The subject of this dissertation deals with the relationship between the folk costume tradition and ethnic identity in a region where the majority of people adopted urban dress almost a century ago. I look at the maintenance and expression of the tradition in the village of Cifer in the Republic of Slovakia, which is a part of Czechoslovakia, from 1985 to 1986. I attempted to discover the meaning of folk costume by modifying Barthes' method of the study of fashion which analyzes what is said about fashion in order to discover its meaning. In studying the folk costume tradition, I looked at what people did with folk costume and what they said about it. I concentrated on the role folk costume plays in the expression of ethnic identity, and how culture is reinvented by succeeding generations of Slovak villagers through the use of a material artifact such as folk costume. The results of this research show that folk costume has been fostered by village women who continue to wear folk costume long after the majority of people switched to urban dress. Beside wearing the costume, most of them are the keepers of their family folk costume which is worn on special occasions including performances of the Cifer folk music ensemble. Two other groups are crucial in maintaining the tradition even though they do not wear folk costume on a regular basis. They are the members of the ensemble and skilled craftspersons who make costumes and support folk music presentations. Villagers, both those who wear folk costume and those who do not, are encouraged to participate in the tradition by government officials, representatives of ethnographic institutes and museums, as well as by appreciative audiences. People maintain the tradition because they feel obligated to pass on their Slovak heritage to their children, and they also enjoy performing and other aspects of social life such as travel. The conclusion reached in this research is that the Slovak folk costume tradition will be in existence well into the twenty-first century because of a broad network of culture bearers and their sponsors and supporters.