Burmese Traditional Dress
Myanmar, 2013-03-22 09:24 by Laerke
My and my friends all wearing the beautiful, traditional Burmese dress :) The skirt is called a longyi, and is worn by both men and women. The longyis however are not unisex, the ones for men are most often brown, whereas the ones for women comes in all the colors of the rainbow and often with pretty patterns and designs.


A longyi is a sheet of cloth widely worn in Myanmar. It is approximately 2 m (6½ ft.) long and 80 cm (2½ ft.) wide. The cloth is often sewn into a cylindrical shape. It is worn around the waist, running to the feet. It is held in place by folding fabric over, without a knot. It is also sometimes folded up to the knee for comfort. Similar garments are found in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Malay Archipelago.

In the Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, West Bengal, South India, and Sri Lanka), it is known variously as a lungi, longi, kaili or saaram. We had a lot of fun longyi shopping our way through Myanmar, the longyi and the top comes in a myriad of colours and patterns, the patterns on the longyi shows where in the country the longyi (and the wearer) is from, with different states and region all having their own pattern. The longyi came in all prices, reflecting quality and rareness. The ones I bought were very reasonably priced.


It was great fun to dress up in the traditional Burmese outfit, and the best part was the reaction I got from people on the street – they stopped, smiled and I quickly learned to recognize the Burmese word for beautiful “lade”. People were clearly not used to seeing foreigners in their clothes and I think they appreciated the little effort in getting to know their tradition and customs. This way you are also suitably covered up, you don’t see many short skirts and shorts in Myanmar – the fashion scene is nothing like in Bangkok!