Characteristics of Eastern Clothes

The East or the Eastern World is composed to Asia; Eastern Europe including Russia, Indian Subcontinent, The Far East, the Middle East and Central Asia.  They are known to be closely in touch to their culture and religion.  Even in the manner of clothing, eastern clothes depict eastern religious beliefs, cultural obligations and traditions.

Large populations in the East are Muslim and thus most of the clothing lines that may be noticed in the eastern manner of clothing follows Islamic ruling.

Additionally, most of the eastern clothes are influenced by climate, material availability and of course cultural traditions.  While the modern day eastern population follows some clothing influences from the western world, it remains that most eastern clothes are defined by Islam influences.

Let us discuss a bit about eastern clothes with the influenced that related to their development.

Climate

The east spans a huge area in the globe.  There are areas that are cold and there are areas that are mostly deserts.  Thus, there are eastern clothes that are definitive of the climate in that region.

In tropical and desert environment, the eastern clothes worn by the population are usually loose clothing and made of cotton fabric.  They may often wear headpieces to protect their head and their body to protect them from the sun. 

Those eastern countries that experience cold weather usually wear thick clothes that will protect them from the coldness especially at night.

Fabrics

The eastern world uses five main fabrics in their clothing. 

Cotton, as mentioned, is a cool fabric and usually worn loosely in areas where it is hot and mostly desert like India and the Middle East.

For winter season, eastern clothes are made of wool to protect their bodies from the cold.

Camel hair is another material used for clothes during cold weather.

Silk is a material abundant in the East and they are usually used in areas like China and Persia.

Linen, a plant based fabric is made of woven fibers and used in clothing as well.  This is a versatile material that can be used in both cold and hot season.

Culture and Tradition

Because many areas in the East are of Muslim influence, the clothes of these eastern populations depict their culture and tradition.

Those that are not Muslim usually mimic western clothing influences where as those that are Muslim follow the Islam way of dressing.

Women in Islam usually wear clothes that will hide the whole body.  Does not show any flesh except their hand and their face.  For unmarried women, only their hands and their eye are exposed.  Women likewise wears veil to cover their head.

For the men, they cannot wear silk or any clothing with adornments becuase of the ruling that they should be modest.

However, even with the modesty requirement of Islam, eastern clothes used by the master cannot be used by the slave.

Muslim men cannot wear clothes just like non-Muslim men. 

Likewise, men should not wear any clothing article that depicts that of women and this is likewise true in the other way around.

Eastern clothes likewise shows status and group identity.  These people have been closely following their traditional influences and they are good with it.

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