Traditional Thai clothing

Thai women wearing Thai traditional costumes in a Noppamas Queen beauty contest, Loy Krathong 2012, Koh Samui

Traditional Thai clothing is called chut thai (Thai: ชุดไทย), which literally means "Thai outfit". It can be worn by men, women, and children. Chut thai for women usually consists of a pha nung or a chong kraben, a blouse, and a sabai. Northern and northeastern women may wear a sinh instead of a pha nung and a chong kraben with either a blouse or a suea pat. Chut thai for men includes a chong kraben or pants, a Raj pattern shirt, with optional knee-length white socks and a sabai. Chut thai for northern Thai men is composed of a sado, a white Manchu styled jacket, and sometimes a khian hua. In formal occasions, people may choose to wear a so-called formal Thai national costume.

History

Du Royaume de Siam by Simon de La Loubère shows a Siamese official wearing lombok and chong kraben and a traditional Thai house

Historically, both Thai males and females dressed themselves with a loincloth wrap called chong kraben. Men wore their chong kraben to cover the waist to halfway down the thigh, while women covered the waist to well below the knee.[1] Bare chests and bare feet were accepted as part of the Thai formal dress code, and are observed in murals, illustrated manuscripts, and early photographs up to the middle–1800s.[1] Prior to the 20th century, the primary markers that distinguished class in Thai clothing were the use of cotton and silk cloths with printed or woven motifs, but both commoners and royals alike wore wrapped, not stitched clothing.[2] Traditional Thai attire changed significantly during the Rattanakosin period.[3]

Prior to the 1700s, Thai men and women both kept their hair long. However, following the Burmese–Siamese wars of 1759-1760 and 1765–1767 and repeated Burmese invasions into Ayutthaya, central Thai women began cutting their hair in a crew-cut short style, which remained the national hairstyle until the 1900s.[4]

From the 1860s onward, Thai royals "selectively adopted Victorian corporeal and sartorial etiquette to fashion modern personas that were publicized domestically and internationally by means of mechanically reproduced images."[2] Stitched clothing, including court attire and ceremonial uniforms, were invented during the reign of King Chulalongkorn.[2] Western forms of dress became popular among urbanites in Bangkok during this period.[2] During the early–1900s, King Chulalongkorn encouraged Thai women to wear long hair instead of traditional short hair which later became a trend during the reign of King Vajiravudh along with wearing pha sinh (ผ้าซิ่น), a tubular skirt, instead of the chong kraben (โจงกระเบน), a cloth wrap.[5]

On 15 January 1941, Plaek Pibulsonggram issued a Thai cultural mandate to modernize and Westernize Thai dress, by deeming the long-practiced customs of wearing underpants, wearing no shirt, or wearing a wraparound cloth, as forms of inappropriate public attire.[6]

Traditional costumes

Pha nung

Thai women wearing Isan Modifide sinh dress for Prapheni Bun Bang Fai, Roi Et

The pha nung(ผ้านุ่ง) is the Thai name for a cloth worn around the lower body that resembles a long skirt.

Chong kraben

Chong kraben or Chang kben (Thai: โจงกระเบน Thai pronunciation: [tɕoːŋ.kra.beːn]) is a lower-body, wraparound cloth. It is synonymous with the Khmer sampot. The sampot is a long, rectangular cloth worn around the lower body. The traditional dress is similar to the dhoti of South Asia. The chong kraben resembles pants more than skirts. It is a rectangular piece of cloth measuring three meters long and one meter wide. It is worn by wrapping around the waist, stretching it away from the body, twisting the ends together then pulling the twisted fabric between the legs and tucking it in the back of the waist. In central Thailand, chong kraben were traditionally worn by both men and women which received influence from neighboring Cambodia.

Sinh

Thai girls wearing northern Thai sinhs

The sinh (Thai: ซิ่น Thai pronunciation: [sîn]) is a tube skirt which is worn wrapped around the waist. A sinh typically consists of three parts: hua sinh, tua sinh, and tin sinh.

Sabai

Thai women wearing sabais, Jim Thompson House

Sabai (Thai: สไบ Thai pronunciation: [sa.baj]) or pha biang (Thai: ผ้าเบี่ยง Thai pronunciation: [pʰâː.bìaŋ]) is shawl-like garment, or breast cloth. Sabais can be used by women or men. The sabai is also known as a long piece of silk, about a foot wide, draped diagonally around the chest by covering one shoulder which its end drops behind the back. Sabais could be worn around the naked chest or on top of another cloth. The practice of wearing Sabai along with Victorian cloth was a common practice during the reign of King Chulalongkorn and lasted until the reign of King Vajiravudh when Westernized clothing became more fashionable. The wearing of sabais as daily wear was officially banned by Plaek Pibulsonggram during Thailand's clothing reform.

Suea pat

Suea pat (Thai: เสื้อปัด Thai pronunciation: [sɯ̂a.pàt]) is a long-sleeved shirt with no buttons. It is worn by wrapping the right side of the front panel of the shirt over the left side of the front panel, and the two panels are tied together via strings. Suea pats are typically worn by northern Thai women

Raj pattern

King Chulalongkorn wearing the raj pattern costume, consisting of a white Nehru-style jacket with five buttons and a chong kraben.

Raj pattern (Thai: ราชปะแตน, RTGS: ratcha pataen) refers either to a Thai men's costume consisting of a white Nehru-style jacket with five buttons, a chong kraben, knee-length socks, and dress shoes, or to the specific form of the jacket itself. It was worn chiefly during the late–19th and early–20th centuries by government officials and the upper class in Bangkok, and nowadays is used in select circumstances as a national costume.

Formal costume

The formal Thai costume, known in Thai as ชุดไทยพระราชนิยม (RTGS: chut thai phra ratcha niyom, literally Thai dress of royal endorsement), includes several sets of dress, designed as the Thai national costume in formal occasions. Although described and intended for use as national costume, they are of relatively modern origins, having been conceived in the second half of the 20th century.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Terwiel, Barend Jan (2007). "The Body and Sexuality in Siam: A First Exploration in Early Sources" (PDF). Manusya: Journal of Humanities (14): 42–55.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Peleggi, Maurizio (2010). Mina Roces, ed. The Politics of Dress in Asia and the Americas. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 9781845193997.
  3. ↑ Mayusoh, Chanoknart (2014). "Formal Thai National Costume in the Reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej". International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology.
  4. ↑ Jotisalikorn, Chami (2013). Thailand's Luxury Spas: Pampering Yourself in Paradise. Tuttle Publishing. p. 183.
  5. ↑ Saruta (10 September 2002). "Women's Status in Thai Society". Thaiways Magazine. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  6. ↑ The Royal Gazette, Vol. 58, Page 113. January 21, B.E. 2484 (C.E. 1941). Retrieved on June 4, 2010.

Further reading

  • Conway, Susan, and Mūnnithi Čhēm ʻĒt Dapbœ̄nyū Thō̜msan. Power dressing: Lanna Shan Siam 19th century court dress. Bangkok: James H.W. Thompson Foundation, 2003.
  • Conway, Susan. Thai textiles. London: British Museum Press, 1992.
  • Lu, Sylvia. Handwoven textiles of South-East Asia. Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1988.
  • Meanmas, Chavalit. Costumes in Asean. Thailand: The National ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information of Thailand, 2000.
  • Wee, C. J. Wan. Local cultures and the "new Asia": the state, culture, and capitalism in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2002.
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