Throughout history there has always been significant difference between the costume of nobles and that of ordinary people. In many countries there were special laws that dictated what could or could not be worn by who. For those who appeared at court requiries were even more specific and more strict. My today's post is about interesting examples of court dress in the 19th century Burma, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Burmese princess or dancing girl, by Felice Beato, c.1890. in elaborate ceremonial costume The British Library Draped and wrapped garments have been the most common form of clothing for both men and women in all these three countries. So, no surprise that such type of dressing found its way into court costume too. Let's start with Burma...or Myanmar as it was known in the 19th century. Burmese court dress was designed to link earthly people to the divine through impressive, stylized dress. It has a very architectural structure - upward peaks, cloud collars, winged elements - that made robes and headdresses look like temples, homes of gods, and this way tied the courtiers to the heavens. Minister in Court Dress and Servant, by J. Jackson source Minister dress, 3rd quarter 19th century. Imported velvet, silk and yet-pya (locally made braid), hand-woven cotton, embroidered or with a supplementary weft weave in floss silk The Victoria and Albert Museum Men of Burmese court wore a pah-soe, a wraparound cloth covering the lower body, made of silk and decorated with patterns considered appropriate for men, such as checks, zigzags and interlocking shapes. On top of the pah-soe men wore a tight, long-sleeved jacket made of velvet, silk, brocade or satin and trimmed with gold braid and silk brocade Across the chest each wore a salwe, a courtly chain ornament, indicating his official rank. It was composed of chains linked by repousse clasps bearing motifs associated with royalty and the insignia of the ruling dynasty, such as lion or peacock. The number of chains was determined by the status of wearer, with the maximum of 24 worn only by the king and the minimum of three being worn by minor officials. They also wore richly decorated high velvet hats with a broad band embellished with flowers and leaves of gold foil. Burmese official in military court costume, late 19th century Colgate University Libraries Military costume ca. 1878-1885. Velvet and silk, gold brocade, applied gold, gold-thread embroidery and silver-gilt sequins. The Victoria and Albert Museum Military costume was different and consisted of a long fitted robe, separate sleeveless jacket and spectacular "cloud collar" with upswept wings. On their heads military men wore a gilded helmet which was decorated with a band of golden flowers and leaves. Ladies of the court wore a hta-mein, a rectangular skirt-like garment that was wrapped high on the waist or over the breasts and folded in front with a slight overlap, revealing a glimpse of the wearer’s leg when in motion. A length of striped silk cloth was usually attached to the hem to form a train around the feet. On top women wore a breast cloth and a jacket. Burmese lady's court dress, c.1880 The Victoria and Albert Museum The royal costumes were like stiff suits of armour. They were made from so called pazun-zi, a specially woven gold and silver lace-like cloth, worn with attachable wing-like panels at the knees, cuffs, elbows and shoulders . They were heavy garments adorned with couched gold threads, sequins, gold, silver and gems. Cane was added at times for support. Such costume weighed nearly 100 pounds (45 kg). Rana lady source Now, let me tell you about the court dress of Nepal during the Rana rule. As women's dress was more interesting here then that worn by men I will start with it. Rana women were real masters of draping. On old photos of those years women seem to be dressed in voluminous Victorian ball gowns. But in reality these were not dresses but saris. The ladies first wore voluminous starched cotton pantaloons in layers, one on top of the other, over which were draped embroidered saris in silk, chiffon or lace. It is amazing how they managed to create such an effect. Rana lady, source Rana lady source Another unique way in which the Rana ladies wore their saris was backward. The pleats of the sari cascaded down behind giving the effect of a dress with a train and the cross border of the sari was pinned around the shoulders with brooches in the manner of a draped stole. Each Rana wife and daughter had unique individual tiaras and necklaces designed for them. Tiaras were laden with diamonds and necklaces had nine strands of pearls and gems. Star and moon pins were popular motifs with the Ranas because these were emblems of their ancestral royal houses. Rana couple source The Rana men wore elaborate military uniforms. A red outfit glittering with medals, braids and epaulets was designed in the style of the British army uniform. It was worn with a crown, sirpech, studded with large pearls, emeralds and rubies. The plumes used for the sirpech were brought from New Zealand. Group of Kandyan chiefs, ca. 1890 Rubin Museum of Art Another masters of draping lived at the Kandyan court of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. The type of dress worn by the Kandyan court men was called mul anduma. The making of the mul anduma was a difficult and also an expensive affair. First, frilled trousers of plain white were put on. Then, from sixty to a hundred and fifty yards (55 - 137 m) of silk or muslin were draped around the waist in such a manner that they looked like a peeled plantain flower, with layer upon layer and the characteristic bulbous swelling. A broad belt with a large buckle held the drapes together. All the layers were gathered above the belt to form the fat knot. The upper part of the dress was a velvet jacket with puffy sleeves decorated with intricate pattern. The look was completed with a velvet richly embroidered pincushion hat with numerous gold ornaments pinned to it. The whole costume looked rather peculiar and strange and quite magnificent at the same time. Kandyan chief and his wife, 1880 Jonathan Forbes in his book "Eleven years in Ceylon" gives such description of a Kandyan Chief's costume. "The Court dress of a Kandyan Adikar- minister of state and justice - consists of a square cap resembling a huge pincushion. Sometimes made of white stiffened muslin, but in a full dress of Scarlet cloth embroidered with gold, and having an elevated peak in the middle, surmounted by a precious stone. The jacket is of tissue, with short plaited sleeves, very full upon the shoulders, and fastened with amethyst buttons; over this is worn a white tippet of plaited muslin, with gold edging. On the lower part of the body, over white trousers, which are tight at the ankle and terminated by a frill, a number of white muslin and gold figured cloths are bound in cumbrous folds around the waist by a broad gold belt; in this is stuck a knife with a richly carved handle. Gold chains are worn around the neck and hanging down upon the chest, bangles on the wrists, and immense rings, which almost conceal their small hands, complete the decoration of a Kandyan Adikar". Kandyan man and ladies, 1880 source The dress of the other chiefs differed but little from that of the Adikars, except that their caps were white and circular. The dress of the chiefs and their wives were very similar; only the ladies have their clothes bound tighter to their shape, wore blouses instead of jackets and had gold ornaments in their hair instead of hats. If you enjoyed this post please like my page on Facebook Thank you! References: Burmese Design and Architecture By John Falconer Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Vol 4 South Asia and Southeast Asia Eleven Years in Ceylon by Jonathan Forbes and George Turnour Royal Nepal Through the Lens of Richard Gordon Matzene by Marcella Sirhandi The Ranas of Nepal by Prabhakar SJB Rana and Pashupati SJB Rana You might also like

