The document discusses traditional clothing from Asia, including: 1) The silk road facilitated trade between China and the Mediterranean, linking their cultures and spreading silk production. Silk was an important commodity in China by 3000 BCE and was regulated for use by social class. 2) Traditional garments from India include the sari, salwaar and kamiz, choli and lahanga. Saris are made of one long piece of fabric wrapped around the body. Bindis and mehndi are decorative practices. Dhotis and kurtas were common for men. 3) Pajamas originated in Asia and were adopted by Europeans, becoming popular loungewear by the late 19th century

1. ASIA

2. SILK ROAD
The Silk Road is a historically
important international
system of trade routes
between China and the
Mediterranean. The Silk Road
was a splendid cultural bridge
linking the cultures of China,
India, Persia, Arabia, Greek
and Rome. It also facilitated
the movement of great armies
and international pandemics.

3. SILK PRODUCTION

4. Silk and Sin
Silk was developed in China ca. 3000 BCE Plain silks, products of peasant households, were used as the main form of tax paid to
the government. Fancy silk textiles were worn or displayed by the wealthy as symbols of status from the Han Dynasty on. Even
though silk was readily available, the right to wear it was at times regulated by strict codes. Often it was reserved for use only by
the emperor and the highest dignitaries. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, bureaucrats were restricted to using a particular color
according to their different functions in society.
The introduction of silk clothes had a long history in Europe, beginning in Ancient Rome. Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BCE– 65 CE)
famously decried the transparency of fine silk as dangerous: “ I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even
one's decency, can be called clothes. ... Wretched flocks of maids labor so that the adulteress may be visible through her thin dress, so
that her husband has no more acquaintance than any outsider or foreigner with his wife's body.”
Eleanor of Aquaitaine was one who, during her adventurers in Constantinople and the Middle East in the second crusade, is said
to have reveled in the excessive splendor and court festivities of eastern life. At home, in her court, it was reported that the
ladies wore garments “fashioned from the finest tissues of wool or silk.” However, the source said, ”Silk, purple and paint have
their own beauty, but they do not make the body beautiful.”
Endless sumptuary laws were issued at various times, partly to regulate what citizens wore, thus denying certain clothes and
fashions to rising social groups such as the bourgeoisie. For example, in France under Charles IX (1550-1574), only princesses
and duchesses were allowed to wear silk.
Like Seneca, the Catholic church also found signs of moral decline in wearing silk, even when it was worn by men. Bernard,
Abbot of Clairvaux, in about 1130, criticized his fellow churchmen and the court for their love of a worldly luxury such as silk. He
felt that after Adam and Eve were forced to cloth their nakedness with skins, which he viewed as a sign of their new bestiality,
that next they wore wool, and “next the dung of worms, that is, silk.” In England one preacher claimed that wearing “silken
garments, which are fashioned from the entrails of worms” are part of clothes which “are now worn rather for vain glory and
worldly pomp than for the necessity of nature...and assuredly most of all to excite lust.” 1
Sinful or not, the wearing of silk continued to create a demand for designs and fine materials imported from the East. Until
Europeans began to produced silken materials themselves.

5. HINDUISM
A henotheistic religion which dates
back to 1500 BCE and does not
have a single founder, a specific
theological system, a single system
of morality, or a central religious
organization.
Hindus believe that existence is a
cycle of birth, death, and re-birth
governed by the quality of one’s
actions.

6. INDIA

7. SARI
A woman’s unstitched outer garment,
created out of a single length of light
weight fabric. One end is wrapped around
the waist to form a skirt. The other, more
decorated end (called the pallay) is draped
over the shoulder or head.

8. SARI
The sari consists of one continuous piece of
fabric (5 – 9 yards long and 2 – 4 yards
wide) divided into three areas of design:
the elaborately decorated end piece (pallay
or pallu); the other three borders of the
fabric; and the body or field. The fabric is
wrapped around the body, pleated in the
front, and tucked iinto an underskirt
(saaya). The pallu can be draped in a variety
of ways depending on region, caste or
personal taste: over the shoulder and down
the back, over the shoulder and down the
front, draped over the head, and even
wrapped between the legs to create pants.
Traditionally, saris were made of silk,
cotton, wool and decorated with block
printing, resist dyeing, or embroidery. The
motifs on Indian sari identified caste, class,
stage of life, and region and different
colors had different meanings: red for a
bride or yellow for a new mother. White
saris were often worn by widows.

