, which was fastened with a button or tied with braids plaited from linen threads.

According to the above-mentioned expeditions, everyday aprons are woven from linen or tow yarns dyed in darker colours, while the holiday aprons were ornate and quite varied. Patterns were woven with pick-up and overlaid techniques.

The data of the expeditions collected showed that since the vest was more holiday garment, more beautiful, often bought material, e.g., silk, velvet, brocade, and home-woven motley fabrics were used for them. Semi-woollen or woollen fabric was woven in a fine pattern of checks, stripes, pick-up “cat’s feets” or curves arranged transversely or along the fabric. The bought material is usually brightly coloured, coarsely flowered or monochromatic.

The summer clothes of women from Aukštaitija were of a light colour. The white linen aprons with geometrical patterns decorated by red cotton threads at the bottom showcase this observation. In addition to woollen skirts, semi-woollen skirts with two harnesses were used in the Kupiškis and Rokiškis regions, and the eight-harness satin was the favourite choice. In addition to differently checked skirts, vertically striped skirts were worn in the Utena, Ukmergė, and Ignalina districts. In the upper parts of the skirts, narrow multi-coloured stripes repeat, and the bottoms are highlighted with wider stripes of a few colours with different widths. The sleeves of the shirts were not wide; shirts featuring loose sleeves without cuffs were only found in Eastern Aukštaitija. Stripes of red cotton threads “žičkai” were interwoven into the ends of the sleeves; in Nordern Aukštaitija, they were interwoven along the sleeves. Because the wimples were worn long in Aukštaitija, the collars of the shirts were modest—narrow open or upright, sometimes crocheted, and decorated with decorative stitches or with teeth folded from one or two colours of fabric embedded in the neckline. Shirts embroidered with white cross-stitching were rare in the second part of the 19th century. Vests sewn from expensive industrial fabrics—most often brocade, silk, and velvet—were especially desirable and were of a different cut. Vests in all of Aukštaitija were sewn from 4–6 downwardly expanding squares split from the torso, while vests that were short and folded from the torso were more characteristic of Eastern Aukštaitija. Such vests were intricately sewn with lapels and ornately circled with gallons or ornate plates-loops and chained vests. Silver round necklaces with ornamented plates attached were complementary accessories. Girls decorated their heads with flower wreaths, crowns made from ribbons and gallons, and gallons with silk, cotton, or red woollen lining. Aukštaitija women crossed the gallon ends at the back, with patterned light silk ribbons attached at the front; consequently, their gallons were longer than those in other ethnographic regions. Bridesmaids from Kupiškis decorated their heads with “kalpokai”—crowns decorated with artificial flowers. Women wore hats of different shapes and fabrics, but traditional archaic female headdresses—white wimples—survived until the beginning of the 20th century in Aukštaitija. The fabrics are about 3.5 m long, 50–70 cm wide, and made from the best linen threads. The difficult method of tying the wimple around the face required skills. Women also wore small wimples in Eastern Aukštaitija. Women and girls wore kerchiefs covered with shawls—the most popular decoration was cashmere shawls with flowers, especially those featuring shiny stripes. Samples of Aukštaitija folk costumes are shown in Figure 13. Similarly, the folk costume of Aukštaitija is described in other literature sources [25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33], which also emphasise that this region is characterised by light colours, especially white, checkered skirts, white aprons with red “žičkai” (red bought cotton yarns) decorations [33]. Figure 13 shows a checked apron—such aprons are typical of the everyday costume of Aukštaitija [26]. Moreover, in Aukštaitija, the headdress of married women—wimple [26], as shown in Figure 13a, has remained the longest. The decoration of the shirt is characterised by pick-up “žičkai” patterns or weaving of “žičkai” strips of different widths at the ends of the sleeves, cuffs, shoulders, collar edges and on the chest [33].

