Name
The word svita is derived from the Prosl. *sъvita, related to *viti - "to howl", "to twist". The Proto-Slavic form is also reconstructed as *svita, comparing it with Latin. svietas ("wraps on women's legs"), it was compared with Bulgarian svil ("silk").
Kolova's svita is a sheepskin half-coat, without lapels, with a standing collar.
History
The svita should be considered one of the ancient types of clothing that belonged to Ukrainian clothing, because there is already a mention of it in the Pechersky paterik. It is difficult to say what the suite was at that time, but its cut was almost the same as the suite of the end of the 19th century: the same uncut back, the same hems and the same sewn sleeves. The svitas was the clothes of the common people. Burghers and higher social classes did not wear svitas.
Women's svita
The women's svita in the 19th century had the same features as the heart of the boys. It was cut out in the same way, only wider and so that one floor overlapped the other. From the state, the svita was expanded with inserted wedges, which formed the so-called whiskers. Older svitas, as can be seen from Riegelman's drawings, sewed up to two mustaches. Later, they began to change it: first, a third was added in the middle, as a result of which the uncut back (passage, means) disappeared, and even later they began to add 5, 7, 9 and up to 11 whiskers. In ancient svitka, colorful laces were placed on the seams, which was also a decoration of the svita. These mustaches represent an archaic feature of the suite, which at the beginning was the same in men and women. In the 19th century such svitas were only female, and in men's mustaches were replaced by folds or turbans. The cut for the collar in women's suits was made wider than in men's, so that neck jewelry could be seen. The collar itself was small, up to 2-2.5 cm. The lapels, that is, the lapels, were cut with an arc along the nape of the neck. In some localities in the Kyiv region, a detachable collar was also sewn to the svita.
Stand-up collars and turndown collars are found in De la Fliese's drawings of women's suits. The sleeves of the women's entourage used to be made with zakovrashi, i.e. with twists, more or less artistically carved, but at the end of the 19th century. they were no longer there, instead a strap was sewn from a ribbon. The margins of the women's svitka were made as wide as possible and beveled so that the right side overlapped the left at the bottom. In general, in the women's svita, as in all women's and men's Ukrainian clothing, the right sex covers the left, and the clothes are fastened on the left side with buttons woven from a strap in the form of a ball and a loop. The length of the female entourage differs in different areas: it is shorter on the Left Bank, and longer on the Right Bank.
Depending on the area, the svita also differed in color. White svitas were the most common, and gray and dark ones were found only in the west and north. In Podillya and southern Volyn, svitas were lined with colored laces and various patterns. In Bukovina and Galicia, svitas were embroidered with multi-colored wool on the collar and behind the mustache.
