Аннотация: Our clothing is not only a means of protection from the weather, but also a sign, a symbol that expresses complex concepts of social life. Clothing has long indicated the national and class identity of a person, his property status and age, which was conveyed to others by the color and quality of the fabric, the ornament and shape of the costume, the presence or absence of details and ornaments. Among the sources for the study of costume, fiction and painting occupy a special place. Literary characters wear tournures, bequests, frock coats, are the owners of sundresses, tuxedos and crinolines; details of the costume concretize the unusual (or ordinary) characters.