Kosovo is a small territory in the Eastern Europe and borders the Republic of Macedonia to the south, Albania to the west and Montenegro to the northwest. This small and landlocked nation has announced self claimed independence since 2008 which is recognized by some nations of the world. In the past, Kosovo has remained a part of Serbia and its Northern part is still under the administration of Serbia. Like Serbia and Albania, the heritage of Kosovo is the product of the cultural influences of these countries and other neighboring states of East Europe.

The people of Kosovo in their traditional dresses - MyBukit's Image

The traditional dress of Kosovo is much similar to the traditional dress of Albania. In fact they have the same cultural heritage as the Albanians have. The people of Kosovo can be divided in various ethnic groups like the Albanians, Serbs, Croats, Yugoslavs, Turks and Macedonians but the Albanians comprise of almost 80% of the total population in Kosovo.

The people of Kosovo in their traditional dresses - Azem's Image

The overwhelming religion among Albanians in Kosovo is Islam (mostly Sunni ). The other Albanians practice Roman Catholicism. Culturally, the Albanian culture is dominating over the Kosovo heritage and the people of Kosovo are very closely related to Albanians in Albania. For understanding the traditional clothing of Kosovo Albanians you can click the following link;

Traditional Dress Of Albania

However, we have uploaded some glorious images of the traditional dress of Kosovo for your interest ;

A pretty Kosovo folk dancer in her traditional vostumes - Evren's Trip to Light

This is an exotic image of a Kosovo girl in her traditional costume ;

A beautiful Kosovo girl in her traditional costume - Azem's Image

In the following image some women of Kosovo are presenting the traditional wedding dance wearing the wedding costumes in a marriage ceremony;

The Women of Kosovo wearing the traditional wedding costumes - MyBukit's Image

For more interesting posts on the same subject on the Lovely Planet please click the following links ;

Libya is the third largest country of Africa with an approximate population of 6.5 million. Almost three quarters of the total population is living in the urban areas and Tripoli is the capital of Libya which is also the largest city of the country. A civil war was urged in 2011 as a result of which the undemocratic regime was collapsed with the death of the country’s famous dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi. Since the independence of Libya as the United Libyan Kingdom, the country observed strict and conservative religious codes of lives. Almost 97 % of the total population of Libya practice Islam and they belong to the Sunni School of thought.

Two Libyan girls in their traditional dresses - Mansour Ali's Image

The ancient Libya was a region of the indigenous Berber and Bedouin people, so their traditional values are the part of the Libyan cultural heritage. Although ,if we deeply study the pre historic Libya, the marks of the Phoenician, Greek and Roman civilizations will be prominent upon the culture of Libya. In the sixteenth century was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and remained under their control for a long time. Libya was occupied by the Italian, British and French forces on its different parts till the mid of the twentieth century.

A girl in a typical Libyan traditional costume - CH Lee's Image

The present Libyan people consider themselves as the part of the Arab world and Arabic is the official language of Libya. Although, Berbers and Tuareg groups still speak their own tribal languages.

The traditional dress of Libya consists of a long and loose gown along with the trouser for the lower body. They also use a cloak to cover their bodies and use the traditional cap on their heads. The Libyan youth is rapidly turning toward the Western clothing and the boys are normally seen in the jeans and shirts in the main cities.

A Libyan woman in her traditional dress - Valonia Hardy's image

The Libyan women also wear the typical long gowns which are also usually used to cover the heads. Modern girls although love to wear the fashionable and bright colored costumes but most women still continue to cover their hair in Hijab.

The women of Libya in the urban parts also use scarves - Alan Shipley's Image

Even the modernly designed costumes are also the blend of the traditional and Western styles. The traditional dress and jewelry is also very common in the rural areas.

A young Libyan girl in her traditional costume - Mansour Ali's Image

The nomadic Berber people of Libya trace their African roots back to 2000 B.C.E. and their traditional dress passed through many amendments caused by the influences of invading cultures. Still many Berbers continue to wear a “haik”, a large cloth wrapped around the body and wrap their heads with the cloth turbans. Similarly the Berber women cover their hair with scarves and their faces with veils called “mandeels”. Under their haiks, many Berbers wear ankle-length tunics or loose trousers called “shalwar”. A Berber women’s dress is very colorful and decorative.

A Tuareg man of Libya wearing his traditional dress on a camer. Image © Eric Lafforgue

Walking on the streets of Libya, you can see the Libyan people moving in different styles of garments. Even to see any man or woman in the traditional dress of Libya is not unusual.

