Uzbek National Dress
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‘Clothes make the man’, as the saying goes. While meeting people, it is indeed their clothes we pay attention to in the first place .The general evolution of oriental dress inevitably affected Uzbek national dress, though some of its distinctive and unique features have been preserved. Of course, the modern caftan looks quite different from what it was, say, a hundred years ago. In the West the word caftan has been known since the Mongolian invasion and was borrowed by several languages. The traditional shirt kuilak was the everyday men’s wear. First its length went beyond the knees, later it was shortened to reach only the middle of the thigh. This shirt had two types of collar: one was sewn to the edge of a vertical cut; the other was the border of just a horizontal shoulder-level cut. The male residents of Tashkent and Ferghana regions wore the loose kimono-like shirt yakhtak. It was made from cotton fabric and was worn by both the young and the elderly. Sometimes the collar was bordered by a decorative tape jiyak. Gold-embroidery stood at the top of all the city crafts and adorned the wardrobes of the Bukhara emir and elite. The most common were gold-embroidered caftans that the ruler presented his men with. He himself was also pleased to get such a caftan as a present. Gold-embroidery was made on silk and velvet. Floral ornaments were the prevailing decorative patterns. Geometrical patterns were seldom used. In the past the art of Bukhara’s gold-embroidery was only a man’s occupation; it was mostly practiced at the court of the emir. Besides caftans they also made gold-embroidered skull-caps and shoes. Today the gold-embroidered caftan zarchapan and turbans that are made of golden or silver brocade are indispensable parts of the men’s wedding garment. The kuilak dress and the lozim pants are probably the oldest traditional wear of Uzbek women. The dress had the cut of a tunic, was ankle-long, and sometimes widened towards the bottom. In the Bukhara and Samarkand oases they bordered the vertical collar cuts with the gold-embroidered tape keshkurta. The sleeves were straight and long, so as to cover the hands. Later, at the end of the 19th century, dresses with a detachable yoke, stand-up collars and cuffed sleeves appeared. Now these dresses, made from the famous khan-satin or bright silk are still the main part of the women’s national costume.The Uzbek national costume is a part of the cultural heritage and deep-rooted traditions of the Uzbek people. Today in Uzbekistan people dress in different ways. Young people in the cities, and partially in the provinces, wear European-style clothes, though with some elements of the national dress. The elderly, especially women from the country, go on wearing the national dress. The Uzbek national dress will certainly develop further: it will acquire new elements and at the same time will retain the tradition.
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Uzbek National Dress
The Uzbek national dress combines new features with traditional designs. (06/12/2007)
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Tea For All In Uzbekistan
In a chaikhana (tea-house) people drink tea. This is a fuss-free, dignified institution. (08/03/2007)
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