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National clothes of Uzbekistan / Traditional Uzbek clothes / Uzbek national dress
The peculiarities of the climate of Uzbekistan have been reflected in the national clothes of Uzbekistan. Here are the Traditional Uzbek male clothes: a shirt (koylak) with long vertical, wide pants (ishton), a quilted robe (chapan) without lining, with a thin or wadded lining, basing on the season, which was tied with a textile belt (belbog), leather footwear. A skullcap (doppi) is considered a must-have item of clothing. Wearing a headdress is an Islamic influence, which forbade going out bareheaded. Nowadays Uzbek men wear skullcaps for any events: mosques, burials, and marriage events.
Male quilted robes (chapans) were the same for all ages. But also there was a “zarchapon” – a darkened velvet robe with flowery or geometrical designs made with golden thread. Previously, only the emir and his entourage could afford such robes. Today, such a brocade robe and turban are an integral part of a man’s wedding suit. Here are the Traditional Uzbek female clothes: a tunic (koylak) dress and wide at the top and wide trousers (lozim). Usually, the tunic dress and its trousers are from the same fabric. As outerwear, they used to wear a robe (chapan) of the same cut like a man’s, later a fitted camisole with short sleeves came to replace it, and vests (nimcha) began to appear. Their heads had two shawls – one was tied over the forehead, and the second one was thrown over. The headscarves of noble persons had a decoration of gold or silver threads. By the end of XIX century skullcaps (doppi/doppa/tubeteika) with golden or silk thread embroidery replaced scarves. Women, going out, used to throw a men’s robe over their heads with a collar on their heads so that strangers would not look at her. Although, the sleeves of the robe were kept back, and later they began to sew them. They had a face covering – horsehair net (chachvan). In this form, all women had to go out, even girls who had reached maturity. It is worth mentioning about jewelry of Uzbek women. Silver or gold rings with multi-colored stones, bracelets, earrings in the shape of a circle or with fringes in the shape of domes, coral beads, necklaces from rings, a tall “tillyakosh” (translated as “golden eyebrow”), which got its name due to its form, repeating a woman’s eyebrow – all this was an indispensable adjunct to the garments of Uzbek women of all ages.
Nowadays women wear a more modern version of the traditional clothes on the second day of the marriage and afterward 40 days. The customs of wearing a traditional dress have remained in rural areas, and mostly elder people keep to it. Uzbek national clothes mostly were from cotton, silk, corduroy. The Uzbek silk “khan-atlas”, meaning “royal silk”, was created most probably for a king. Its threads are dyed using national dyes by ikat manner. The thread for the fabric was dyed with natural dyes of bright colors using the ikat technique. Atlas is perfect for hot summer, does not irritate the skin, and keeps the form of the product well. Nowadays it is not uncommon to find Adras (cotton and satin fabric) on fashion catwalks all over the world.
Certainly, above we wrote about the Uzbek traditional clothing. But it does not mean that all people dress up like this. Mostly, local people wear modern clothes nowadays. Uzbekistan is a liberal country and one can find people dressed up in religious, modern, and national clothes.