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H,G Ponting in Asia 1900 - 1906, Burma, Native Burmese girls in traditional dress smoking cheroots

Hello all, I wrote recently about the similarities between the costumes of the major southeast Asian peoples, but of course they were able to distinguish each other. One of the major differences is in the type of textiles which were made and used. Today I will talk about the Bamar people and the style of weaving called Luntaya Acheik. The Bamar are the majority people of the nation of Burma, or Myanmar. This is pronounced in two syllables, Myen - maar; NOT Mee an mar. /ˈmjɑːnˌmɑːr/ ( listen) The Bamar people form 68 percent of the population of Burma, living mostly in the lowlands along the Irrawady river. They arrived in the 9th century from the north, speaking a language with the same roots as Tibetan. When settled in the upper Irrawady basin they encountered the ancient great civilization of the Mon, from whom they learned much, and whom they later pushed out of most of their territory. The Bamar are represented in orange on the map below, the green representing Tai peoples [Shan, Hkamti, Kuen], The rust the Karen, the pale blue Austroasiatic peoples [Mon, Palaung, Wa], and the pale orange other Tibeto-Burman peoples [Chin, Kachin, Akha, Lisu, Lahu]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar The mural above was painted on the wall of Wat Phumin in Nan province, northern Thailand, but it represents a pair of Burmese lovers, who were frequent travelers in the area. The mural dates to around 1870. Several features indicate that the two are Bamar, including the red upper body tattoos of the man, and the clothing of both. The wavy lines on both of their garments are meant to indicate the Luntaya Acheik technique of weaving. This was and is very characteristic of the Bamar People. Here is a photograph of the old Bamar costume. Comparing the mural to the photograph, the outfit is essentially the same. There is a bodice, perhaps just a cloth wrapped around the torso, a jacket, called eingyi, which is pinched at the waist and flared at the bottom, and a cloth wrapped around the hips which opens in front and drags on the floor, forming a train behind. This is called htamein. In this photograph, you can see that the htamein was made in three parts, which was common. There is a plain waistband, in this example black, a central portion which is highly ornamented, and a simpler bottom portion which forms the train. Here is a similar outfit from the Victoria and Albert Museum. And a couple of drawings from the same period. The eingyi jacket usually had ties, which were not always actually tied, and was sometimes made of very sheer material. Here are the bodice and htamein shown without the jacket. Here is a htamein showing the three part constuction. The most sought after htamein were, and continue to be, made by the technique called luntaya acheik, or hundred shuttles. Here is a closeup of the middle part of the htamein above. The middle part is woven in extremely fine interlocking tapestry weave, here shown with the weft vertical. The different colors are woven separately, back and forth. On the loom it would have looked like this. Women sit at the loom in pairs, and even skilled weavers can only weave a few centimeters a day, so this cloth is expensive, but very popular. Even today most people have at least one wrap of luntaya acheik for special occasions. The designs are woven in bands a few inches across, thus forming the wavy lines which are depicted in the painting at the head of this article. This effect cannot be achieved by any other technique. Here are some more examples of designs woven with this technique. Men wore these designs as well, but less commonly. Here is a piece of a mans pahso, which almost functions as a sampler of luntaya acheik designs. In Arakan, some attempt was made to imitate this effect with supplemental weft weaving. While the result was pleasing, it could not be confused with luntaya acheik upon examination. With the passing of the monarchy and entry into the 20th century, the htamein gave way to the longyi, The longyi was often sewn into a tube, and worn with the fold on the side. It did not have a train but hung no longer than the ankles. Luntaya