National Dress of india

Clothing in India varies widely and is closely related to local culture, religion and climate.

Traditional Indian clothing for women are the sari or the salwar kameez and also Ghaghra Cholis (Lehengas). For men, traditional clothes are the Dhoti, Lungi or Kurta. Bombay, also known as Mumbai, is one of India's fashion capitals. In some village parts of India, traditional clothing mostly will be worn. In southern India the men wear long, white sheets of cloth called dhoti in English and veshti in Tamil. Over the dhoti, men wear shirts, t-shirts, or anything else Woman wear a sari, a long sheet of colourful cloth with patterns. This is draped over a simple or fancy blouse. This is worn by young ladies and woman. Little girls wear a pavada. A pavada is a long skirt worn under a blouse. Both are often gaily patterned. Bindi is part of the women's make-up. Indo-western clothing is the fusion of Western and Subcontinental fashion. Churidar, Dupatta, Gamchha, Kurta, Mundum Neriyathum, Sherwani are among other clothes.

Women's Clothing

The traditional style of clothing in India varies with male or female distinctions. This is still followed in the rural areas, though is changing in the urban areas. Girls before puberty wear a long skirt (called langa/paawada in Andhra) and a short blouse, called a choli, on top of it. Teenage girls wear half-sarees, a three piece set comprising of a langa, a choli and a stole wrapped over it like a saree. Women usually wear full sarees.

This painting by Raja Ravi Varma depicts several traditional styles of draping the sari

A sari or saree or shari is a female garment in the Indian subcontinent.^[1] A sari is a strip of unstitched cloth, ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with one end then draped over the shoulder baring the midriff.^[1] The sari is usually worn over a petticoat (pavada/pavadai in the south, and shaya in eastern India), with a blouse known as a choli or ravika forming the upper garment. The choli has short sleeves and a low neck and is usually cropped, and as such is particularly well-suited for wear in the sultry South Asian summers. Cholis may be "backless" or of a halter neck style. These are usually more dressy with a lot of embellishments such as mirrors or embroidery and may be worn on special occasions. Women in the armed forces, when wearing a sari uniform, don a half-sleeve shirt tucked in at the waist.

The salwar kameez is another form of popular dress for females. It consists of loose trousers (the salwar) topped by a long loose shirt (the kameez). It is often mispronounced as "salwar kameez" or simply "salwar". It originates from the Muslim invaders from Turkey and Afghanistan. For a long time it was considered a "Muslim dress" but now has become popular all across India, as well as other South Asian countries. Due to its Muslim origin, it is very common in Pakistan and Afganistan. It is commonly worn with a narrow scarf called a dupatta, which is used to cover the head. The salwar kameez is most common in the northwestern part of India.

The women of Rajasthan and Gujarat often wear colorful swirling skirts called lehenga, paired with a short bodice called a choli. If they must cover their heads, they do so with bright veils called odhani.

Nowadays many of them have started wearing pants and tee-shirts as a result of the influence of westernisation.

Men's clothing

The most common male attire consists of the dhoti and kurta, worn in most of the western and central regions. A sherwani is typically worn for special occasions, particularly in North India. Men of northern India and the Punjab may also wear salwar kameez, often in plain white cotton, and top the kameez with a dark waistcoat. The lungi (a type of wrap-around garment) is worn in many parts of India, but depending on the social practices of the region it may be restricted to indoor-wear only.

A kurta is a traditional item of clothing worn in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It is a loose shirt falling either just above or somewhere below the knees of the wearer, and is worn by both men and women. They were traditionally worn with loose-fitting paijama (kurta-paijama), loose-fitting salwars, tight-fitting churidars, or wrapped-around dhotis;^[2] but are now also worn with jeans.^[3] Kurtas are worn both as casual everyday wear and as formal dress.

Modern fashion in India

Many aspects of Western fashion have become common among Indian men, particularly in the professional community. Horizontal stripes and plaids are common on casual business shirts, particularly among Punjabs and Indians in North America. Owing to growth of women empowerment and influence of western culture, nowadays most of the teen and adult girls in cities wear low hip jeans, low neck tops, tight jean trouser with salwar, half trousers, sleeve less T shirts etc. But only few women who hail from rural villages usually wear frocks and half sarees. Boys normally wear shirt and pant, formally or casually.