Attempts to regulate by the governance of mode of life and behavior of partials in the history of imperial states were especially evident in the fashion industry. The article explores the evolution of the Russian court costume, as well as the uniform of officials and students during the XVIII-XIX centuries in the context of social political reforms that took place in the state during this period of time.
The content of government decrees published in the full collection of laws of the Russian Empire is analyzed, which contain orders on the color of the fabric, cut and trim of the costume. The purpose of this lawmaking is to “reconcile” the old Russian traditions with the norms of modern European life. A special place in the study is given to the reforming activities of Peter I, who, with his decrees, changed the entire “sign” system of Ancient Russia. Peter I “changed clothes” of the Russian elite into a European costume, but after the October Revolution of 1917, the Soviet elite could not wear the prePeter garb, which, like the entire “sign system” of the Moscow kingdom, was associated with the ideas of Orthodoxy, the inviolability and the eternity of regal power.
In the 20-30s of the twentieth century, the struggle in the USSR against the tailcoat and tall hat was a struggle against bourgeois ethics, and as a result, a struggle against the norms of Western European etiquette.
It is revealed that the problem of “form” in the broadest sense of the word was of particular importance for Russian life. The pressure of a powerful, but not organized force - all this increased the importance of external forms and organization of life, be it a form of government structure or everyday life.

Aesthetics, Stability and Functionality as Premises in the Process of Creating and Changing the Constitution of the Republic of Poland

The author analyzed the premises that would justify changes to the constitution. Prerequisites such as aesthetics, stability and functionality are at the center of attention. Based on the experience of the Polish political system after 2015, the author stated that the pursuit of the aesthetics of the constitution, in the form of its brevity and general character of the norms, is still relevant, but it cannot be a decisive premise. It is much more important to strive for the precision of norms in order to ensure the functionality of the constitution as the main stabilizer of the system. These experiences teach that the application of the constitution cannot be presumed in good faith, and all its essential provisions should be tested to the extent that they can be interpreted in bad faith, e.g. by creating a field for circumventing the constitution.

The article concerns Thomas Mann’s view on culture and on anthropology. The analyses of the works by the German writer point at the relations between his conception and Fridrich Schiller’s conception of man as a sensuous and sprititual being. Mann’s works, such as Death in Venice or The Magic Mountain are the literary equivalent of the unfinished essay on aesthetics On Spirit and Art. The author stresses the important role of eroticism in the description of culture. Eroticism should be conceived in a wide sense, not only in relation to bodily desire, but as a basis of aesthetic experience. Seen from this angle, Mann’s writings contain a series of reflections about culture and about man, reflections rooted in the modern conceptions presented by Kant and Schiller and later developed by contemporary psychoanalysis and the philosophy of existence.