Wearing palazzo pants

Though monsoon has started here the weather is still pretty hot - around 30, plus the rains have brought humidity. Yet I see many girls here wear skinny jeans. I just wonder how they can bear it. The only trousers that I can bear in this weather are the palazzo pants. They are cool and comfortable to wear on hot summer days. No wonder I have several of them in my wardrobe. Here are three different looks with three different palazzo pants.

Traditional costume of the republics of Central Asia

Girls at the National Dress Festival, Uzbekistan, representing Tashkent and Fergana. Photo  source

I've already written about ethnic jewelry of the republics of Central Asia and today's post is about their traditional costume.
Traditional costume in Central Asia is still very much alive and worn in everyday life, partly because it is the most practical wear for this region and partly because it fosters national pride.
The costume worn by men and women has same basic structure and at the same time greatly varies in embelishment, colour and weave of cloth. The three basic pieces are: a tunic, trousers and a variety of coats. Social status and ethnic origin are reflected in the materials from which the basic garments are made. Man's tunic usually comes just below the waist, women wear a longer version that reaches to mid-calf or to the ankle. The colour, pattern and decoration varies from group to group.

Mixed floral patterns dress

On Thursday it was the Day of Russia and we were invited to the Russian embassy for celebration. I chose this dress to wear for the occasion. It combines two different floral prints.The small turquoise flowers print is used only at the front panels of the dress; the rest of the dress is made of the black-with-large-flowers print. Besides there is embroidery and some sequins decoration at the chest area.

A blue watercolour dress

I call this dress "my real French dress". Not only because it was bought in Paris and is by a French designer. But also because on its tag it is written not "made in Sri Lanka" or "made in Bangladesh" but really "made in France". It was from the collection called "Antigua" and no doubt the dress's print was inspired by the island's blue skies and turquoise sea.

Ethnic jewelry of the republics of Central Asia

Turkmen girl wearing traditional guljaka ornament. Photo source

The republics of Central Asia region are Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan and Turkmenistan. The culture of this area has been influenced over the centuries by the many foreign travelers of the legendary Silk Route as well as by the invasive tribal groups of Mongolia and has much in common. Jewelry worn by women of the region, though with some regional differences and preferences, has also much in common.
Gold, silver, turquoise and rubies were mined in Central Asia since ancient times, which led to development of the craft of jewelry-making. The types of jewelry worn by a person varied according to the wearer's age - girls and young women wore more jewelry than older women; social status - the richer the family, the larger and more diverse was the collection of jewelry worn by the woman; and the purpose of decoration: ornaments for festive occasions were most luxurious.

Orange cats blouse

Recently added one more cat-theme piece of cloth in my collection - this blouse with orange-white-pink-beige cats of different shape all over it. The blouse is actually long sleeved and when I tried it on the length of the sleeves turned out to be too short for me (the usual problem for me here when buying local things because generally Nepali are shorter in height). But this fact couldn't prevent me from buying the blouse. I simply couldn't leave behind such a wonderful print. After all, I can wear the blouse with the sleeves rolled up!

Most of the shops in Kathmandu now have fixed price system (though if you ask for a discount, in many cases you can get 10% off) but while in the shop where I found the blouse I noticed that there were no price tags on the clothes. When I asked the owner why, he said that he remembers the prices by heart. Yeah, right...It just means that he says you the price according to the way you look. And if you are a foreigner then expect that the price would be at least double-high of the original one. Some people here think that if you are a foreigner than you are as rich as a Saudi Prince and they have all the right to charge an exorbitant price from you. So, had to bargain with the guy to lower the price till reasonable level. Both were happy in the end.

The bag is also new, its colour matches perfectly with the blouse's orange cats. I like the orange-green combination so I wear the blouse with my green skirt previously shown here worn with a floral print t-shirt.

Cat theme blouse - local, skirt - Bysi, bag - Adamis, shoes - Bentley, glass beads bangle - bought in India, glass beads choker - local.

Sharing with Patti's Visible Monday link-up.

Have a nice day!