Some Tuareg people of Libya dancing in their traditional ccostumes - Chris G Images

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Jammu & Kashmir is the most beautiful part in the South Asian region, which is full of widely varying people, rich culture and scenic geography. Administratively, these days, Jammu & Kashmir has a territorial dispute among three countries; Pakistan, China and India. Pakistan controls the northwest portion (Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir), India controls the central and southern portion (Jammu and Kashmir) and Ladakh, and China controls the northeastern portion (Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract). However, without going into this occupational controversy, the people of Kashmir are famous in the world for their traditions, customs and hospitality. The Kashmiri people usually practice Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism and speak Urdu, Kashmiri, Pahari, Hindi and Ladakhi languages.

A Kashmiri couple in Kashmiri costume ( Sudarshan P's Image )

This is not feasible to cover the whole Kashmiri culture and tradition in one article. In this article, we’ll try to highlight the dress culture of Jammu & Kashmir. The dominating religion of Jammu & Kashmir is Islam, so the Kashmiri Muslim community loves to dress up with “Pheran”. Pheran , the traditional dress of Jammu & Kashmir is a long loose shirt which hangs down below the knees along with a white turban tied on a skull cap, a close-fitting trousers and lace less shoes called Gurgabi.

Kashmiri girls wearing the traditional Pheran ( Image: Khurram Aziz Shaikh )

The Pheran for Kashmiri women is more stunning and graceful with the heavy embroidery and has broad sleeves. Pheran is considered a combination of Indian and Iranian clothing. The Hindu Kashmiri women also use Pheran as their dress with a little distinction. A Hindu woman’s Pheran touches her foot which is tied at the waist with folded material called lhungi. Their dress is fully embellished with brocade including the head-dress called Taranga. The men’s wear for the Kahmiri Hindus mainly includes Churidar Pajama and they use the beautiful skull caps without a shawl.

A Kashmiri bride on her wedding day ( Image : Avinash Anand )

For the Kashmiri Hindu woman or a Muslim woman, one thing is common i-e the charm for the ornaments. With the splendid ornaments, the women of Jammu & Kashmir love headgears, arm glistens, necklaces and earrings. The additional ornament for the Hindu women may be “Dhareejo” which is the typical mangal-sutra for them. As the women of Jammu and Kashmir are known the best for their beauty, the use of these type of jewellery adds more plus in their magical appearance.

A typical Kahmiri Shawl prepared from Pashmina wool (Mohsin Khawar Photography- Pakistan)

The traditional dress of Jammu & Kashmir also includes the delicate Cashmere wool products and Kashmiri Shawls. These Shawls are popular in the world for the elegant material and exotic embroidery applied on them. The most precious of them are the Shawls prepared with Pashmina Wool which is also combined with the rabbit fur. Pashmina wool is obtained from the native Ibex that lives on the high altitude on 14,000 ft. Similarly, the Shawls those are prepared in Ladakh with Shahtoosh wool are also very rare and considered very expensive. Shahtoosh wool comes from the Chiru antelope and nowadays this is enlisted as endangered. So there is a ban imposed by the authorities on the trade of Shahtoosh.

A beautiful Ladakhi girl in her traditional dress (Ladakh - Kashmir) Image: slider_ss

In Ladakh, the popular Ladakhi dress is Goncha which is normally an ample robe of a thick woolen cloth and which is supported with a brilliant belt tied around the waist. The loose trousers are used with Goncha and both the males and the females use this dress with a slight variation. As it is mentioned earlier, the most attractive feature is the colorful waist ( Kamar Bund ) and in the festive or ceremonial occasions the chromatic and showy robes are worn. The other appealing component of the dress of a Ladakhi woman is “Peark”. Peark is actually a headgear prepared with the coating of black lamb decorated with turquoise stones that appears a cobra’s hood and tapering to a thin tail reaching down the back. Some Ladakhi women also wear another robe known as “Kuntop” with  the additional attire, i-e actually a fascinating and colorful shawl and it is called as “Bok”.

A group of folk dancers from Ladakh in traditional costumes (Photo: brij khazanchi)

The traditional dress of Jammu & Kashmir is unique in the whole Indian Sub-Continent as it comes from various cultural backgrounds. In the modern times, although the use of the typical and classical Kashmiri dresses is lessened by the Kashmiri youth as they prefer the jeans and shirt, yet in the festivals and in the wedding ceremonies, the use of the traditional dress seems common.

A wonderful group of Kashmiri girls in traditional Pheran performing the Kashmiri folk dance ( Ramesh Lalwani's Image )