National costume is considered as the most important element of culture, because its role and functions in society serve as factors of cultural social development, it is a particle of man, country, nation, life style, thoughts, knowledge, and professions. In different parts of the world the development of society had its own features, and all of them - climatic, social, national, aesthetic - are brightly expressed at the variety of costumes, traditional and modern.

Objects of art and ethnographic analysis become historical forms of costume, that is why these approaches find their expression at works of costume history. Culturological approach is based on the investigation of the costume as a holistic phenomenon of culture, in the unity of its utilitarian and symbolical functions. The tradition of study of magic and amulet clothes functions has an aincient history and a lot of works were created on this problem (P.G. Bogatirev, N.M. Kalashnikova, N.M. Panova, E.J. Smirnova, N.A. Tadina, S.P. Tolkacheva, V.F. Filatova and etc.).

A large number of researches about traditional clothes were done on the base of comparative-ethnographic methodic, considered the costume as an important resource of researching ethnogeny problem, ethnic history and interethnic interferences. "National costume was one of the most mass and close to a man element of ethnic culture, which was introduced as a special social code, transferring the information from the past to the future. Just in traditional clothes sociocultural experience accumulates and transforms by means of semiotic system. " [3]

Side by side with an utilitarian function, clothes created differentiate function. "It is a symbolic system, permitting to differ people in sex and age, territorial, ethnic, religious, social membership." [2]

One of the first researchers, paying attention to the national costume as a single symbolic system, was P.G. Bogatirev, who singled out practical utilitarian, aesthetic, social, gender and moral functions in the national costume. [1]

Initially clothes fulfilled also important ritual functions. In the work devoted to ritual clothes of Eastern Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians) a remarkable soviet ethnographer G.S. Maslova notes: "National clothes connects with different areas of moral nation life, including aesthetic and religious magic concept. [4]

Thus, the costume as a static object of traditional-domestic purpose and as the object of conservation and development of ethnocultural differentiations was studied in XX century in terms of material culture and in a less degree as an informational-functional structure." [3]

Each of these functions create new forms of life in real world: it is used as a source of information and transformation. National costume is kept as an object of aesthetic admiration. In recent years national costume often comes out as an artistic composition, enriching concepts of modern artists-designers. Now researchers approach to the national costume in the area of ethno artistic education, using all the spectrum of traditional functions of national costume, considering it as a sociocultural object.

It is necessary to note outstanding scientists and artists, popularizing necessity of using national costume in modern sociocultural life, such as N. P. Lamanova, R.V. Zaharjevskaya, F. M. Parmon, V.M. Zaitsev and etc. Each of these authors singles out his own functions of national costume and notes necessity of using traditional clothes in modern conditions.

Analyzing functions of national costume in modern life we use the experience of work of Ethno artistic Centre "Resources" and studio of reconstruction of national costume "Tradition" which is Shuya branch of Ivanovo State University. As a result, we can state that traditional national costume is modern and its aesthetic value obtains historical sense during disappearance and transformation of prior functions. Today functions of national costume enrich by informational and aesthetic functions. Researching of functions of national costume assists diagnostics optimal forms and means of living harmony, and their analysis finds perspective of new view about the majority of traditional aesthetic and cultural problems, which has theoretical and practical value.

2. Ancient clothes of Eastern European nations. M.: Science, 1986. p.4.

3. Kalashnikova N.M. National costume. (semiotic functions)// Tutorial for University,: Moscow, “Svarog and C”, 2002. 374 p.

4. Maslova G.S. National clothes in Eastern Slavs traditions and ceremonies XIX – the beginning of XX c. M.: Science, 1984. p. 3.