Native Asian Costumes

The Asian Articles
5 min readJan 17, 2021

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Written by Dr. Rutuja Dhore and edited by Mariel Bumanglag

Asia is renowned for its unique and classy national costumes. Some people are often confused since Asian costumes are so alike that it’s difficult to tell the difference between the clothing of different cultures. Obviously, some neighboring Asian countries have similar national outfits but they are definitely not identical. To prove this point, here is a short description of the costumes of Asia.

  1. Sari and Dhoti Kurta: Sari is one of the traditional clothing of women in India. It is a 5-meter cloth that is wrapped to form a skirt and draped over the shoulder. The Dhoti-Kurta is for men. It is a piece of cloth, usually 5 yards long, that is tied around the waist and legs.

2. Cheongsam and Changshan: The cheongsam is a traditional costume of China. It is a body-clinging one-piece Chinese dress for women. It is also called the qípáo in Mandarin Chinese and the mandarin gown in English. A changshan is the male equivalent of the women’s cheongsam. It is also known as a changpao.

3. Baju Kurung: The baju kurung is the national dress of Malaysia and Brunei. This attire is also traditionally worn by the ethnic Malay in Sumatra (Indonesia), Borneo, and Singapore.

4. Kimono: The kimono is the traditional dress of Japan. It gives the wearer a graceful and elegant deportment. Women’s kimonos include the furisodé and tomesodé for formal wear, thehômongi for paying calls, the tsukesagé, and the komon. Men’s kimono include the montsuki hakama for ceremonial occasions and the haori for going out visiting. There is also the yukata, worn by both men and women as an informal dress at home, in ryokan, or for attending local festivals.

5. Sampot: Cambodian national dress is called “sampot”. There are two kinds of sampot: sampot phamuong and sampot hol.

6. Hanbok or Chosŏn-ot: Hanbok (South Korea) or Chosŏn-ot (North Korea) is the traditional Korean dress.

7. Sinh: Lao national women’s attire is called “sinh”. It’s a simple tube skirt made of silk, cotton, or a mix of silk and cotton.

8. Deel: A deel is an item of traditional clothing commonly worn since centuries ago among the Mongols and other nomadic tribes of Central Asia.

9. Longyi: The national costume of Myanmar is called “longyi”. The longyi worn by women of Myanmar is called “htamein”.

10. Kebaya: Kebaya is the national costume of Indonesia. This clothing derived its name from the Arabic word Kaba meaning clothing.

11. Baro’t Saya: Baro’t saya is the national female dress of the Philippines. The name “baro at saya” means “dress (blouse) and skirt”.

12. Chakri: Chakri is a women’s national costume in Thailand. It is made up of Thai silk including a back-less and shoulder-less shirt, a ready-to-wear skirt with Na-nang (a typical Thai cutting style on a center of a skirt), and a shawl made of organdy.

13. Ao Dai: Ao dai is the Vietnamese national dress most commonly used by the local women. In its current form, it is a tight-fitting silk tunic worn over pantaloons.

Sources:

Cover Photo by Johen Redman on Unsplash

  1. Brown, John (2006). China, Japan, Korea: Culture and Customs. Createspace Independent Publishing (published September 7, 2006). p. 79. ISBN 978–1419648939.
  2. T.Van (2013). “Ancient costumes of Vietnamese people”. Vietnamnet. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  3. “Introduction to the Saree”. Alvia Malik. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  4. “Mongolia Today” article
  5. Singhalampong, Eksuda (March 2019). “Picturing Femininity: Portraits of the Early Modern Siamese Women”. Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia. 3 (1): 49–75. doi:10.1353/sen.2019.0003. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  6. “About Malaysia: Culture and heritage”. Tourism.gov.my. Archived from the original on 28 February 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2011
  7. T., Van (04/07/2013). “Ancient costumes of Vietnam”. VietNamNet Global. Check date values in: |date= (help)

Image Courtesy:

Photos sourced from taylor10305 on Pinterest

Photos sourced from khandella on Pinterest

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