ABSTRACT
Costume is a form of display or disguise, or sometimes both, even when its design lies outside the control of the people who wear it, such as football gear or prison or army uniform. People use costume both to
conceal their individuality and to stress it, and so it becomes a measure of their identity. In Daghestan, and also in the USSR, costume was seldom purely functional. The cut, the cloth, or the patterning and other embellishments picked out sexual status, nationality and class. Dressing-up is one of the few non-practical and pleasurable human activities that starts at birth, but continues through puberty and adult life.