As shown in Figure 14, the marginalised national costume is similar, but differs from the folk clothes of the Aukštaitija region. The skirt is horizontally striped instead of checked or vertically striped. The crown and its sashes are also made from cotton instead of linen and silk. The colours are, moreover, brighter than those used in authentic folk costumes. The vest cut also differs. The bottom part of the vest is not folded, but instead sewn from many separate pentagonal segments. The chest is fastened with three narrow sashes.

Comparing all the analysed folk and national costumes from the Aukštaitija region, it was observed that the raw materials used are similar—wool or half-wool (mostly wool with cotton) is mostly used for skirts and vests, and linen for shirts. In rare cases, synthetic fibres, usually acrylic, have been used for national skirts and/or vests, and acetate for decoration. For vests, velvet, brocade, etc., were used in both folk and national costumes. The sleeves of the national shirts are wider than those of folk shirts and adorned with much wider coloured interweavings. Below the waist, a tow bottom is often added in folk shirts. National skirts and vests are often woven with more sophisticated patterns and weaving techniques than folk ones. National skirts often use pick-up, overshot technique, while folk skirts are usually woven in plain or twill weave. Aukštaitija folk and national skirts were mostly checked or fancy. Vest cut differs—the cut of the studied national vests is more sophisticated, especially different from the lower part of the waist. It is often sewn from separate pentagonal segments in national vests, while in folk vests, the bottom is usually wrinkled or pleated.

Samogitia clothing features rich colour combinations and a variety of kerchiefs. One of the oldest types features multi-coloured horizontal stripes woven in weft rib and was worn more in Western areas in the 18th century to the first half of the 19th century. Later woollen shawls were square, but were much more colourful than those elsewhere in Lithuania. Red and black colour combination kerchiefs were especially appreciated in Nordern Žemaitija, and a light background with bright edges of red, violet, and green stripes was popular in Telšiai and Plateliai. The fringes, especially those tied with multi-coloured threads, gave the kerchiefs both splendour and playfulness. Women in summertime hoods wore red-checked linen or cotton shawls made from white linen sheets called “raiščiai” in South Samogitia. Women especially wore red checked kerchiefs decorated with multi-coloured woollen fringes; the corners were tied with a knot above the forehead. The opposite corners of the white cotton kerchiefs were embroidered with perforations featuring different ornaments, as one Sunday the women would go to the church with one corner up, and the other Sunday, they would go with the other corner up. In this way, it seemed that the women had two kerchiefs. They also embroidered similar (with perforations) white cotton hats. Girls decorated their heads with “rangės” made from silk ribbons, sometimes with gallons. They also liked vertically striped skirts, which were especially bright in Northern Samogitia. Checked skirts were popular in Central and Southern Samogitia. Aprons were very often vertically striped with red and white colours; aprons with clover patterns featuring a few bright colours were popular in Southern Samogitia. The shirt’s upright collar, clasps, and cuffs were often embellished with red cotton thread interweaves, and only the Southern shirts included tapered sleeves without cuffs. Vests were quite short; high under the chest; pierced and folded; and sewn from homemade checked, striped, and one-coloured fabric or industrial cashmere with flowers. Samples of Samogitian folk costumes are presented in Figure 15. Folk clothes of Samogitia were of brighter colours than those of Aukštaitija—people from Samogitia liked red colour. Samogitians are characterised by a distinctive vest cut, vertically striped women’s skirts. Aprons also were vertically striped. Strips and small ornaments run along the apron. Samogitians wore several scarves, wearing mostly wooden clogs [25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33].

