Jan.12.2010 Traditional Costumes

Nowadays, you can see people with suits and ties or jeans and T-shirt from Los Angeles to Lagos and from Shanghai to Sao Paulo. In most countries, people only dress up in traditional clothes at weddings, festivals, or other special occasions.

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*The most important part of traditional Japanese dress is the kimono. Women wear different kimonos for different seasons of the year. Married women wear kimonos with short sleeves and unmarried woman wear them with long sleeves.

*The Scottish kilt is very famous. There are different patterns and colours for different old family groups or clans. A kilt is like a skirt but it is heavier than an ordinary skirt. And remember, women don`t wear kilts!!

*The Yoruba people in Nigeria wear traditional clothes with beautiful patterns. Men put on long robes called agbadas over their other clothes. They sometimes wear small round hats with agbadas. Women wear long blouses and colourful skirts or dresses.

*Some native people of the Andres region of south America (e.g; Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru) wear traditional clothes. Ponchos are like coats but haven`t got sleeves. Ponchos are comfortable and are now popular around the world, especially for women. In many shops, you can try on casual ponchos, formal ponchos, summer ponchos and rain ponchos!


In some countries, traditional costumes are coming back into fashion. In Japan, for example. Schools now teach students how to do up kimonos and take them off. Young women sometimes wear them and some taxi drivers in Tokyo give a 10% discount to people in kimonos!