Inexpensive long shirts: Kurta

[gilmore]

I suddenly realized that I have something hanging in my closet that would serve quite well as a long shirt to wear with kilts: kurtas. They are the traditional white or light colored shirts worn in India, Afghanistan and Pakistan over baggy trousers called shalwar or pyjama (where our English word comes from.) You may have seen them on the news being worn by the Pakistani crowds chanting "Death to America," etc. I sometimes wear them when in India in the hot season, since they are usually made of 100% cotton and are incredibly cool.

They are more tailored than Jacobite or ghillie shirts, not so blousy.


They slip over the head like a nightshirt, and have 4-5 buttons closing an opening that goes down to a few inches above the navel. They are slit up the sides so that they do not interfere with walking. Traditionally they have what are called, I believe, grandfather collars, but also sometimes have the usual Western shirt collars. You can see both in the photo here: http://cgi.ebay.com/Plain-SHALWAR-KU...QQcmdZViewItem

Sometimes they have no collar at all, like this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/men-s-kaftan-hip...QQcmdZViewItem

A drawback might be that they are often longer than a kilt, coming down to below the knees: http://cgi.ebay.com/44-XXL-Mens-Cott...QQcmdZViewItem but could easily be hemmed up.

Some of them are manufactured shorter than kilts: http://cgi.ebay.com/SH4-Black-Kurta-...QQcmdZViewItem but long enough to have a tail to sit on.

They are sold at Indo-Pak clothing stores in most cities in the US and the UK, and one could probably have them custom made inexpensively.

[Captain]

Looks good to me! I might have to try some of those out for a change from t-shirts...

[Woodsheal]

They may be traditional in that part of the world now, but it appears to me that typical 19th Century European placket-front shirts were introduced there by the British during their colonial/imperial days, and that the shirts were adopted by the native populations.

They DO look great for wearing with a kilt...!

[gilmore]

They may be traditional in that part of the world now, but it appears to me that typical 19th Century European placket-front shirts were introduced there by the British during their colonial/imperial days, and that the shirts were adopted by the native populations.

You may be correct. If so, kurta and beezama/pyjama came about at approximately the same time that clan tartans were invented by Scottish wool mill owners ---and certainly are older than the weathered, "ancient," and probably dress clan tartans---that are now allegedly traditional in THAT part of the world.