History and Examples of Traditional Thai Clothing

Thailand is well known for its silk. It’s made from silkworms’ cocoons that are turned into thread and woven into beautiful and intricate patterns. But what is this fabric used for? How is it worn? Traditional Thai clothing, and what is understood to be traditional Thai clothing, is a really interesting topic with a somewhat unsuspected history.

History of Thai Traditional Dress

In 1950, when H.M. King Bhumibol assumed the throne, along with his wife H.M. Queen Sirikit, much of the traditional Thai dress and costume had been lost to Western style influences that had been introduced over the previous century or so. In part because of the tragedy that surrounded his ascension, King Bhumibol made it a priority to institute reforms and changes that would enhance and solidify a national Thai identity. As a part of this, Queen Sirikit set about establishing a national Thai costume.

By pulling from the few historical photographs that existed, writings and remaining royal fabrics and garments, she worked with French designers to come up with eight different looks for women and essentially one look for men that would become recognized as traditional Thai clothing.

Women’s Dress

Paasin

The base component of all the variations of traditional dress for women is the ผ้าซิ่น (paasin). It is a tube of fabric, in these more formal cases it is made of silk, that is worn as a skirt. The wearer folds and tucks the fabric to make the skirt tight around the waist with a fold in the front. When done properly, the fabric in the fold will be even with the rest of the paasin. This garment is not only worn as a part of these formal, national costumes. It is extremely common to see women, especially elderly women, in the villages wearing a paasin with an informal top. You can easily buy cheap cotton versions at the market, and Peace Corps staff gave one to all of the women during PST. They are also great for going between your shower and the bedroom, changing underneath of and remaining modest if needing to take a break on the side of the road.

Thai Chakri

The Thai Chakri outfit is a formal and elegant costume, and likely what most people think of when they think of a traditional Thai costume. It, of course, starts with the paasin, which is typically a yok dork brocade and may even incorporate gold and silver threads into the weft of the weave. The top is another tube of silk and then the look is completed with a สไบ (sabai), which is the shoulder cloth that is draped around the body, and a gold or silver belt. Gold and silver jewelry is worn as accessories.

Thai Borophiman

This is another formal outfit, but the Thai Borophiman incorporates a long-sleeved blouse as the top and no sabai. The buttons for the round-necked blouse can be either in the front or the back and sometimes the pieces are sewn together into a dress. Again, completed with a gold or silver belt and accessorized with gold or silver jewelry.

Thai Siwalai

The Thai Siwalai is another kind of formal evening wear. It is like a combination of the two previous styles, incorporating a long sleeved top and a sabai. Most often, this outfit is worn to royal ceremonies and other formal events.

Thai Chakkraphat

This outfit is similar to the Thai Chakri, but is more conservative. It uses two sabai shawls, one being thicker with full embroidery. This ensemble is reserved for royal and national ceremonies.

Thai Chitlada

The Thai Chilada is a formal outfit that is used for day-time events. I have seen this worn to funerals and cremations. In addition to the paasin, there is a jacket-like top that has five buttons along the front opening.

Thai Ruean Ton

Moving into more casual wear, we have the Thai Ruean Ton. The paasin sports vertical or horizontal stripes and the blouse is collarless and buttons in the front. Typically, the blouse is tucked in and the outfit is completed with a belt.

Thai Ammarin

Another more casual outfit, the Thai Ammarin is evening attire. The blouse may have a wide and rounded neckline and short or 3/4 length sleeves. Typically, the blouse of this outfit is not tucked in and no belt is needed.

Thai Dusit

This style of outfit is registers visually as the most modern. It is clearly a mix of Thai and Western influences and is intended to be worn to events that would usually call for Western-style evening wear. It is a slim-fitting dress made with a brocaded silk and accessorized with either traditional Thai or Western jewelry.

Men’s Dress

Pakama

The ผ้าขาวม้า (pakama) is not really an article of clothing, per se, but it is a piece of fabric that accompanies most rural men everywhere they go. It is typically a large, rectangular piece of fabric with a plaid pattern woven into it. The men will wear it tied around their waist until its need or use become apparent, such as a head covering in the heat, a hammock, a towel, a sling, a wrap to walk to and from the bathroom with no pants, a bag, a (carefully wrapped) pair of pants or anything else a versatile piece of fabric may be used for. When the women trainees received our paasins, the men received pakamas.

Suea Phraratchathan

This top was design in 1979 for the king and was popularized by the Minister of Defense, General Prem Tinsulanonda. It is a jacket, typically worn with Western-style pants, though I have seen instances of it being worn with more “Thai-style” pants which are a sewn recreation of the way pants made from a piece of fabric (like the pakama) would look like. The jacket has a Mandarin collar, is slightly tapered, has five buttons and two outside pockets. It may be long-sleeved, short-sleeved or long-sleeved with a sash, depending on the level of formality. At my school, all of the teachers were measured for short-sleeved jackets, the women got something more like a short-sleeved blazer and the men got a short-sleeved suea phraratchathan.

If you are in Thailand and curious about the national dress, I highly encourage you to visit the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles in Bangkok. It had so much information which I did not write down and they do not allow pictures. I had hoped they would have a book with all of the information, but they did not. I hope to return and update this post to reflect the more accurate information that is available there.