acheik continued to be used, but so were other types of cloth. In the early 20th cent., women wore plaids, but soon abandoned them, leaving them to the men. Designs were woven in with the supplemental weft technique; or embroidered; or ikat; or even painted. As we can see in the mural at the head of the article, young men of courting age wore a headband, which was tied in many ways, a brief loincloth of expensive material, and a number of tattoos. Black designs covered the body from the waist to the knees, and so the breechclout was wrapped in a manner to show these off. This was also done by the Thai and Tai Yuan. Distinct to the Bamar were the spot tattoos on the uppper body, done in red ink and featuring dancing monkeys and other animals in cartouches. These were meant to be protective in nature. The hair was long and gathered into a topknot, in contrast to the Thai, who shaved it except for an area just above the forehead, which stuck up like a brush in a crewcut. Here is a mural from the same temple showing Tai Yuan soldiers. Here is another mural showing visiting Bamar dignitaries in Northern Thailand. This is a mural in Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai. Notice the topknots, tied headbands, and thigh tattoos. The men are also wearing eingyi jackets and a wrap called pahso, which may be up to 9 m long, wrapped around the hips, folded in front, and possibly passed between the legs and wrapped around the shoulders. A number of the pahso show the wavy lines of luntaya acheik. Here is an example from the Victoria and Albert Museum. The pahso was always tied with folds in the front. Here are a couple of old photographs of this outfit. In this last example, another jacket has been layered on top. At the beginning of the 20th century, the men's outfit changed and simplified as the women's did. The pahso was made smaller, although it continued to be tied with a knot or folds in front. This was called longyi. The bright colors were more rarely worn, the men adopting the sober and less flamboyant designs which were thought of as masculine by the British and other westerners. Plaids became the norm for men. The jackets were shortened and came to more closely resemble those worn generally in the region, perhaps under Chinese influence. From the Victoria and Albert Museum, here is one jacket of the old style, followed by two of the new style. The individualized headcloth was replaced by ready made gaung baung, of light colored muslin, bought in the marketplace. For work or sport, the ends of the longyi are twisted, passed through the legs, and tucked into the waist in back; this is called paso hkadaung kyaik. Unlike Thai, Lao, and Khmer women, Bamar women do not wear it this way. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longyi I will close with a number of images of this costume, some old, some new, some bridal outfits based on the old costume. Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative. Roman K. email: [email protected] Source Material: Frank LeBar, et al, 'Ethnic Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia', New Haven Ct., 1964 Susan Conway, 'Thai Textiles', London, 1992 Elizabeth Dell et al, 'Textiles from Burma', London, 2003 Alexandra Green et al, 'Eclectic Collecting - Art from Burma in the Denison Museum', Honolulu, 2008

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Cleopatra's headdress is an extremely ornate part of the Cleopatra costume, but it does not need to be super expensive to make. By using a few steps and buying a few choice items, you can create an impressive Cleopatra headdress that will be the envy of any Halloween party.

H,G Ponting in Asia 1900 - 1906, Burma, Native Burmese girls in traditional dress smoking cheroots

H,G Ponting in Asia 1900 - 1906, Burma, Native Burmese girls in traditional dress smoking cheroots

H,G Ponting in Asia 1900 - 1906, Burma, Native Burmese girls in traditional dress smoking cheroots

H,G Ponting in Asia 1900 - 1906, Burma, Native Burmese girls in traditional dress smoking cheroots

H,G Ponting in Asia 1900 - 1906, Burma, Native Burmese girls in traditional dress smoking cheroots

Wikipedia article about Aung San

H,G Ponting in Asia 1900 - 1906, Burma, Native Burmese girls in traditional dress smoking cheroots