As it can be seen from Figure 16, the problematic interpretations of national costume from Samogitia are very similar to these from Aukštaitija. The skirt and apron are the same. It is not right, because Smaogitian women liked vertically striped skirts and aprons. Red and white colours dominated in these clothes. A wide plain sash with a collar is a very interesting Samogitian headdress. The cut of the vest is also very similar to this from Aukštaitija, but a pectoral of purple colour is added. Comparing Samogitian folk and national clothing, it can be noticed that the distribution of raw materials is similar to that in Aukštaitija clothing. Vertically striped folk skirts predominate, and checked are also common. National skirts can also be woven in the same patterns, but they also have a horizontally striped pattern. The weaving technique of national skirts is more complex—they combine overshot or pick-up technique with plain weave. In national skirts, beaten-up, twill, or two-harness techniques are most often used. The sleeves of national shirts, as in the case of Aukštaitija, are more ornate and colourful (three colours are often used) than those of folk shirts. National vests are decorated with ruffles or embroidered with sewing threads of contrasting colour. National vests are often unadorned.

Women in Dzūkija wore motley folk clothes and checked skirts. The checking on these skirts was very diverse and smaller than that in Aukštaitija. Skirts also included raised threads to look more playful. In addition to checked skirts, horizontally striped skirts were also worn in Eastern Dzūkija, while vertically striped skirts were popular in the Lazdijai and Alytus districts. Summer skirts included small white and blue checks in the Prienai and Stakliškės districts, with a few bright stripes interwoven on the bottom. Half wool checked skirts of blue and white colours with highlights of brown, orange, and blue stripes were worn in the Kaišiadorys and Žiežmariai districts. These skirts are interesting because they feature weft woollen stripes woven with four harnesses. The variety of aprons was especially large. Some of them were horizontally striped with colourful stripes, other ones were checked or decorated on the bottom with overlaid ornaments. Skirts that were white, hemstitched, or featured interweaves of other colours of thread on the bottom were worn in the North-Eastern area; these skirts were decorated with wide lace around Jieznas. Linen white shawls—sheets—worn in the summer were decorated with similar interweaves and lace in those districts. Aprons with a dark background and embroidered with flowers in bright colours at the bottom were especially popular from the end of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century. Vests with rectangular pads in the front were the most popular. Vests pierced and pleated from the torso were worn in the Vilnius, Trakai, and Vievis districts. Vests that were short, just to the waist, were also worn. Shirts were decorated in different ways. The cuts and decorations of South-Western Dzūkija shirts worn with white thread in perforated patterns along with filling embroidery were close to those of Suvalkija shirts (wider sleeves and more embroidery). Women preferred interwoven and embroidered geometrical ornaments with red “žičkai” on the sleeve ends and cuffs in the Prienai, Stakliškės, and Vievis districts. Stripes on the sleeve ends and shoulder pads were equally interwoven in the Eastern area. Due to the Slavic ornamentation, shirts embroidered with various ornaments were filled with red and black threads at the end of the 19th century. Women wore small wimples in Northern and Eastern Dzūkija, but the most popular headdresses were made of lace (later, crocheted hats and kerchiefs). Eyebrows were sewn from pleated fabrics with multi-coloured stripes and lace; decorated with glass beads, silk roses, gallons, and sequins; and featured fibres of multi-coloured thread attached to them. Women decorated themselves with a few rows of coral necklaces, as well as necklaces of multi-coloured glass. For economic reasons, coral beads were strung in a special way on threads of different lengths, and the ends of the threads were intertwined. The braid of the thread was only visible under the collar of the shirt, and several rows of necklaces of different lengths hung at the front of the neck. Samples of Dzūkija folk costumes are presented in Figure 17. According to written sources [25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33], Dzūkija is characterised by finely checked skirts, finely checked and striped aprons, overlaid and pick-up wide stripes.

Figure 18 shows that the cuts of the shirts are very different from those of folk shirts in all ethnographic regions. The shirt is quite narrow and embossed. Lithuanian folk peasants never used this marginalised cut, as this is a modern cut from the end of the 20th century (a true problematic interpretation of folk shirts). The vest cut and pattern are similar to those of folk vests of the Dzūkija region. The skirt is woven in an overlaid weaving technique, which is characteristic of the Dzūkija region, but a small, checked pattern was used more often in Dzūkija.

