Read and translate the text. On the continents of Africa, Asia and South America traditional dress is worn alongside Western dress

On the continents of Africa, Asia and South America traditional dress is worn alongside Western dress. Climate, religion and tra­dition dictate styles.

In Africa, clothes are loose and wrapped around the body. Women usually wear rec­tangular "wrappers" with loose blouses beneath. These used to be made of hand-woven or printed cotton, but now every kind of bright, patterned cloth is used. Men also wear wrappers or wide, loose robes, with loose trousers beneath. Women favor head-ties like tall turbans, while men wear small embroid­ered or woven pillbox hats in various shapes. In the fields wide-brimmed straw or leather hats keep off the sun.

In Islamic countries, from Turkey to Paki­stan, women's dress is carefully controlled by religious rules. In strict countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, women have to wear all-enveloping robes called chadors over the head and even over the face when going out of doors. Beneath this they wear tunics and trousers or European dress. In less strict countries such as Bangladesh, the tunic is worn with loose trousers and a head shawl. Men wear various types of loose robes with turbans or head-wraps. Now many of them wear Western clothes.

In Hindu India women wear draped "saris" of silk, cotton or synthetic fiber, over short, tight-fitting blouses. Brides wear red and gold. Widows dress in plain white. There are vari­ous types of men's clothes. The simplest is the dhoti, a loincloth made of white cotton, some­times worn with a long shirt. Many men wear versions of Western dress, though slim-fitting jackets, without lapels and cut with high col­lars, are popular too.

In China and Japan, until the 19^th century, traditional dress varied greatly between the social classes. In the royal courts, layer upon layer of brightly woven silk robes were worn. (In Japan these are called kimonos.) In both China and Japan each rank at the court was identified by the symbolic patterns that they wore on their outer robes. Both men and women wore these robes and the colors changed according to the season and occasion.

The peasantry wore home-spun cotton clothes: simple jackets and trousers in China and a short tunic in Japan. In China all this changed when the Communist regime was established in 1949 and everyone, men and women alike, wore blue cotton jackets and trousers, whatever their rank, sex, or occu­pation. Over the last ten years far more vari­ation in styles of dress has been seen in China, as Western fashions are increasingly worn.

In Japan, from the late 19^th century, Western clothes were worn by order of the emperor at the court and were adopted slowly by the rest of the population. Nowadays full traditional Japanese dress is worn for festivals and formal occasions only, though many people wear simple kimonos in the privacy of their homes, while going to work in Western suits and dresses. Since the early 1980s, the Japanese fashion industry has become internationally famous for the originality of its designs.

In South and Central America and in Mexico two cultures live alongside each other. The dominant group is of European, mainly Span­ish, descent; the other is of Indian descent.

The Indian communities are the last rem­nants of several great nations which flourished before the arrival of the Spanish conquerors in the 16^th century. In the years after the Spanish conquest the Indians intermarried with the Spanish and many of them moved into the towns to find work. The people of the cities mostly dress in European clothes like their counterparts in the rest of America and Europe.

In many remote country areas, however, Indian villagers still wear their traditional dress. The cotton or woolen cloth is spun, woven, and dyed at home. Women wear a straight, loose blouse over a wrap-around or gathered skirt, held up with a woven belt. Blankets, shawls, or jackets are worn in cold weather. Men wear shirts and loose trousers in white cotton, with bright woven belts, covered with blankets, capes or jackets. Both men and women wear various styles of straw or felt hats with a wide brim.

Men's shirts and belts and women's clothes, are beautifully decorated with woven, knitted or embroidered patterns, often in geometric designs. These survive from ancient Indian architecture and weaving and used to have powerful magical meanings. Originally the clothes were dyed with soft, natural colors. Now they are often factory-made in bright chemical colors for tourists and for export.

The most remote Indian peoples live in the Amazonian forests. They wear little but body paint, and wreaths and belts of beautiful feathers and leaves, which express religious or magical ideas.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-08