Pakistani clothing

What it is

Pakistani clothing covers both the everyday dress of people in Pakistan and the formal outfits kept for weddings, Eid and official occasions. Four garments are named as national dress: the shalwar kameez, the achkan, the sherwani and the kurta. The shalwar is a loose trouser; the kameez is the shirt worn over it. Cloth ranges from cotton to silk and chiffon, and colours and embroidery vary widely. The dress is described as a way of expressing Pakistani culture, shaped by weather, local ways of living, the textiles available and each place's embroidery. Officials in the secretariat have been required to wear national dress since 1982.

Men's dress

Men commonly wear the shalwar kameez, the kurta, a waistcoat, the achkan or the sherwani, and sometimes the churidar or pajama. Older items include the jama and the angarkha. Headgear takes many forms: turbans, the Jinnah cap, also called karakul, the fez, the taqiyah, and the pakol in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. Khussa and kheri are the usual footwear. In winter, and across the north, men drape shawls, often of pashmina or another warm cloth. Every province and ethnic group handles these garments differently, even where the same pieces appear.

Women's dress

Women also wear the shalwar kameez, in many cuts, colours and designs, with embroidery across the front. The kameez varies in sleeve length, shirt length and neckline. The trousers may be straight-cut, patiala, churidar, cigarette pajama, tulip trouser or samosa pajama. A dupatta, a long scarf, is often carried as a decorative accessory over the neck or shoulder, and some women cover their heads with it at a mosque or dargah, a shrine. Wedding dupattas use the embroidery styles kamdani and gota. Burqas, white cotton or two-piece in black, navy or dark red, are worn over ordinary clothes in public by many women in towns, though some educated urban women have stopped. Rural women who work in fields do not wear them.

Regional styles

Each province has its own version of the shalwar kameez and its own extras. In Balochistan a long jama, loose shalwar, a chadar and a cotton pagri are worn, in thick cloth wide enough to keep off the hot winds of the Sulaiman Range and Kharan Desert. Sindhi dress uses the suthan, the kancha with wide ankle cuffs, the cholo tunic, embroidered ganji vests, the Sindhi cap, patko turbans and the Ajrak shawl. Punjabi men wear straight-cut shalwar kameez, and Punjabi women the laacha, kurti, ghagra, lehenga and phulkari. Pashtun men wear the khet partug, Peshawari shalwar and patke tunban, with chappal or kheri on their feet.

Weddings and celebrations

Wedding dress changes with each event of the ceremony and with region. In Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi, men wear an embroidered kameez in bright colours with a plain shalwar for the Rasm-e-Heena, the henna night. A bride in Punjab may wear yellow or orange up to the wedding day, with a Patiala shalwar, yellow dupatta and paranda. For the Baraat and Walima, grooms usually wear kurta shalwar or kurta churidar, a sherwani and khussa, though in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pashtun and Kohistani areas they often wear white shalwar kameez with a turban. Sindhi brides wear a heavily embroidered red lehenga or cholo with veils and jewellery.

How Pakistani clothing is kept

People choose the dress for the day and the occasion. Everyday wear is the shalwar kameez, in each province's own cut. Officials in the secretariat wear national dress. For weddings the outfits change event by event: the Rasm-e-Heena, then the Baraat procession, then the Walima. Brides wear embroidered lehengas, anarkalis, shararas or ghararas, while grooms add a sherwani, sehra, turban and khussa. At Eid, women wear more heavily embroidered shalwar kameez. Some women cover with a dupatta at a mosque or dargah, or wear a burqa in public.

When and where

There is no single date. The dress is worn all year, changing with the weather and the season. Shawls come out in winter and across the northern regions. Wedding dress belongs to the wedding events, which families hold when they choose them. Heavier embroidery appears at Eid and other special occasions.

The dress belongs to Pakistan, and each province has its own style: Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. It is strongest in the provinces and in the rural areas where regional forms of the shalwar kameez are still worn. Bridal styles are also popular with Indian brides, and the firaq partug is worn across the border in Afghanistan.

What Pakistani clothing means

Clothes here carry identity as well as comfort. Regions and ethnic groups can be told apart by their dress, and in Sindh older forms once marked which tribe a woman belonged to. The dress is described as a way of expressing Pakistani culture, shaped by climate, work and the embroidery of each place. Bridal outfits, henna-night colours and Eid embroidery set special days apart from ordinary ones. Head covering at a mosque or dargah, and purdah observed with the burqa, belong to local custom and belief.

Questions people ask about Pakistani clothing

See also

PashminaUltra-fine wool of Himalayan goats, hand-woven in Kashmir into shawls of rankSariAn unstitched length of cloth that women drape around the body, worn across South AsiaSherwaniA long buttoned coat for men, worn at weddings and state occasions in South AsiaDupattaA traditional South Asian scarf worn across the shoulders, chest, and head

Good reading and sources

• Pakistani clothing on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-10.