A draped garment is a garment that is made of a single piece of cloth that is draped around the body; drapes are not cut away or stitched as in a tailored garment. Drapes can be held to the body by means of knotting, pinning, fibulae, clasps, sashes, belts, tying drawstrings, or just plain friction and gravity alone. Many draped garments consist of only one single piece.
A kurta is a loose collarless shirt or tunic worn in many regions of South Asia, and now also worn around the world. Tracing its roots to Central Asian nomadic tunics, or upper body garments, of the late-ancient- or early-medieval era, the kurta has evolved stylistically over the centuries, especially in South Asia, as a garment for everyday wear as well as for formal occasions.
A sarong or a sarung is a large tube or length of fabric, often wrapped around the waist, worn in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, Northern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, and on many Pacific islands. The fabric often has woven plaid or checkered patterns, or may be brightly colored by means of batik or ikat dyeing. Many modern sarongs have printed designs, often depicting animals or plants. Different types of sarongs are worn in different places in the world, notably the lungi in the Indian subcontinent and the izaar in the Arabian Peninsula.
Clothing in India varies with the different ethnicities, geography, climate, and cultural traditions of the people of each region of India. Historically, clothing has evolved from simple garments like kaupina, langota, achkan, lungi, sari, to rituals and dance performances. In urban areas, western clothing is common and uniformly worn by people of all social levels. India also has a great diversity in terms of weaves, fibers, colors, and the material of clothing. Sometimes, color codes are followed in clothing based on the religion and ritual concerned. The clothing in India also encompasses a wide variety of Indian embroidery, prints, handwork, embellishments, and styles of wearing clothes. A wide mix of Indian traditional clothing and western styles can be seen in India.
The lungi is a type of sarong that originated in the Bengal, Indian subcontinent. The lungi, which usually multicoloured, is a men's skirt usually tied around the lower waist below the navel. it can be worn as casual wear and night wear, in places and climates where the heat and humidity increase sweating, and make it unpleasant or uncomfortable to wear closed and tight clothes such as trousers.
The mundu is a garment worn around the waist in the Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, the Lakshadweep archipelago, and the Indian Ocean island nation of Maldives. It is closely related to sarongs like dhotis and lungis. It is normally woven in cotton and coloured white or cream. The colour is dependent on whether the cotton is bleached or unbleached. A khadaṟ muṇṭŭ is made using handlooms. When unbleached, the mundu is called nēriyatu. In modern times, two types of mundu are prevalent—the single and the double. A single mundu is wrapped only once around the waist, while the double one is folded in half before wearing. A mundu is usually starched before use.
Mundum neriyatum is the traditional clothing of women in Kerala, a state in southwestern India. It is the oldest remnant of the ancient form of the sari which covered only the lower part of the body. In the mundum neriyatum, the most basic traditional piece is the mundu or lower garment which is the ancient form of the sari denoted in Malayalam as tuṇi, while the nēriyatu forms the upper garment the mundu. The mundum neriyatum consists of two pieces of cloth, and could be worn in either the traditional style with the nēriyatu tucked inside the blouse, or in the modern style with the nēriyatu worn over the left shoulder.
An uttariya is a loose piece of upper body clothing with its origins in ancient India. It is a single piece of cloth that falls from the back of the neck to curl around both arms and could also drape the top half of the body. An uttariya is similar to a veil, a long scarf and shawl. The Vedas describe the garment to comprise various loose cloths worn for upper body such as upavasana, parayanahana and adhivasa, varhatika and varnaka, uttarsanghasamvyana.
Pakaian is the term for clothing in Malaysia's national language. It is referring to things to wear such as shirts, pants, shoes etc. Since Malaysia is a multicultural nation: Malay, Chinese, Indian and hundreds of other indigenous groups of Malay peninsula and Borneo, each has its own traditional and religious articles of clothing all of which are gender-specific and may be adapted to local influences and conditions. Previously, traditional clothes were worn daily. However, by excluding Baju Melayu, Baju Kurung many are now only worn on special occasions such as marriage ceremonies and cultural events.
Khmer traditional clothing refers to the traditional styles of dress worn by the Khmer people from ancient times to the present.
Ghagra choli is a type of ethnic clothing for women from the Indian Subcontinent, notably in the Indian states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, as well as in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. In Punjab, the lehenga is traditionally worn with a kurti. It is a combination of the gagra or lehenga and the choli (blouse), however in contemporary and modern usage lehenga choli is the more popular and widely accepted term by fashion designers, trend setters, and boutiques in South Asia, since ghagra is synonymous with the half-slip worn as an undergarment below the sari.
Sompot Chong Kben is a unisex, lower body, wraparound cloth worn in the countries of Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. It is the preferred choice of clothing for women of upper and middle classes for daily wear. Unlike the typical sompot, it is more of a pant than a skirt. The chong kraben is described by art historian Eksuda Singhalampong as "...a garment that resembles loose breeches. The wearer wraps a rectangular piece of cloth around his [or her] waist, the edge of cloth is then passed between the legs and tucked in at the wearer's lower back. Many 19th-century European accounts often called them knee breeches, riding breeches or knickerbockers."
Shalwar kameez is a traditional combination dress worn by women, and in some regions by men, in South Asia, and Central Asia.
Salwar or Shalwar is cloth worn from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately. It is the lower-garment of the Shalwar kameez suit which is widely-worn in South Asia. It is known for its lively hues, rich fabrics, and embroidery. It is also the national dress of Pakistan, and since the later 1960s with the salwar being used in government offices in Pakistan. The outfit has been a part of Punjabi tradition for centuries. Salwar can be distinguished to the Punjabi suthan which is shorter than the salwar. Salwar originated in Central Asia and its use spread to South Asia.
Punjabi Kurta and Tamba are traditional costume for men of Punjab.
In the ancient Punjab region, people wore cotton clothing. Both men and women wore knee-length tops. A scarf was worn over the tops which would be draped over the left shoulder and under the right. A large sheet would be further draped over one shoulder which would hang loose towards the knees. Both male and female wore a dhoti around the waist. Modern Punjabi dress has retained this outfit but over its long history has added other forms of dress.
Sindhi clothing, Both Sindhi women and men wear the shalwar qameez or the kurta with pyjama. Women also wear sari or ghagra. However, before the adoption of the Shalwar kameez and the kurta, the sari as well as other articles of clothing, Sindhis had their own traditional costumes.
History of clothing in the Indian subcontinent can be traced to the Indus Valley civilization or earlier. Indians have mainly worn clothing made up of locally grown cotton. India was one of the first places where cotton was cultivated and used even as early as 2500 BCE during the Harappan era. The remnants of the ancient Indian clothing can be found in the figurines discovered from the sites near the Indus Valley civilisation, the rock-cut sculptures, the cave paintings, and human art forms found in temples and monuments. These scriptures view the figures of human wearing clothes which can be wrapped around the body. Taking the instances of the sari to that of turban and the dhoti, the traditional Indian wears were mostly tied around the body in various ways.
An angavastra is a shoulder cloth or stole worn by men in India, especially in Maharashtra and South India. It is a single, rectangular piece of fabric and may have decorated borders. An angavastra may be worn with a dhoti and kurta. An angavastra may be offered as a mark of respect to guests, elders and gurus.
A veshti, also known as vēṭṭi, is a white unstitched cloth wrap for the lower body in Tamil Nadu and in the North and East of Sri Lanka. Vēṭṭi is a part of the traditional attire consisting of Kurta and Angvastra. The garment is a single piece of cloth and similar to the dhoti, one of the earliest draped garments of India. A vēṭṭi is often layered with horizontal stripes or borders across its length.
