History of Salwar Kameez

Some people believe that salwar kameez dates back to 12th century and owe its origin to Islamic or the Iranian era. It is also believed that during that time, men and women both used to wear salwar kameez as part of their traditional dress. Yet others believe it to have originated in the 16th century in Afghanistan where it was worn by women of higher strata of society. It was invented to keep oneself safe from the dust storms- a regular feature of this country. The Mughals who ruled the South Asian continent in the 17th and 18th centuries did the most to popularize the comfortable and useful salwar kameez attire. However, at that time, salwar kurtas were confined to the Muslim women population only. When the Britishers took over in the late 18th century, salwar kameez took a backseat with the growing popularity of skirts and shirts.

After seeing a downtime for a very long period, salwar kameez were suddenly revived in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, most interestingly by the leading actresses of Hindi film industry. The bollywood actors sizzled the silver screen with all types of innovative salwar suits and churidar kurta. Young girls and women started replacing their traditional Indian sarees with salwar suits designed according to the latest fashion defined by the Bollywood actresses. These were named Bollywood suit that never lost its status again among the masses.