Clothing, Traditional—Bhutan

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In 1989 the Tshogdu, or National Assembly, of Bhutan announced that all Bhutanese citizens must wear the appropriate national dress in all public areas. For men in Bhutan, the traditional dress is a robe known as the go; women's traditional costume is a wraparound garment called the kira. Accounts, both written and pictorial, suggest that until around the seventeenth century the prevalent male dress was different from the current dress. The popularization of the go is attributed to Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (1594–1651), the creator of a unified Bhutan.

In 1616 Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal fled to Bhutan to escape from conflicts in Tibet and by the time of his death in 1651 had not only set the stage for the creation of a unified Bhutan, but also made sweeping changes in the laws and customs. One such change attributed to him is the go, which in most respects resembles the Tibetan dress for males. In time the go achieved almost universal usage in Bhutan and even came to be recognized as an important element of Bhutan's distinct identity in the region. In contrast, it is believed that the women's dress, the kira, has been in use in Bhutan almost unchanged for centuries.

The national costumes of Bhutan have remained the principal choice of attire in Bhutan. By the end of the twentieth century, with the effects of modernization finally being felt, the national costumes gained even more prominence. For a small country surrounded by giant neighbors, the costumes were seen to be attributes that clearly set Bhutan apart from the rest of the region and gave the inhabitants a Bhutanese identity. Concern that such a symbol would inadvertently be discarded along Bhutan's path toward modernization led to considerable debate in the National Assembly of Bhutan as well as among private citizens in the 1980s and continues today. Thus, according to this pronouncement, the go and kira were formally declared the national costumes of Bhutan for men and women, respectively. This law ignored the existence of several ethnic minorities, each with a unique dress style, inside Bhutan's borders. Fortunately the seemingly radical move of ordering people to wear national costume was mitigated during its implementation and did not lead to the prosecution of ethnic minorities who wore their own dress in public. The affected minorities were mostly the Westernized Bhutanese youth, who preferred to follow the latest Western trends, and the ethnic Nepalese, who preferred to wear their own traditional costume. Western attire and Nepalese costumes were both considered foreign. The vast majority of Bhutanese were largely unaffected by this law since they already wore the national costumes. Strong calls for continuing the dress code have persisted unabated in the National Assembly.

Traditional dress for women consists of the kira, kera, koma, wonju, toego, and petticoat. The kira is a large piece of woven cloth that is wrapped around the body in a series of folds. It is worn over a blouse, or wonju, and a cotton petticoat. Body-length petticoats are known as gutsum, and petticoats from the waist down to the ankle are called meyo. Wrapping the kira is a complex process: with the kira behind the woman, she brings one corner from behind her left shoulder. Wrapping the other end from her right side, she hooks it with the corner by using a koma, a two-part brooch with a connecting chain. She then turns the kira around until the edges reach her right side, loops it back to her left, and draws it behind to her right shoulder. The two ends are again hooked together with the other end of the koma. The resulting pleats are adjusted until they are even, and the dress is fastened at the waist with a belt known as a kera. A jacket or toego is worn over this. Cuffs are formed by folding the wonju's sleeves back over the sleeves of the toego. Tying the kera creates a pouch in the fabric above it, which is used as an ample pocket to keep anything from money to snacks. Ordinary women and villagers were expected to wear their kira ankle length; the nobility and wives of senior officials wore it to the ground, a practice that continues in rural areas.

For men, the traditional go is a robelike dress that extends down to the toes. It is worn over a simple inner shirt known as a toego (not to be confused with the women's toego). The right half of the go is tucked inside the left, and then both ends are raised to around knee level, from where they are folded back to form symmetrical pleats. The garment is fastened by tying the kera around the waist. As with the women's dress, folding back the sleeves of the toego over the sleeves of the go forms the cuffs.

Three aspects of wearing a go traditionally reflected the wearer's station in society: the height of the go, the length of the cuffs, and the extent of exposure of the toego at the collar. Nobility, senior government officials, and members of the religious order generally wore their go below the knees. Everyone else wore a go that fell above the knee. Similarly, only the elite were permitted to display long cuffs and expose a considerable amount of the toego at the collar. By the 1990s however, through social custom, the increasing number of wealthy "commoners" made this distinguishing feature disappear.

Most Bhutanese men carry a dagger known as a dozom in their go. It is a multiutility item whose use ranges from peeling betel nuts, to cooking, to self-defense. Other accessories are used for formal occasions, however. A kabne is a long scarf worn when visiting government offices and temples and when meeting senior officials. It is the traditional mark of rank, with the color determining rank. Ordinary people wear a white kabne; senior officials wear red, which can be awarded only by the king. Ministers wear an orange kabne, and those of the king and the head of the religious body, the Je Khempo, are saffron. People in the military, when wearing the national costume, wear a shoulder sash for the same purpose. Women wear a rachu, a woven sash worn on the shoulder, though here there is no distinction of colors to mark rank. On formal occasions, the attire for men requires the traditional boot known as dalham, a knee-high boot made of cloth and embroidered with decorations. Senior officials who wear a red scarf and higher must wear the traditional sword known as the pata on the right hip.

The textiles with which the go and kira are made are an important aspect of the national costumes. The different patterns, each with distinctive names, bring the kira to life and set the go significantly apart from its original form in Tibet. Bhutanese textiles are artistic and cultural assets that are also quickly finding markets outside Bhutan.

In addition to the national dress, other ethnic costumes are worn in Bhutan. The Doya men of south-western Bhutan wear a dress known as the pakhi, a simple wrapped, sleeveless, knee-length garment belted at the waist. Women wear a similar garment that is closer to ankle length. European travelers to Bhutan in the eighteenth century reported that a dress similar to the pakhi was in use at the time.

Among the pastoral communities of the northeastern parts of Merak and Sakteng, the men wear thick jackets of yak wool with rawhide jackets over them. The lower garments are leather trousers belted at the waist, over which thick woolen shorts known as kango are worn. The women are dressed similarly, except that instead of shorts they wear a sleeveless tunic or shinkha, which extends to the knees and is belted at the waist. The pastoralists of Laya wear tunics and garments made of woven yak wool as well, which distinguish them considerably from the rest of the country. Among the Nepali-speaking minorities in the south of Bhutan, the dress is the same as is worn in Nepal. Similarly, the ethnic Tibetans settled in Bhutan wear traditional Tibetan dresses.

Textiles—Bhutan

Collister, Peter. (1987) Bhutan and the British. London: Serindia.

Myers, Diana K., and Susan S. Bean, eds. (1994) From the Land of the Thunder Dragon: Textile Arts of Bhutan. London, Serindia.

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