Costumes are important and vibrant elements of the Ukrainian culture, which often leaves a lasting impression on audiences. The colorful costumes, which represent  various regions in Ukraine, are just as elaborate and varied as the intricate, choreographed footwork seen during a performance.

Folk costumes are a basic element of the country's culture and craft, closely tied with its whole history. The Ukrainian costume is a genuine encyclopedia of the people's cultural creativity. The folk arts of weaving, style, sewing, and adornment in traditional Ukrainian dress shows a high degree of sophistication, elegance, and artistry. Art historians pay much attention to the highly artistic embroidery that is an integral part of folk costume.

Scholars of Ukrainian folk costume usually classify it by regional differences. The Encyclopedia of Ukraine gives five regional groups that of the Middle Dnieper Region,  Polisia, Podilia, central Galicia and Volhynia, and the Carpathian Mountains and Subcarpathia,  Pokutia, Bukovyna, Hutsul, Boiko, and Lemko.

Red and black are folk colors of great antiquity. Red and black are the colors of the human life: every life should have red - joy - and black - sorrow - or so the folk saying goes.