[Lietuvių tautinis kostiumas]
ENThis annotated album showcases Lithuanian national dress displayed at the 2004 national song celebration. The album includes 154 photographs describing 180 costumes and 21 pages of information and practical advice about how to make authentic regional clothing. The album begins with well-chosen scenes of Lithuania’s natural landscape, highlighting the books beautiful format. Commentary then presents a large number of objective observations on how to determine the veracity and authenticity of national dress. Examples of national dress are included, arranged according to regional characteristics and details. However, the notations lack continuity and are sometimes given incorrectly – in some places the author of the work or the museum from which the example was taken is not given. This gives the impression that if you really want to know something precise about these objects, you must go through 20 museums (including the state ethnographic museum in St. Petersburg) and study 300 articles on the subject before you will be able to begin to make authentic clothing. However, even these struggles would be in vain, because scholars and museum workers 30 or 40 years ago were of the opinion that it was too late to find absolute authenticity. Cases in point of inauthentic examples in this text include: several regional details (damask, bonnets), the use of F. S. Bock’s drawings (which show non-peasants) and the book’s cover, which displays a shirt with Russian side buttons and Russian ornamentation.