Comparing the folk and national clothing of the Dzūkija region, it was found that wool or semi-wool finely checked plain weave fabrics are most often used for skirts. Fine overshot patterns are often woven in the middle of the checks. Overlaid weaving technique is also popular in this region—floral patterns are mostly used. Overshot and overlaid techniques are also spread in national Dzūkija skirts. This region is very characterised by purple colour, which is often missed in national fabrics. Folk shirts are decorated with embroidery or other colourful material (checked or striped) details on the clasp, cuffs, collar. Embroidery with red threads was mostly used in the national shirts. Both folk and national vests are characterised by motley or checkered fabrics woven with overshot technique or plain weave. Bought materials were also used for the vests. Vest cut is similar—the bottom of the vest waist is wrinkled or pleated.

Clothes of Suvalkija were especially gorgeous. The most attention-grabbing elements are the overlaid aprons, in which stylised lily flowers, peas, and other flowers glow in the colours of the rainbow. The white and red vertically striped aprons from the Zanavykai region are earlier than the overlaid varieties. The patterns of such aprons are similar to those in Lithuania Minor. Shirts embroidered with perforations in white were popular in the whole of Suvalkija, and their most distinctive feature is wide sleeves. They are also embroidered with cross-stitching, and red and greenish-brown threaded shirts (characteristic of Kapsai) were worn. These are available with loose sleeves or without cuffs, and the embroidered patterns reach almost to the elbows. Vests of Kapsai are long, intricately sewn, and very widely distributed at the bottom, whole those of Zanavykai are short. Both have vests with a concave rectangle on the front. Vertically striped skirts, in which wide stripes of one colour and groups of narrow stripes repeat, were mostly popular in Suvalkija. In summer, married women, especially those with children, wrapped themselves with white linen shawls that were especially thin and woven in small compound patterns from sheets, as they believed in the magical protective power of white. Women wore hats sewn from fabric, lace, or crocheting, with kerchiefs on them featuring knots usually tied at the nape of the neck. Red stripes were interwoven at the edges of the white kerchiefs, the corners were embroidered with cross-stitching using greenish-brown threads like the shirts, and the edges were sewn with crocheting and narrow industrial lace. Girls from Zanavykai decorated themselves with “karolinės”, while girls from Kapsai preferred wide gallons, sometimes stuffed with artificial flowers, feathers, and paper, which could be folded over and made into the form of a hat. A string of large corals was worn on the neck. A deep belief was demonstrated by hanging scoops and money using a double purse decorated with beads for safety when engaging in indulgences, and a laced pouch was included for holding accessories and prayer books. Samples of Suvalkija folk costume are presented in Figure 19. According to the literature, the most beautiful and colourful part of Suvalkija clothing is pick-up and overlaid aprons, decorated with colourful stylised lily ornaments, embedded in longitudinal rows and scattered around the background of the apron or with selected horizontal stripes. The shirt is decorated with a white hole embroidery pattern or red “žičkai” lily patterns performed by the filling technique. The sheets are distinguished by embroidered and woven “žičkai” ornaments. Long vests, surrounded by wide pick-up stripes, vertically striped skirts are characteristic for the Suvalkija region [25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33].

As it can be seen in Figure 20, the Suvalkija national costume is the most similar to the authentic folk costume. It has the least amount of problematic marginalised interpretations in comparison to the national costume of other regions. The skirt is vertically striped with narrow stripes with small overshot stripes. The vest cut is also similar to that of the folk costume from this region. The apron is woven using the overlaid weaving technique, which is very characteristic for Suvalkija. However, the colours are a little brighter than those in authentic folk clothes of this ethnographic region.

