​     If we compare the dress of these ancient peoples with modern Macedonian national dress, by means of various archeological discoveries which have been made in our country, we can come to the conclusion that there are a fair number of similarities between them. If we compare some individual examples, e.g. the clothing of the "Klichevats" idolon ( ) and that at the "Charshiya" site at the foot of Avala ( ), we can see that certain proportions of the dress are almost identical, with the contemporary national dress of the Debar area.

    A consequence of the fact that our country has until recently developed under peculiar social, political, and economic conditions. Our people clung to their dress as they would to the eyes in their head in order not to separate themselves from their clan - their origins - so losing their membership of the ethnic group. Their national dress - as a convenient mark - has been preserved until now and it is a consequence of this that we have such a treasury of folk costumes, about seventy varieties in all, each the essential mark of a separate region. The wearer is recognized at once as belonging to a certain place, even a distinct family. There is rarely such a wealth of costume over such a small area and every part has contributed a number of variations as its distinctive mark. The men and women had their clan marks woven or embroidered onto their materials, their satchels, aprons and carpets. This is the origin of the opinion that this dress is a significant clan sign which has been guarded as something holly until nowadays. Few, if any, of our older people want to be cut off from their dress so even the young bride was conditioned to her wedding dress. No bride was ever taken to another district with a different costume, no matter how good or wise the girl was. The Brsyak wouldn't marry the Miyach women and vice versa, and they used to say: " I would not take a bear for wife." When this did happen, the young bride was compelled to change her dress and to accommodate to her new milieu.
    Although there is such a variety of costume in Macedonia. we can still distinguish among them all something which is purely Macedonian, but which is not noticeable at first sight. This is the white color, the cut of the dress and the rich decoration of embroidery mostly executed in red and black with various trimmings: "bikminya"-twined thread, "shiriti"-ribbons, "gaytani"-braids, "monistra"-beads, "kitki"-bobbles and tassels, etc. which give our national costume, and the women's costume in particular, and especially rich, decorative, and noble appearance. Although the men's national dress in Macedonia is simpler and less elaborated, white was worn everywhere until the First World War. All the clothes were made from hand-woven linen and wool, light or dark, depending on the natural color of the wool.

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   Today there are about seventy different national dresses which have survived in some of which the peculiar features appropriate to individual areas can be distinguished.