9. SALWAAR & KAMIZ
Salwaar (Persian meaning trousers) are
loose fitting women’s pants, generally
worn with a Kamiz, a knee length tunic
with short or long sleeves.

10. CHOLI &
LAHANGA
Choli is a short bodice (with or without
sleeves) worn under a Sari or with
Lahanga, a long pleated skirt that is
secured at the hip leaving the lower back
bare.

11. BINDI
Bindi (from “bindu” in Sanskrit, meaning a drop,
small particle or dot) refers to both the center point
of a mandala and the mark worn on the forehead
between the eyes by women through out South
Asia. A traditional bindi is red or maroon in color. A
pinch of vermilion powder applied with the ring-
finger to make a perfect red dot. It takes practice
to achieve the perfect round shape by hand. A
stencil disc application for used by beginners. They
apply a sticky wax paste through the empty centre
of the disc then dust it with with vermilion to get a
perfectly round bindi. Jewels or gold dust are
frequently used instead of the paint.
Choodi: bangle bracelet made of metal or glass
Nath: decorative nose ring

12. MEHNDI
An ancient art of applying pastes made with henna
powder to create designs on the skin, usually the
hands and feet. For over 5000 years, Mehndi has
practiced in the Middle East, India and parts of
Africa for decorative and ceremonial purposes.
Mehndi is often viewed as a woman's practice
though it has been practiced by men. Traditional
henna stain is non toxic and ranges from icherry-
red to dark brown.

13. DHOTI
Traditional loincloth for Indian
men, dhoti consists of an
unstitched piece of cloth (usually
cotton) draped over the hips and
legs. Worn in various ways in
different regions

14. KURTA
Kurta is the traditional men’s shirt/tunic.
While there are many regional variations, it is
typically made of cotton, opens in the front
and has straight long sleeves.

15. CHURIDAR & PYJAMA
In addition to dhoti, there were two basic types of
men’s trouser:
Churidar, loose at the hip and tight at the ankle, are
worn by men under a kurta and women under a
salwar.
Pyjama , light weight drawstring pants, traditionally
worn only by men.
Both styles have evolved into popular modern
fashions without significant gender distinction.

16. JODHPURS
During the British occupation of India, the churidar
style pant was adopted for military and recreational
use. Loose in the seat and tight from the knee to
the ankle, “Jodhpurs” became the formal riding
trouser used by equestrians and a symbol of
sportsmanship.

17. PAJAMAS
Pajamas are generally thought to have been introduced
to the Western world about 1870, when British colonials,
who had adopted them as an alternative to the
traditional nightshirt, continued the practice upon their
return Although the wearing of pajamas was not
widespread until the twentieth century, they were
appropriated as early as the seventeenth century .
Europeans while in these countries, and brought back as
exotic loungewear and a signifier of status and worldly
knowledge By the end of the nineteenth century, the term
pajama was being used to describe a loose fitting
garments: both the pajamas (trousers) and the jacket-
styled top worn with them. By 1902, men's pajamas were
widely available alongside more traditional nightshirts
and were available in fabrics like flannel and madras
and had lost most of their exotic connotations. Pajamas
were considered modern and suitable for an active
lifestyle. The advertising copy in the 1902 Sears,
Roebuck Catalogue suggested that they were: "Just the
thing for traveling, as their appearance admits a greater
freedom than the usual kind of nightshirts"
Origin of PJs by Clare Sauro

18. BUDDHISM
A non-theistic religion founded in
Northern India by Siddhartha Gautama. In
535 BCE, he attained bodhi
(enlightenment) and assumed the title
Lord Buddha (one who has awakened)
Buddhism is a spiritual tradition that
focuses on personal spiritual development
and the attainment of a deep insight into
the true nature of life.

19. CHINA

20. JAPAN

21. KOREA

22. VIETNAM