decorating, etc. On the functional level, special attention of the figurative-stylistic
section is focused on revealing the styling function of the costume. The image of the
costume, its characteristics, embodied in the aesthetic ideals of the time, typical images,
clichés of perception become relevant.
The semantic-symbolic section of knowledge about a costume is determined by
its representation as a sign or a symbol with a special meaning. The systems of costume
signs, the clothing codes and their meanings are studied, as well as a complex of
symbolic functions of a costume, including sex-age, religious, status, professional, and
national functions, corporate identity, etc.
The informative section (also called communicative) of knowledge provides an
idea of a costume as an announcement, communication, message, and positions it as
an element of interpersonal, group or mass (public) communication. In this context,
clothes/costumes are treated as text, as an external form of identity’s narrative. Its study
is based on theories of various humanities, such as information theory.
If a study takes place at one of the levels or sections, it is considered to be specific
and, as a rule, is implemented within a single science. If a study takes place at several
levels or sections, it is considered to be complex and interdisciplinary. If scientific
research covers all levels and sections of knowledge about clothes/costumes, it is a
systematic study that places a costume as a phenomenon in its multidimensional and
multifunctional way.
Essentially, all studies, in one way or another, are related to fashion studies. The
concept of a “fashionable costume” is perceived as equal to the concept of a “costume”
or as its synonym. Fashion as a socio-cultural phenomenon and as the industry appears
to be a kind of a “game field”, within which the following is implemented as rules:
Sumptuary laws; behavioural stereotypes of costume wearers; restrictions in bodily
practices; patterns of formation of attributive and denotational values of a costume;
fashion sanctions; means and ways of its dissemination.
The informative section of the studies is of particular interest, since its
communicative function takes place at each level and section of consideration of a
costume. If we depict this schematically (Fig. 1), in order to realize its own task this
section of knowledge will have a diagonal orientation.
Comprehension of such a conditional scheme, without taking into account time
measurements and binding to a specific historical costume, makes it possible to obtain
two points in which the fullest disclosure of the essence of a costume will occur in the
context of knowledge of individual levels and sections. Point A is the intersection of
historical and cultural and functional levels with figurative-stylistic and informative
sections, outlining traditional approaches to the consideration of costume and fashion
manifestations. For them, sociological sciences are of great importance, thanks to
which the overwhelming majority of processes investigated are substantiated.
- 939 -