Uzbek national costumes are very bright, beautiful, comfortable and are part of the rich cultural traditions and lifestyle of the people. In cities, it is no longer rare to find people in national dress, today it is worn for traditional festive events, but in the countryside it still serves as part of both everyday and weekend attire.

Uzbek men's clothing
The basis of the national men's costume is a chapan - a quilted robe, which is tied with a waist scarf - kiyikcha. The traditional headdress is a skullcap. A kuilak is put on the body - a men's undershirt of a straight cut, and an ishton - wide trousers that taper to the bottom. Feet are shod in boots made of thin leather. Belts in full dress are often very elegant - velvet or embroidered, with silver patterned plaques and buckles. Everyday kuilak was girded with a long scarf-like sash.

Uzbek women's clothing
The traditional Uzbek women's costume consists of a tunic-like simple cut of a dress made of khan-atlas, as well as bloomers. Festive clothes use satin fabric and rich gold embroidery. Women's headdress includes three elements at once: a skullcap, a scarf and a turban. Jewelry made of gold or silver has always been an indispensable addition to the costume of Uzbek women of all ages.

The embroidery pattern was not chosen by chance. It has always had either magical or practical significance. From the drawing one could understand the social status, and sometimes other meanings were invested in it. For example, a repeating geometric pattern on a braid is a kind of amulet. Clothes made of fabrics of dark blue, black colors were not worn in any region of Uzbekistan. Sogdian patterns retained the influence of Zoroastrianism. The colors in this region were selected based on the position in society. For example, the prevalence of blue and purple hues in a woman's dress spoke of the high position of her husband, and greenish motifs were often used by peasants and artisans.

Shoes consisted of mahsi (ichigi - beautiful boots without a back, with soft soles, without a heel) and boots made of rough leather or rubber. It was a very comfortable and warm shoe, which to this day enjoys prestige.

Women's and men's national headdress. Skullcaps
One of the main details in traditional Uzbek clothing is the headdress. The national headdress in many countries of Central Asia, including Uzbekistan, is the skullcap. The name of the skullcap comes from the Turkic “tyube”, which translates as “top, top”. It is worn by men, women and children. Only older women do not wear skullcaps.

Now in large cities it is rare to see a person in a skullcap, and for the most part it is an important detail of clothing for family and religious holidays. The traditional skullcap has a tetrahedral conical shape, it is black with white patterned embroidery in the form of 4 “peppers” and 16 miniature arches. The everyday skullcap "kalampir" is one of the simplest and most common, but its significance should not be underestimated. Each region of Uzbekistan has its own skullcap in height and patterns.

With all the richest diversity, it is considered that in Uzbekistan there are six main schools of sewing skullcaps: Ferghana, Tashkent, Kashkadarya-Surkhandarya, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khorezm-Karakalpak. For special, festive occasions, there are elegant skullcaps - they are rich in bright and colorful embroideries and patterns, gold embroidery.

 

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