Kurdish clothing

Kurdish traditional clothing (Kurdish: Cilî Kurdî‎) is an ongoing part of Kurdish heritage.

The traditional Kurdish dresses are for everyday wear and are not reserved only for holidays. The Kurdish costume was worn many days in the past. Currently some women still wear them on a daily basis, especially by the older generation. The dresses worn on a daily basis tend to be modest in colour and have little or no accessories or embroideries. In the present day the Kurdish dress is more commonly worn on special occasions.

The traditional Kurdish women's outfit includes either a vest or long-sleeved jacket or long overcoat worn over a gown. An underdress and puffy pants are worn beneath the gown. A belt over the gown is also needed. Traditionally women wore Kurdish hats ornamented with valued coloured stones, beads and gold pieces. Over time this has become less common. Now it is more popular among women to only accessorise with gold jewellery.

Usually younger women and young girls wear brightly coloured dresses adorned with many beads and sequins, and the older women wear darker colours. However, older women tend to wear more gold jewellery because traditionally when women married they would receive a dowry of gold jewellery pieces from their groom. The tradition implied that the amount of gold pieces a woman wore signified her status amongst other women in their society. This still applies today to a lesser extent.

Most Kurdish women and men have a large collection of Kurdish clothing and are always on the lookout for new designs and fabric. They usually buy the fabrics of their choice and then have clothing tailored, as there are tailors who specialize in making Kurdish clothes. Recently these respected tailors have turned into designers that have created different designs for the conventional structure of the dress. In villages most of the time women tailor for their entire family after everyone makes their own fabric choice.

There many different styles of the Kurdish clothes, and in recent years there have been many fashion shows, showcased for a Kurdish and international audience. Shows have been held in Vancouver, Canada; in Melbourne, Australia, at the Kurdish Film Festival by the Kurdish Women's Society; and at the Hackney Museum as part of their Kurdish Cultural Heritage Project.

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Wikipedia