Nepali Fashion - Kurta Suruwal

KURTA SURUWAL

From simple, super comfortable everyday-wear to glamorous, Bollywood-style outfits worthy of a wedding or a dance party, you can find incredible range in kurtas.

In India they are often called salwar kameez, and if you're shopping online, that's what you'll find them as. But in Nepal, this outfit is referred to as Kurta Suruwal. Kurta is the tunic/dress top and suruwal refers to the trousers. The outfit is usually completed with a matching scarf, called a "saal."

You can find ready-made saree and kurtas, which is a great option if you don't have a lot of time in Nepal. But I highly recommend getting one tailor-made. It's simple, cheap, and you'll have an outfit custom-made for you.

A great perk of having your outfit tailor-made is that you have control over the style. You can choose the common Punjabi-style suruwal, which in layman's terms is the Poofy Pants look, which is super comfortable and sort of breezy which is nice for hot weather.

There's the churidar salwar style, which is a more fitted trouser, giving more of a 'leggings' vibe. Don't be surprised when the length of your trousers is wayyyy longer than the length of your leg - there's supposed to be some fabric gathered around your ankles and calves.

OR you can forgo the trousers altogether and buy a pair of readymade leggings instead. Leggings available at Nepali clothing shops are usually high quality, made of thick, opaque fabric. You can get bright colors to match nearly any outfit. They are a super comfortable, simple alternative to the poofy pants or the sometimes hard-to-wear fitted style.

BONUS style: Aladdin style trousers! These are the same idea as the poofy Punjabi style, but with extra poofiness. They come with more pleats and have a fancier look about them. I especially like them paired with satiny fabric and slightly shorter, fancy kurta tops. But they are a pain to iron, so keep that in mind!

Tailor shops vary from place to place. Getting an outfit sewn is usually very cheap, about 100-300 rupees, depending on the place and how complicated your outfit is. It should only take a few days to get it done, depending on how busy the shop is. I used to go to one tailor who would take months to get an outfit done for me! He did a good job, but I think he was overworked because the shop was so busy. One day I tried another shop just a couple of blocks down the road, and they said my outfit would be ready in two days! So if you have time and money to burn on different outfits, I recommend trying more than one tailor shop - unless you're happy with the first one you see, of course!

Have fun kurta shopping!