Dress habits are a reflection of one's culture, beliefs, values, attitudes and lifestyle. This colourful attire keeps changing with the evolution of tastes, ones needs, and comforts as well. Dress in Bengal too has under gone changes with change in the human faculty called taste. Dress Habits of the Bengalees can be categorized under the rubrics of i) Male Dresses and Female Dresses ii) Urban and Rural Dresses
In Bengal, the typical women dress has always been the saree.Apart from saree, another type of dress, which has suited to the taste of the Bengalees, is the Salwar Kameez. This is a dress, which the Bengalees got from the Pathans and the Mughals. With the emergence of salwar kameez, women, no longer clad themselves in saris from the age of nine or ten. Instead they start wearing saris from the age of twenty or so and at the age of nine they are found in frocks, skirts and similar other dresses. Skirts and frocks are dresses, which are worn even up to the age of twenty. Most women, these days, irrespective of their age, wear salwar kameez in formal and informal occasions. This particular dress has gained popularity over sari, as women feel more comfortable in it. But sari is not out of fashion. It is still a dress, which is worn by many women. Specially on occasions and ceremonies, women of Bengal are mostly found in saris. Even at home, some women still continue the tradition of wearing saris though there exist other types of dresses like the maxi, night dress etc.
