The 1980s saw new trends in men's fashions. The influence came mainly through satellite television and increased travel. There was a conscious evolution of the classical Mughal styles, in which designers adapted elaborate dresses to meet contemporary needs. Punjabis with buttoned-up collars became longer, and the embellishment of exotic needlework or blockprint patterns enhanced the cut. Combination punjabi suits developed to men's three-piece ensembles. The third item was the left shoulder shawl or the graceful sleeveless long cloak with slits on the sides and finely embroidered. These are usually made from expensive silks, tassars and textured woven fabrics with gold braids or gold and silver embroideries. Since the 1990s, fashion designer men's wear has taken over as formal evening wear at weddings and festivals, reducing the use of western-style suits among the young elite. As cultural functions demand indigenous dress, the kurta-pyjama or punjabi-pyjama are still in common use, with or without waistcoats. For office and workplace trousers with open-collar shirt are commonly worn. Working class people of all religions still prefer the lungi-genji, the sewn sarong and short-sleeved cotton vest, as a daily garb. Both rural and urban common people wear the climatically suitable lungi-genji or lungi with shirt, which has been the unofficial national dress of Bengal for centuries. Middle and upper class men wear the lungi at home, usually with stylish punjabi.

Western influence on urban Bengali women's dress entered in subtle ways at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. While the sari remained the same in drape, the blouse took on western styles, for instance, puff-sleeves or tight-fitting sleeves up to the wrists, made out of rich materials such as velvet, satin and brocade. The necklines, too, were scooped out wider and lower as in European dress and came to be fringed with laces, brocade braids, and various decorative borders. Post World War II changes brought in printed mill cloths, saris and blouses of the same material. The traditional handloom saris continued to be worn by ordinary women, as they were cheap and durable. The upper and middle class women wore the expensive silk jamdani and benarasi saris for weddings and festivals, and fine hand-loomed cottons at home. The innovation of artificial silk provided rich looking clothes at prices affordable by those in the low-income bracket.

The period from 1945 to 1975 did not see much change. In the 1980s, information and visual communication media caused sudden extraneous changes. Access to sari fashions from India led to a demand for change in weaving textures, colours and embellishment. Designer saris, embroidered in nakshi kantha embroidery, brush painted, and tie-and-dye saris became fashionable. Blouses varied between the U-neck, which placed emphasis on the sari, and the conventional round open neckline exposing shoulders and neck for gold or silver jewelry.

and women in different professions. In response to the demands of a more active outdoor life, women have adopted this dress for comfort. This has led to a whole range of products in cotton day-dress, using all the formats of block print, hand and machine embroideries, screen print and dressy evening combinations in lace, silk, brocades, tissues and velvets. Jamdani dopattas, Tangail hand-loomed dopattas and muslin dopattas or orhnas are worn according to the choice of dress.

Women's hairstyles have witnessed noticeable changes since the 1980s. Women traditionally made their long hair up in a coil or khopa, and girls wore braids and plaits, but now they took to varying their hairstyles. Access to media has brought in other fashions and beauty parlours now offer services to trim and perm hair to suit the latest international trends.

Urban women's dress fashions are subject to change on an annual basis, but the sari remains a perennial favourite. [Perveen Ahmed]

Dress of the tribal people The tribal communities of Bangladesh usually make their own clothes for their dresses. Almost every family has a loom. In the chittagong hill tracts the fabrics made by the tribal people in their own looms are very colourful. They make sheets, thin towels, dress material, carpets and carrying bags. Traditionally, tribal people have used cotton produced by them on the hill slopes and they themselves have made the yarn for weaving and used natural colours for dyeing. These days, however, they buy yarn and dyes extensively from the market. Dresses for women are full of attractive and colourful designs.

chakma women cover the lower part of their body with a piece of loincloth or lungi with unstitched end. This measures 4BD cubits by 2BD cubits. It is also called pinon. One end of the pinon has designs and is called chabuki. While wearing the pinon, chabuki is always placed on the left. The upper part of the dress is called khadi and measures 3BD cubits by 2BD cubits. There are two types of khadi - ranga (colourful) and chibiktana (plain). The ranga khadi is made up of various colourful designs and is usually worn by young girls. The chibiktana khadi is for common use and has no designs. These days Chakma women also wear blouses along with pinon and khadi. Many Chakma women wear khobong on their heads. The costume of Chakma men is rather plain. They usually wear a long loincloth. Chakmas preserve their traditional designs on a piece of cloth called alam to help future generations pick up designs from it.

