Fashion Blogs

One thing that all Indians have in common regardless of their locations or beliefs is their highly ritualized traditional clothing. Traditional Indian clothes have always been in prominence since time immemorial and they are still significant today. Even though temporary clothes are now being worn by some Indians, most of them still wear their traditional clothes due to the cultural and religious significance of those clothes in the Indian tradition. Modern fashion trends have aped the styling and designing of the traditional clothes and as a result traditional Indian clothes have been made in different styles but still maintaining their significance traditionally. Some of the most popular traditional Indian clothes for men and women are discussed below.

• Saris

These are the most popular and most recognizable traditional Indian clothing for women. The color of the sari reflects a lot of information about the wearer. For example the white saris are worn by women priests, red saris are worn by brides only and other women wear green saris, mourners wear black and artisans and farmers wear blue. Brides are required to wear the red saris because red in Indian culture represents sexuality and fertility. Yellow and orange saris are mostly worn during religious functions because they symbolize aestheticism and religion.

• Dhotis

These are very popular traditional clothes for Indian men. These clothes are unique and different from other traditional clothes because they are not stitched. They are tied around the waist and legs. Most mens wear dhotis during worship. Hindu religion teaches that it is more appropriate to wear dhotis that are made of silk and which are dark red in color. The dhotis made of silk are commonly referred to as the kaushey. In some regions of Indian, the dhoti is tied in five places as a symbol of the five cosmetic elements.

• Turban

Many Indian men can be spotted wearing a turban. Even though some Indian men nowadays wear the turban for fashion, it has a lot of significance in the lives of Indians. The turban is a head dress that consists of a long piece of cloth that is not stitched and the cloth is wrapped around the head. The turbans are mostly worn to accompany Sikh dresses. Turbans made of linen material are of great importance to the Sikh population of India. Linen is important because it signifies purity and holiness. In ancient India, turbans were mostly worn by the royalty but as time went by, the royalty insisted that all followers wear turbans to show equality of everyone. As a result all Indian men are allowed to wear turbans today. Turbans are also a symbol of pride and fealty in Indian men.

• Salwar kameez

This is traditional Indian clothing for women and it is mostly popular in the Punjab region of India hence it is popularly known as Punjab Suit. It is comprised of the salwar which is a trouser that is wide at the top and narrow at the ankles and the kameez which is a long tunic shirt that has a western style collar. The salwar kameez can be worn for fashion or comfort and some schools in India have made it a school uniform for girls.