India

=== Clothing ===
{{Main|Clothing in India}}
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| image1      = India School.jpg
| caption1    = Women in [[sari]] at an adult literacy class in [[Tamil Nadu]]
| image2      = Water pump, Varanasi (15563170660) Cropped.jpg
| caption2    = A man in [[dhoti]] and wearing a woollen shawl, in [[Varanasi]]
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From ancient times until the advent of the modern, the most widely worn traditional dress in India was [[Draped garment|draped]].<ref name="Tarlo1996-26">{{harvnb|Tarlo|1996|p=26}}</ref> For women it took the form of a [[sari]], a single piece of cloth many yards long.<ref name="Tarlo1996-26" /> The sari was traditionally wrapped around the lower body and the shoulder.<ref name="Tarlo1996-26" /> In its modern form, it is combined with an underskirt, or Indian [[Petticoat#Asian petticoats|petticoat]], and tucked in the waist band for more secure fastening. It is also commonly worn with an Indian [[blouse]], or [[choli]], which serves as the primary upper-body garment, the sari's end—passing over the shoulder—serving to cover the midriff and obscure the upper body's contours.<ref name="Tarlo1996-26" /> For men, a similar but shorter length of cloth, the [[dhoti]], has served as a lower-body garment.<ref name="Tarlo1996-26-28">{{harvnb|Tarlo|1996|pp=26–28}}</ref>

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| image1            = Strolling Shoppers in Paltan Bazaar.jpg
| caption1          = Women (from left to right) in [[churidar]]s and [[kameez]] (with back to the camera), jeans and sweater, and pink [[shalwar kameez]]<!-- a boy in [[kurta]] with [[chikan (embroidery)|chikan]] embroidery-->
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The use of stitched clothes became widespread after Muslim rule was established at first by the [[Delhi sultanate]] ({{Circa|1300 CE}}) and then continued by the [[Mughal Empire]] ({{Circa|1525 CE}}).<ref name="Rahman-Alkazi2002">{{citation |last=Alkazi |first=Roshen |editor=Rahman, Abdur |title=India's Interaction with China, Central and West Asia |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NZvpAAAAMAAJ |year=2002 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-565789-0 |pages=464–484 |chapter=Evolution of Indian Costume as a result of the links between Central Asia and India in ancient and medieval times}}</ref> Among the garments introduced during this time and still commonly worn are: the [[shalwar]]s and [[pyjama]]s, both styles of trousers, and the tunics [[kurta]] and [[kameez]].<ref name="Rahman-Alkazi2002" /> In southern India, the traditional draped garments were to see much longer continuous use.<ref name="Rahman-Alkazi2002" />

Shalwars are atypically wide at the waist but narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are held up by a drawstring, which causes them to become pleated around the waist.<ref name="StevensonWaite2011">{{citation|last1=Stevenson|first1=Angus|last2=Waite|first2=Maurice|title=Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Book & CD-ROM Set|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4XycAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1272|year=2011|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|access-date=3 September 2019|isbn=978-0-19-960110-3|page=1272}}</ref> The pants can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on the [[Grain (textile)#Bias|bias]], in which case they are called [[churidar]]s. When they are ordinarily wide at the waist and their bottoms are hemmed but not cuffed, they are called pyjamas. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic,<ref name="StevensonWaite2011-b">{{citation|last1=Stevenson|first1=Angus|last2=Waite|first2=Maurice|title=Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Book & CD-ROM Set|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4XycAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA774|year=2011|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-960110-3|page=774}}</ref> its side seams left open below the waist-line.<ref>{{citation|url=https://dsalsrv04.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/platts_query.py?page=418|author=Platts, John T. (John Thompson)|title=A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English|location=London|page=418|publisher=[[W. H. Allen & Co.]]|year=1884|access-date=26 August 2019|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224204345/https://dsalsrv04.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/platts_query.py?page=418|url-status=dead}} (online; updated February 2015)</ref> The [[kurta]] is traditionally collarless and made of cotton or silk; it is worn plain or with embroidered decoration, such as [[chikan (embroidery)|chikan]]; and typically falls to either just above or just below the wearer's knees.<ref name="Shukla2015">{{citation|last=Shukla|first=Pravina|title=The Grace of Four Moons: Dress, Adornment, and the Art of the Body in Modern India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MlObCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA71|year=2015|publisher=[[Indiana University Press]]|isbn=978-0-253-02121-2|page=71}}</ref>

In the last 50 years, fashions have changed a great deal in India. Increasingly, in urban northern India, the sari is no longer the apparel of everyday wear, though they remain popular on formal occasions.<ref name="Dwyer2014">{{citation|last=Dwyer|first=Rachel|author-link=Rachel Dwyer|title=Bollywood's India: Hindi Cinema as a Guide to Contemporary India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DqwBBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA244|year=2014|publisher=[[Reaktion Books]]| isbn=978-1-78023-304-8|pages=244–245}}</ref> The traditional shalwar kameez is rarely worn by younger urban women, who favour churidars or jeans.<ref name="Dwyer2014" /> In white-collar office settings, ubiquitous air conditioning allows men to wear sports jackets year-round.<ref name="Dwyer2014" /> For weddings and formal occasions, men in the middle- and upper classes often wear [[bandgala]], or short [[Nehru jackets]], with pants, with the groom and his [[groomsmen]] sporting [[sherwani]]s and churidars.<ref name="Dwyer2014" /> The dhoti, once the universal garment of Hindu males, the wearing of which in the homespun and handwoven [[khadi]] allowed Gandhi to bring Indian nationalism to the millions,<ref name="BruzziGibson2013">{{citation|last=Dwyer|first=Rachel|author-link=Rachel Dwyer|editor=Stella Bruzzi, Pamela Church Gibson|title=Fashion Cultures: Theories, Explorations and Analysis|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FYGMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA178|year=2013|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-1-136-29537-9|pages=178–189|chapter=Bombay Ishtyle}}</ref>
is seldom seen in the cities.<ref name="Dwyer2014" />