The main dress of marma women is called thami, which is like a lungi with an unstitched end. The thami is full of colourful traditional designs. Marma men wear a full-sleeve or half-sleeve blouse or angi. They also love to wear a white turban or khobong. The men wear lungis made of coarse cloth and a shirt without collar but having several pockets. The older men wear white turbans.

tripura women these days wear renai, which is like an open lugni measuring 4BD cubits x 2BD cubits. Renai has broad black borders with red field. Tripura women wear risa at the chest, which is an unstitched piece of cloth 3 cubits x 1 or BD cubit. It displays a variety of designs of birds, butterflies, flowers and leaves. They often use tatting with tiny beads at both ends. Elderly women wear a white cloth as turban. Tripura men wear a loincloth, a thin towel and a white turban. Originally, Tripura men used to wear a turban and a piece of cloth to cover their body up to the ankle. In winter they wear a jacket-like dress.

tanchangya women wear five kinds of dresses: pinon, khadi, junnasilum, fa-dhari and khobong. Their pinons have no borders but have colourful designs on red ground. Their pinons have broad black boarders but with a short width. The khadi worn by Tangchangya women at their chest is similar to the khadi of Chakmas. Their khadi is of two types-phool and ranga. Tangchangya women also wear junnasilum and fa-dhari above their waist. Junnasilum has delicate work at the neck and shoulders. Fa-dhari is like a broad belt with delicate works in light-coloured thread. This holds the pinon tight. Tangchangya women wear khobong as a turban. A white khobong has delicate work at both ends. It usually measures 3BD cubits x BD cubit. The men of this tribe wear simple dresses without designs.

mru women wear only wanglai. It usually has a breadth of 9 inches. They wrap it around their waists. It is made of a black piece of cloth with colourful embroidery on one side. Mro women do not wear anything at their chest. They however wear a wrap called wancha, which they buy from the market. Mro men wear a narrow piece of plain cloth called dong. They also wrap a white piece of cloth around their heads. Mro women use tapung made of coarse cloth woven in their own looms to carry their babies on their shoulders.

chak women wear a dress called nafiyi, which is like pinon. It has a black ground with white borders on top and bottom. They wear boidoi puju as a blouse. It is made of white and black yarn. Chak women wrap around their head a cloth known as bankeubang. Their men wear lungis and shirts and wrap khobongs around their heads.

lushei women wear renai like a lungi to cover the lower part of their body. Its ground has striped designs made of white and black threads. Like Tripura women, Lushei women wear risa at their chest. It is usually 10 inches in breadth and has designs made with coloured threads. Lushei women and men wear junnasilum as a shirt.

murong women wear wanglai for the lower part of their body. The wanglai is 9 to 11 inches in breadth and while wearing it they keep 4 to 6 inches on the left side near the waist empty as a matter of custom. They also use a piece of cloth like risa to cover their chest. Their men wear nengti, which is a narrow length of cloth. Some of them also wear lungi.

rakhain men wear lungi and women wear angi of colourful designs. Some of them also use blouses similar to angi in design.

garo women wear the gena, which is their ancient dress. It is an unstitched piece of cloth like lungi that covers the body from the waist to the knee. It has colourful striped designs. The Garo dress dakmunda or ganna dakka is like gena but it extends below the knee. Dakmunda is a designed piece of cloth made in handloom. It covers the entire lower part of the body. These days dakmunda cloth is made in various designs and colours. The eyes in the designs reflect a religious belief. When necessary, Garo women also wear full-sleeve vests. They also use gamchha or a thin towel as a wrapper. Educated Garo women, many of whom now live in the plains, prefer to wear sari.

santal women traditionally wear panchi and padhan. Panchi is like a lungi, which hangs from the waist up to just below the knee. Padhan is a wrap or scarf to cover the body. Some women split their saris into two and use the two parts to cover the upper and lower parts of their body. These days Santal women wear the whole sari without splitting. Santal men wear dhuti or loincloth and the boys wear nengti. They also wear vests.

manipuri women wear fanek like a lungi to cover the lower part of their body. The fanek usually has no designs. They use the fanek at home or while going to market. Another dress that they wear for the lower part of their body is laifanek. Its ground has stripes of two colours and the borders have different designs. The border designs are made these days by machine and not by hand. This dress is generally brought from Assam. The blouse that the Manipuri women wear is called furit. It is of higher length so that it can be tucked under the fanek. Manipuris weave their own cloth for making blouses. They often make designs on the furit in their own hands. They also wear a scarf called fifup over their furit. The scarf is worn in a way that reminds one of a sari. The scarf that they wear at home is rather plain and has a thin border. The fifup worn at wedding or festive occasions is woven with a fine yarn and delicate designs are done on it while it is still on the loom. Its ground is as fine as muslin. At weddings and dances Manipuri women wear a bright gorgeous dress called polyi. Its lower border is broad and has works of jary and chumki. They wear the furit and the fifup along with the polyi. Manipuris use a broad hand-woven gamchha or thin towel called khudai. Manipuri men wear it at home like lungi. The dhuti used by Monipuri the men is called feijong. It is usually worn while they go to market or for attending ceremonies. The furit that the men wear is like a plain shirt and is made of cloth woven in the loom. They also wear a long shirt. These days, educated young people of the tribe wear shirts and trousers. At Manipuri weddings, men wear a turban called koiyat. A loose panjabi or kurta that they wear is called the pujat.