Salwar kameez
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Salwar Qameez (also spelled shalwar kameez or shalwar qameez) is a traditional dress worn by both women and men in South Asia. Salwar Qameez is in fact the National Dress of Pakistan adorned by both men and women due to its comfort and casual nature.[1] Salvars or shalvars are loose pajama-like trousers. The legs are wide at the top, and narrow at the bottom. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic. The side seams (known as the chaak) are left open below the waist-line, which gives the wearer greater freedom of movement. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the garment is worn by both sexes[citation needed]. In Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, it is most commonly a woman's garment, albeit still worn by some men[citation needed].
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[edit] Description
Shalwar Qameez is Pakistani National dress for ladies, for gents Pakistani National Dress is Sheherwani not Shalwar Qameez
Salwars are gathered at the waist and held up by a drawstring or an elastic belt. The pants can be wide and baggy, or they can be quite narrow and made of fabric cut on the bias. In the latter case, they are known as churidars. The kameez is usually cut straight and flat; older kameez use traditional cuts, as shown in the illustration; modern kameez are more likely to have European-inspired set-in sleeves. The tailor's taste and skill are usually displayed not in the overall cut, but in the shape of the neckline and the decoration of the kameez.
When women wear the salwar kameez, they usually wear a long scarf or shawl called a dupatta around the head or neck. For Muslim women, the dupatta is a less stringent alternative to the chador or burqa (see hijab and purdah). For Sikh and Hindu women (especially those from northern India, where the salwar kameez is most popular), the dupatta is useful when the head must be covered, as in a Gurdwara or a Temple, or the presence of elders. For other women, the dupatta is simply a stylish accessory that can be worn over one shoulder or draped around the chest and over both shoulders.
Modern versions of the feminine salwar kameez can be much less modest than traditional versions. The kameez may be cut with a plunging neckline, sewn in diaphanous fabrics, or styled in sleeveless or cap-sleeve designs. The kameez side seams may be split high up to the waistline and, it may be worn with the salwar slung low on the hips. When women wear semi-transparent kameez (mostly as a party dress), they wear a choli or a cropped camisole underneath it.
The Shalwar kameez is sometimes known as "Punjabi suit," in Britain[2] and Canada.[3] In Britain, especially during the last two decades, the garment has been transformed from an everyday garment worn by immigrant South Asian women from the Punjab region to one with mainstream, and even high-fashion, appeal.[4]
In India, the garment was originally confined to the North, but as a convenient and modest alternative to a sari - and also as one that flatters practically any body-type - it has become popular across the nation. By varying the fabric, color and the level of embroidery and decoration, the salwar-kameez can be formal, casual, dressy, or plain; and it can also be made to suit practically all climates.
[edit] Etymology and history
Salwar Kameez was created in the early 1800
Founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Fatima Jinnah Wearing Shalwar Qameez
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The pants, or salvar, are known as salvar in Punjabi: ਸਲਵਾਰ ਕ਼ਮੀਜ਼, salvaar or shalvaar શલવાર કમીઝ in Gujarati, salvaar or shalvar शलवार क़मीज़ in Hindi, and shalvar in Urdu: شلوار قمیض. The word comes from the Persian: شلوار, meaning pants.
The shirt, kameez or qamiz, takes its name from the Arabic qamis.
There are two main hypotheses regarding the origin of the Arabic word, namely:
- that Arabic qamis is derived from the Latin camisia (shirt), which in its turn comes from the Proto-Indo-European kem (‘cloak’).[5]
- that Mediaeval Latin camisia is a borrowing through Hellenistic Greek kamision from the Central Semitic root “qmṣ”, represented by Ugaritic qmṣ (‘garment’) and Arabic qamīṣ (‘shirt’). Both of these are related to the Hebrew verb קמץ qmṣ (‘grip’, ‘enclose with one’s hand’).[6]
Garments cut like the traditional kameez are known in many cultures; according to Dorothy Burnham, of the Royal Ontario Museum, the "seamless shirt," woven in one piece on warp-weighted looms, was superseded in early Roman times by cloth woven on vertical looms and carefully pieced so as not to waste any cloth. 10th century cotton shirts recovered from the Egyptian desert are cut much like the traditional kameez or the contemporary Egyptian jellabah or galabia.[7]
[edit] English spelling
Transliterations starting from Punjabi often render the sibilant sound at the start of salwar/shalwar as an "s". Transliterations starting from Urdu, Persian, Pashto, Turkish languages use "sh". Both spellings are found in common English usage. The shalwar spelling seems to be most common in Canada and the United Kingdom, and is the preferred spelling in the Oxford English Dictionary. Salwar seems to be more common in the US and is found at many online stores selling salwar kameez. The word kameez is often spelled with an H, as in khameez.
[edit] Gallery
 A man wearing a crochet taqiyah cap and salwar kameez in Pakistan |
 A modern-style shalwar kameez in India. |
 Men wearing shalwar kameez at Kabul Airport in Afghanistan. |
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Ministry of Culture Pakistan
- ^ Breidenbach, Pál & Zcaronupanov 2004. Quote: "And in Bubby Mahil’s fashion store in London, white socialites and young British Asians shop for the same Punjabi suit...."
- ^ Walton-Roberts & Pratt 2005. Quote: "Meena owns a successful textile design and fashion business in the Punjab, designing and selling high-end salwar kameez (Punjabi suits) ..."
- ^ Bachu 2004
- ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary: chemise". http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=chemise.
- ^ "The American Heritage Dictionary: qmṣ". http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/S240.html.
- ^ Burnham, Dorothy. 1973. Cut My Cote, Royal Ontario Museum. p. 10.
[edit] References
- Bachu, Parminder (2004), Dangerous Designs: Asian Women Fashion the Diaspora Economies, London: Routledge. Pp. xii, 196, ISBN 0415072212, <http://www.aesonline.org/3635>
- Breidenbach, Joana; Nyíri Pál & Ines Zcaronupanov (2004), "Fashionable Books", Identities: Global Studies in Power and Culture 11 (4)
- Walton-Roberts, Margaret & Geraldine Pratt (2005), "Mobile Modernities: One South Asian Family Negotiates Immigration, Gender and Class in Canada", Gender, Place and Culture 12 (2).
[edit] External links
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