Comparing the folk and national clothes of Suvalkija, it should be noted that both folk and national skirts are usually vertically striped, but unlike in Samogitia, they have a single background colour, and the pattern consists of narrower multi-coloured stripes. In these skirts, the plain weave is diversified with small overshot or pick-up elements. There are also checked Suvalkian folk skirts. National skirts are similar, both in their raw material, pattern and in weaving techniques. In terms of colours, it was observed that blue colour prevails in national clothes. Meanwhile, this colour is not so popular in the folk costume. The most beautiful part of the costume is the apron. In Suvalkija, it is usually woven with an overlaid technique—lily patterns are woven. In the national costume, the overlaid patterns are often diversified by overshot interweavings. This is rare in folk aprons. It is rare for folk aprons to be woven in small overshot or pick-up patterns. The shirt, as in other regions, is decorated with wider than national shirt interweavings. More than two colours are often used.

Thus, the separate parts of Lithuanian national costume differ in their cuts, colours, patterns, etc.

Comparing the folk and national costumes of all regions, it can be noticed that in the national costumes, the territorial differences between the different ethnographic regions equalise, i.e., regional differences disappear or one part of the costume is more specific to one region and another. Especially it can be seen comparing the costumes of Aukštaitija and Samogitia. In the national costume, only the general trend is maintained, and regional differences disappear. Of course, during the Soviet era, cultural pollution was also influenced by the tendencies of other, especially neighbouring nations, e.g., excessively decorated sleeves of national shirts may resemble Belarusian and/or Russian national costumes, headdresses—Polish, sashes and kerchiefs—Latvian, etc. Of course, the features of the folk costume characteristic of some regions of Lithuania have similarities with neighbouring countries, which could be called hybridisation, but this article examines only cultural pollution. In summary, hybridisation can be described as the unavoidable influence of neighbouring countries on Lithuanian clothes. At the same time, cultural pollution can be defined as a coercive influence of a hostile state culture to a culture of weaker conquered country. Thus, the differences between the Lithuanian folk and national costume may have arisen for several reasons.

During the Soviet era, the national spirit was maintained only through a few ethnographic collectives, song and dance ensembles, which were mostly influenced by Soviet homogenisation, so at that time, it was difficult to distinguish authenticity from a homogenised national costume. The use of the national costume in the Soviet Union was a means of expressing ones protest against Soviet “standardisation” in Lithuania and other occupied countries. Perhaps that is why it was not so important to accurately reproduce all the authentic details of the folk costume—even there was no possibility to accurately recreate and weave copies of folk fabrics. Such activities were prohibited during the Soviet era, and people often had to look for similar industrial fabrics. Because of that reason, cultural pollution appeared in the national costume.

For these reasons, for Soviet repression and restrictions on freedom of expression tortured people, it is important to return to their true roots and restore an authentic, national costume without the cultural pollution. This is very important for the recently reviving Lithuanian national consciousness and patriotic feelings, which are becoming more and more popular among modern youth who are not indifferent to their country. It is important for them to distinguish themselves as Lithuanians in the contemporary world.

Assessing the cultural pollution in the Lithuanian national costume, it is impossible to dispense without political generalisations, because they had a decisive influence on the problematic interpretations of national clothes.

For these reasons, territorial differences between different regions of Lithuania are also important, as the failure to maintain these traditions during the Soviet period was one of the most pronounced means of cultural pollution. While maintaining the authenticity of the national costume, the aim is to revive the national self-consciousness of Lithuanians as a nation and to revive the true national identity.

5. Conclusions

The Lithuanian national costume is similar to authentic folk clothes in the parts of the costume, and the lengths of the separate parts are the same. However, the patterns, colours, and cuts are different. Horizontally striped skirts are very rare in Lithuanian folk clothes, but are found in the national skirts. The cuts and decorating details of national vests differ from those of folk vests. In national vests, the bottom part is sewn from separate pentagons around the waist, while it is often folded in folk clothes. The colours are also brighter in the national costumes of all regions. The weaving techniques are similar, but are more compounded and sophisticated in national clothes.

Thus, cultural pollution in the Lithuanian national costume of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century exists, but the general design of the costume remains the same.

The results of the study can be used as recommendations for national costume manufacturers who design and produce copies of national costumes for contemporary song and dance ensembles and other people interested in national costumes who want to have an authentic national costume without cultural pollution.