Dress habits are a reflection of one's culture, beliefs, values, attitudes and lifestyle. This colourful attire keeps changing with the evolution of tastes, ones needs, and comforts as well. Dress in Bengal too has under gone changes with change in the human faculty called taste. Dress Habits of the Bengalees can be categorized under the rubrics of i) Male Dresses and Female Dresses ii) Urban and Rural Dresses

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      The most dignified Bengalee dress has always been the “Dhoti” for men. Along with the dhoti, the practice of wearing “uttorio” (an additional unstitched piece of cloth) was prevalent in the upper class of the society.

      The Bengalees saw that while going about their daily work, dhoti was unsuitable. Thus they resorted to coats, trousers and shirts, which were actually the dresses of the British.

      The trend of wearing shirts and trousers was considered formal by the Bengalees of yester years and this trend is prevalent even now.

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      To say something about informal dresses, it is necessary to mention that dhoti was not only a formal wear. Dhoti of somewhat lower variety was used as informal or house wear. Another dress which was much in vogue among the Bengalees, as informal wear was the pajama and the panjabi , dress borrowed from the Pathans and the Mughals. Use of lungi was also prevalent. But now among all informal dresses, pajama and panjabi are the two which are much in fashion.

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      In Bengal, the typical women dress has always been the sari. At one point of time, wearing a saree and veiling the head was the norm of the society. Conforming to this standard practice, women used a piece of cloth called “Orna” in addition to sari for veiling their head or at times they used the sari itself for veiling (ghomta). Due to the influence of the Turks, Afghans and the Mughals, there was a recognizable difference in the garments of the women folk.

From the Pathans and the Mughals, our ladies got the “Salwar” and the “Kameez”. But these garments did not penetrate deep within the Bengalee community much at that time and the basic convention of wearing the sari was not affected. It went on undisturbed.

Salwar

      But the sari, as it is worn today was introduced for the first time by Gyanada Nandini Devi, wife of Satyendranath Tagore. The way Gyanada Nandini wore a sari was actually adopted from the Parsee style, which remarkably had pleats on the shoulder. Before this style was introduced by Gyanada Nandini, women of Bengal used to wear sari in a style, which had no pleats and was elegantly draped around the body (Picture). Gyanada Nandini also adopted the style of wearing a 'choli' or a blouse along with the sari. She emulated the Parsee women and also mastered the use of petty-coat. Thus she became the founder of the contemporary Bengali fashion for the ladies.

Till now the sari is worn in the fashion set by Gyanadanandini Devi, only with some modern trends added to it. The concept of colour matching was introduced by ladies of latter generation. Based on this concept, ladies began wearing different types of saris for different seasons. Women wore mostly light coloured cotton saris during summer. During holi they wore a white Muslin sari so that the colours strewn on the sari acquired prominence and during the pujas, they wore sarees of different colours and shades. Gradually, in this way a modernised trend of wearing different types of sarees with different designs started its journey.

Sari

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As women gradually became fashion conscious, they wanted variety in sarees. A variety in cotton sarees came with the emergence of popular styles like Tangail, Dhonekali, Shantipuri , Begumpuri and others. Sarees became more fashionable with the emergence of different types of printed silks, followed by the Baluchari style, Kantha stitch on silks and several others with different types of thread and zari work.

Baluchari

      Bengal silks, commonly found as block - printed saris, has had a revival in the exquisite brocade weaving of Baluchari, produced in the past under royal patronage, and is carried out today in Bankura. A sari in Tussar material with different types of designs on it was another fashionable variety of Bengal. Over the years, these distinctive patterns of saris have gained much popularity among the Bengalees.

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      The saris of Bengal come in a wide range of hues, the most popular being the red and the white. Red and similar other bright colours were usually worn by ladies of lower age group. Since, earlier the Bengalee women used to wear sari from a very small age, these bright coloured saris suited to their taste and at one point of time it was customary to wear red sari in marriages as red was considered to have a lot of ritualistic values. Middle aged women i.e. women between thirty-five and forty generally wore light coloured saris and women above forty mostly used to wear white and off white coloured saris. White was also the colour of the widows. Ladies who became widow even at the age of fifteen, used to clad themselves in white coloured saris. But this trend is no longer prevalent. These days women off all ages are found to be wearing bright and gorgeous colours. Even the widows today are not found in white. Most women, these days, dress up according to their own choice and not according to the choice of the society.

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      Apart from sari, another type of dress, which has suited to the taste of the Bengalees, is the Salwar Kameez. This is a dress, which the Bengalees got from the Pathans and the Mughals. With the emergence of salwar kameez, women, no longer clad themselves in saris from the age of nine or ten. Instead they start wearing saris from the age of twenty or so and at the age of nine they are found in frocks, skirts and similar other dresses. Skirts and frocks are dresses, which are worn even up to the age of twenty. Most women, these days, irrespective of their age, wear salwar kameez in formal and informal occasions. This particular dress has gained popularity over sari, as women feel more comfortable in it. But sari is not out of fashion. It is still a dress, which is worn by many women. Specially on occasions and ceremonies, women of Bengal are mostly found in saris. Even at home, some women still continue the tradition of wearing saris though there exist other types of dresses like the maxi, night dress etc.

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Previously sari was the only dress of the urban women. But now in urban areas women wear saris as well as salwar-kurtas. Small girls are found in frocks and skirts , small boys in shirts and trousers. Girls now days, wear frocks and skirts even up to the age of twenty. Urban men wear shirts and trousers as formal dresses, dhotis and pajama panjabis on occasions. Pajama panjabis are also worn as informal wear.

Frock

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