Vestism & cultural identity: semiotics of clothing in children’s and mass literature

The article is devoted to the study of vestism – a phenomenon that encompasses socio-cultural, aesthetic and symbolic aspects of clothing as a marker of cultural identity in literature. The article analyses works of children’s and popular literature, in particular, the detective novels «The Detective Agency of Max the Cat» by Ivan Budz and «The Last Drop» by Halyna Tsykina, where clothing is a semiotic tool that reflects social status, gender roles, national narratives and the internal state of the characters. The relevance of the study is due to the growing interest in material culture in the context of globalisation, when clothes become important not only as a household item, but also as a carrier of cultural codes. The article shows that clothing not only describes characters but also constructs their identity, transmitting the values, norms and ideologies of society. For example, in Budz’s work, clothing symbolises respectability or disguise (costumes, carnival images), while in Tsikina’s work, it emphasises social roles and psychological conflicts (a classic suit as a symbol of power or a worn-out peacoat as a sign of isolation). The research methodology includes a semiotic analysis of clothing images, their symbolic load and impact on reader perception. It is emphasised that vestigialism is the key to understanding the interaction of the individual and the collective, the traditional and the modern in the literary context. The article emphasises the need for further interdisciplinary research into the semiotics of clothing, especially in Ukrainian literature, for a deeper understanding of its role in identity formation. The conclusions of the study indicate that clothing in literature is a powerful tool that reveals cultural codes and influences the perception of texts by readers.