Punjabi Traditional Dress: Kurta, Lacha, Pagg and Khussa

Punjabi traditional dress for men is a long, loose kurta over a lacha or tehmat, a length of cloth wrapped round the waist, with a starched turban, the pagg, and a pair of embroidered khussa shoes. For women it is the Punjabi suit of kameez, shalwar and dupatta, at its most festive in phulkari embroidery, with a paranda braided into the hair. In Pakistani Punjab you still see the full village dress on older men every day, and on almost everyone at weddings, melas and Punjab Culture Day.

This guide explains each piece, how it changes across the province, when people wear it, and where to buy it in Lahore and Multan.

What is Punjabi traditional dress?

Shalwar kameez is the everyday dress of Punjab, as it is everywhere in Pakistan. What makes a Punjabi outfit traditional is the older village dress behind it: the kurta and wrapped lacha, the pagg, the khes shawl and the khussa for men, and for women the embroidered dupatta, the paranda and, in the south-west, the full ghagra skirt.

For the national picture, from Sindhi ajrak to Pashtun and Balochi dress, see our guide to Pakistani traditional dress. This guide stays in Punjab and goes into the detail.

What do Punjabi men wear?

Kurta

The Punjabi kurta is wide, cut straight and falls to the knee. Village kurtas are plain white or a light colour in cotton; festive ones are in fine lawn or silk with embroidery at the neck. Over it, for weddings and cooler evenings, men add a waistcoat.

Lacha and tehmat

Instead of a shalwar, the traditional lower garment is a single length of cloth wrapped round the waist and tucked in, like a sarong. There are two names, and they are not quite the same thing. A tehmat is one colour with no border. A lacha has a border and is variegated, often checked or striped. Wearing one takes practice, since the cloth has to be pleated at the front and tucked firmly at the waist. It is worth getting someone who wears one to show you the first time.

Pagg

The Punjabi turban, called pagg or pagri, is a two-piece affair: a soft, conical cap called the kulla underneath, and a long wrap of starched muslin round it. The wrap ends in a stiff crest called the shamla or turra, standing up from the top, and a tail. How tall the crest stands and how the tail falls vary from person to person and district to district.

The pagg carries real weight. A groom wears one on his wedding day, and exchanging turbans is an old way of sealing a bond of brotherhood between two men. In Cholistan, turbans were traditionally very long; one account puts them at up to 40 feet.

Khes and shawls

The khes is a heavy cotton damask cloth, used as a winter wrap over the shoulders and as bedding. On a cold morning in a Punjab village, an older man wrapped in a khes is a common sight.

What do Punjabi women wear?

The Punjabi suit and ghagra

The Punjabi suit is a kameez and shalwar with a dupatta, or chunni, worn round the neck or over the head. Before the suit became universal, the women's dress of Punjab was the ghagra, a full, gathered skirt, worn with a short top called a kurti. The ghagra is still worn in parts of south-western Punjab and turns up in folk dance costumes everywhere.

Phulkari

Phulkari, "flower work", is the embroidery most associated with Punjab. It is a darn stitch worked from the back of the cloth in untwisted silk floss, called patt, on coarse hand-spun cotton, khaddar. A phulkari in the strict sense is sparingly embroidered so the base cloth shows; a bagh, "garden", is covered so densely that the cloth disappears.

The word appears in Waris Shah's Heer in the 18th century, and phulkaris were once a central part of a bride's trousseau, with brides receiving many pieces from their families. Hazara was known for fine bagh work, and an NGO-led revival has brought it back there. Many phulkari dupattas sold in bazaars today are machine-made or printed copies, which are fine for a wedding but not the same thing as hand work.

Paranda and jewellery

The paranda is a long tassel of coloured silk or cotton threads, plaited into the end of a braid so it swings below the hair. Festive ones carry beads, mirrors and pompoms. It is cheap, packs flat and is one of the easiest pieces of Punjabi dress to take home.

How does dress change across Punjab?

The basic pieces are the same across the province, but the cut changes.

• Pothohar. The Pothohari shalwar keeps the width of the old Punjabi suthan, with some folds. The local shoe has a sharp, pointed toe.
• Multan. The Multani shalwar is very wide and full, with deep folds, closer to the old suthan than the city shalwar.
• Bahawalpur. The Bahawalpuri shalwar is the widest of all, with voluminous folds. It was traditionally made from sufi, a cloth with a cotton warp and a silk weft shot with gold thread.
• The Saraiki south. Around Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan, the Saraiki ajrak, usually blue, is worn as a shawl or turban, especially on Saraiki Culture Day on 6 March.
• Dera Ghazi Khan. The Derawali shoe is round-toed and embroidered in silk.

Which shoes go with Punjabi dress?

The khussa is the shoe of Punjab: flat, handmade, with a one-piece upper of leather or cloth and often a curled toe. Men's pairs for weddings are embroidered in gold thread, called tilla; women's are covered in thread, beads or mirror work. Lahore, Multan and Bahawalpur each have their own style, and our guide to khussa styles explains the differences and how to break in a new pair, which takes a few days.

When do people wear Punjabi traditional dress?

• Every day in villages, mostly by older men: a plain kurta and tehmat, with a pagg or a cloth over the shoulder.
• Weddings. The groom wears a pagg, often with a sherwani or kurta. At the mehndi, many young men turn up in kurta, lacha and khussa to dance, and women in bright suits with phulkari dupattas and parandas.
• Punjab Culture Day, 14 March. Many people wear kurta, lacha and pagg for the day, and the celebrations at Alhamra in Lahore are full of traditional dress. Our Punjab Culture Day guide covers the day.
• Melas and urs. At village fairs and shrine festivals, especially in the south, you will see the full regional dress.

Where can you buy Punjabi traditional dress in Lahore and Multan?

Lahore

• Anarkali Bazaar. The shoe lanes of New Anarkali are the easiest place for khussa, and the streets around them sell clothes, dupattas and jewellery.
• Ichhra. Lahore's biggest cloth market, on Ferozepur Road. Buy lacha cloth, lawn and cotton for a kurta here, and have it stitched by a tailor nearby.
• Liberty Market. Easier than Ichhra and more central, with ready-made kurtas and festive suits.

Our guide to the best shopping places in Lahore compares these markets.

Multan

The old city's Hussain Agahi bazaar is the place for Multani embroidered fabric and khussa, and the lanes around it sell more of both. See our Hussain Agahi bazaar guide for what to look for and how to bargain.

Buying tips

• Pagg cloth is sold by the length in cloth shops. Ask a shopkeeper, or a relative, to tie it for you the first time.
• Prices change with the fabric and the embroidery, so compare two or three shops before buying anything hand-worked.

Which pieces are worth buying?

For most visitors, a khussa and a paranda are the best buys: authentic, light and easy to carry. A good phulkari dupatta, ideally hand-embroidered, is the best single textile to take home, though hand work costs far more than machine copies.

A full kurta and lacha outfit makes sense if you are going to a Punjabi wedding or a Culture Day event and want to dress the part. Have the kurta stitched or buy ready-made, and ask someone to show you how to wrap the lacha. A pagg is more of a commitment, since it has to be tied by someone who knows how, so it makes sense to ask your hosts for help on the day.

If you are planning a trip around a festival or a mela, our experiences page has more cultural ideas.

Frequently asked questions