Asia can be roughly divided into Chinese and Indian spheres of influence. Chinese clothing styles have influenced the clothing of neighboring countries, including Japan and Korea; Indian clothing styles have influenced the clothing of Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Thailand.
China is the most populous country in the world, home to members of 56 different ethnic groups distinguished primarily by language and religion. As a result of its size and diverse population, China has seen many clothing styles.
Many Westerners think that Chinese clothing has remained unchanged for 5,000 years. In fact, styles have changed greatly over the centuries. Although the basic garment has remained a long, wide-sleeved robe that is tied with a sash and worn over a skirt or trousers, experts can distinguish easily between the clothing of different periods. Around 200 BC, a popular women's fashion in southern China was a robe of patterned silk, which was wrapped in a spiral around the body. Soldiers of the same period wore armor, made of small metal plates, over tunics and trousers. From the late 6th century through the 7th century AD, for example, Chinese women wore high-waisted skirts and short jackets. This style formed the model for Korean women's dress in modern times. In the 8th century, women in royal Chinese courts often wore flamboyant clothing, with long, flowing sleeves and winglike decorative panels that hung from the sleeves. Until the 9th century, when foot binding was introduced to prevent the feet of girls from growing, both men and women in China wore the same kind of high shoes.
When the Manchus from the north conquered China in 1644, they modified Chinese men's official dress to make it look more like their own. Manchu women wore long robes and platform shoes, while Chinese women had bound feet and wore shorter robes (more like jackets) over skirts or trousers.
Clothing in China was regulated by social status, gender, age, and occasion, beginning at least as early as 500 BC and continuing until the early 20th century. A man's status was apparent in the type of hat that he wore, as well as by badges of rank that indicated his exact place in the social hierarchy. Members of the upper class tended to wear long robes. Both male and female peasants wore jackets and trousers. Members of the imperial court and court officials could wear the dragon robe, a long gown embroidered with dragons, legendary creatures that were an emblem of heaven and the emperor. Dragon robes appeared as early as 1000.
The regulations regarding apparel appeared to break down at times. In the 14th century, Chinese conservatives complained that fashions were changing too rapidly and that the lower classes were usurping the styles of their superiors. Although a pattern of regular style change comparable to that of modern fashion had not emerged, it appears that fashion-oriented behavior has existed in a number of non-Western regions in various historical periods.
From the 8th to the 12th century in Japan, for example, it was a term of praise to call something imamekashi (up-to-date). Although the kimono-a T-shaped garment with wide sleeves that was tied with a sash-remained essentially unchanged as the basic article of clothing for Japanese women for centuries, colors and patterns changed according to the current fashion, as did the way of wearing kimonos. Social conventions also influenced kimono styles. A kimono with a brightly colored flower pattern and long dangling sleeves was, and is still, regarded as suitable only for a young, unmarried woman.
In the early 20th century, traditional clothing began to give way to styles that combined elements of Asian and Western dress. For example, in the 1920s Chinese women began wearing the qi pao (or in Cantonese, the cheongsam), a new slim dress with a high collar and a slit skirt that combined Chinese, Manchu, and Western styles. After a Communist government led by Mao Zedong took control in China in 1949, Chinese people increasingly had to wear the so-called Mao suit, a jacket and trousers of heavy, dark blue cotton. The outfit, which resembled a uniform, was worn by Mao. After Mao died in 1976, the Chinese began again to choose their own styles of dress, and interest revived in the traditional clothing of China's many ethnic minorities.
In Japan and Korea, Western-style clothing became widespread for both men and women in the 20th century, but by the end of the century interest in traditional clothing had returned. While many people in both countries wear Western-style clothing every day, they may wear traditional clothing for special occasions and holidays.
Clothing styles were well established in India by 3000 BC. Indian clothing styles were based on large rectangles of cloth wrapped around the body. The classic Indian clothing styles include the sari for women and the dhoti for men. The sari, a long piece of fabric, is made of cotton or silk, often elaborately decorated with dyed, woven, or embroidered patterns. It is wrapped around the body and worn with a short, fitted bodice. There are many styles of wrapping saris, and various styles are associated with different regions of India. In Pakistan, which was once part of India, women wear very full-cut trousers under, or in place of, the wrapped sari. The dhoti is also a rectangular cloth that can be wrapped around the legs to form a skirt or wrapped and brought up between the legs to form loose pants.
Wrapped and tied cloth rectangles called sarongs are typical apparel for men and women in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Sarongs can be wrapped to form a full-length garment or to form a skirt that is worn with a fitted jacket or top.
Tailored clothing that fits the body closely reached India and other parts of southern Asia with the expansion of the Islamic religion to the region, beginning in about the 14th century. Islamic influence resulted in the introduction of garments based on Persian clothing, such as trousers and fitted coats, as well as veils for women and turbans for men. As in other parts of the world, by the 20th century Western-style clothing had greatly influenced everyday clothing styles in India and Southeast Asia.