Traditional and local Iranian clothing

Costumes has been part of Iranian culture and civilization since past times. In fact, the traditional clothing represents the type of thinking and culture of each ethnic group. Iran has a variety of ethnic groups that have lived together in this land for a long time and have kept the original Iranian culture alive. Due to the large number of ethnicities, the variety of clothing in Iran is very high. Traditional apparel is a cloths in which the traditional Iranian arts and crafts are used and is used throughout Iran. Local clothing is tailored to each ethnic group and to the region’s climate and cannot be used throughout the country.

Bright and cheerful colors is used in both clothing (traditional and ethnic) and they are fully covering the body. Local clothing includes footwear, pants or socks, skirts with farthingale, top clothing, dress, waist scarf, cap, hat, kerchief and ornamental pendants which all are complementary and has been beautifully put together.

There is no need for all the parts in traditional clothing and one can wear a traditional shirt with any outfit.Most important local clothing belongs to Qashqai, Bakhtiari, Baloch, Kurds, Lurs people, also Caspian Sea area, Khorasan and the Turkmen territory.Qashqai, Bakhtiari and Lurs clothing have some similarities. Women of these three ethnic groups wear long dresses with long sleeved made from patterned, bespangle, bead word cloths with gather skirt. These ladies wear several skirts overlapped which the top skirt has the best cloth.

For more beauty, the number of skirts was greater in Qashqai and Bakhtiari people.

Qashqai women use Kalaghche kerchief and bespangle mesh kerchief to cover their head. They also use a long kerchief tied from top of the forehead to back of the head and its name Is Yaghliq.Bakhtiari women use ornamented flat hat and long fabrics over the hat which looks like Chador from behind.
Lurs used patterned fabric as kerchief.

Kurdish women wear crew neck long gather dress with long sleeves and use a short coat on it. A cylindrical hat is used to cover their hair which a patterned scarf is also used over it.

Baloch women needlecraft their dresses which is one of the most beautiful Iranian cloths. Baloch cloths includes a simple dress up to calf with slash collar and long sleeves which is tight in the wrist and a baggy harem pants. All the front of the dress, collar, wrist and the pants is full of embroidery. A simple rectangular fabric with embroidered margins is used to cover the hair. Embroidery patterns are in 70 different designs. The main color in Baloch embroidery design are red (orange, Indian red), black, white, green and blue.
There are several clothing models in Khorasan and central Iran. The main object in these regions is a silk kerchief which is used as a headband. Also they use short dress which is patterned in some regions and have embroidery around the collar and the wrist in other regions. Short velvet waistcoats are worn on the dress. A gather skirt just above the knee or an old-fashioned short petticoat worn under the dress which has embroidery tape on the hemline. Long socks worn under the skirts.

Women leaving across the Caspian Sea wear gather skirts with colorful embroidery tape on the hemline, buttoned dress made from figured fabric or simple dress with embroidery tape around the wrist and collar with a long scarf tied on waist. There are different models to cover the head: in some regions a triangular scarf is used and a simple white scarf or a cylinder or flat hat with colorful embroidery tape is used which have a crocheting scarf on top.

In the south of the country and the Persian Gulf are women wear long dress made from thin fabric and have passementerie around the collar and wrist. A baggy embroidery thin pants is used under the dress. They wrap a silk rectangle cloths around their body and shoulder. A black scarf is used to cover the hair.Women of Azeri ethnicity wear long dress with crew neck, long or short skirt, or an old-fashioned short petticoat worn under the dress, waist coat, velvet coat or Terme. Calotte, scarf, kerchief and a colorful long fabric is used to cover the hair.

Women of Turkman ethnic group wear raspberry or stripped dress as the min garment which has a slash on the chest. Specific Turkman embroidery in blue, yellow and white is crafted around the slash and also the wrist. Sometimes a collarless long coat is used on top of this dress. An underpants is worn under the dress. An ornamented calotte, a kerchief and a long scarf is used to cover the hair. Color selection plays an important role in local costumes. In every ethnic group, some colors are for married women, some for girls and some for special occasions. The type of hat, kerchief, scarf wrapping and the accessories are also selected based on the woman’s age and role.Iranian traditional clothing in every ethnic group needs a more comprehensive introduction. The experience of wearing these costumes brings you into the colorful world of interesting designs, local ornaments and lively Iranian ethnicity. In these costumes, you will have incredible scenes created for you in local spaces.

* Written by Soshia Shamsaei.

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