Traditional Clothes and Fashion of Malaysia
By: Kazi Musa, SAVED News International Correspondent, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Traditionally Malaysia is a melting pot of social, cultural, and geographical diversity. As fashion and lifestyle are also diversified. There are three main ethnic groups living with peace and harmony. Meanwhile, its multifarious ethnicities have made fascinating variations in their every aspect of life. You can get a variety of essence in religion, cuisine, celebrations, and architecture here. However, Malaysian people love to follow world trending fashion and lifestyle as well as nurture their own culture and traditional fashion.
Diversified Fashions:
Malay Traditional Fashion: Most Malaysians prefer western-style dress. On special occasions, people from each ethnic group wear their traditional clothes. Malay women wear the baju kurung and Malay men wear the baju melayu with a songkok on the head. Men also love to wear batik half sleeve shirts with trousers. For the regular dress, they love to wear jeans, t-shirt, full sleeve shirt, shoes, sneakers, etc. These are common in every ethnic group.
Indian Traditional Fashion: Indian women wear their iconic traditional saris made of cotton, silk or factory blends usually 5 to 7 yards (4.57 to 6.4 meters) of fabric. Many Indians also wear salwar kameez or Punjabi suit which is popular with northern Indian ladies. The kurta and sleepers are the traditional attire for men on formal occasions.
Chinese Traditional Fashion: Different ethnicity of Chinese have a little bit different dress. The Hanfu (Original from Han ethnicity) is the oldest of China’s traditional clothes. Zhongshan Suit is very similar to male attire and considered as a common Chinese dress. Tang suit is the attire of Tang dynasty is a sort of jacket. Some other traditional clothes for Chinese women are the cheongsam (literally ‘long dress’) or qipao, elegant kebaya. People normally wore light-colored clothing in daily life.
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