While walking in the Uzbek streets (at least outside Tashkent center areas), you will most likely notice the bright, distinctive clothes worn by both young and old ones. These colorful dresses have gotten their distinctive features through the history when Uzbek people interacted and merged with neighboring nations in an exchange that has lasted for more than 2000 years. Over time, unique local features of clothing got developed, each with their own symbology or religious significance. Archaeological sites, frescoes, terracotta figurines, miniature paintings illustrating ancient documents and the records of Silk Road pilgrims, all provide a fairly precise idea of the dresses worn by the ancestors of modern Uzbeks and have left traces of their evolution over the ages. 

The development of clothing is closely linked with the rise of weaving and archaeological discoveries reveal that even two thousand years ago weaving was well-developed in this region. Frescoes in Afrasyab, Varakhsha and elsewhere, represent wealthy citizens dressed in silk kaftans while poorer people wore simple cotton dresses. There are also unique examples of ancient garments found in the Fergana Valley that tell the same story Discoveries include for example a long silk dress with a decoratively stitched hem and long slits up to the waist which women would have worn with a waistband or a scarf.

The girls’ dress was shorter, with flowers decorated on the hem, cuffs and breast area, while the boys’ costume featured a thigh-length silk shirt with a straight collar. Through the late Middle Ages, fabrics had developed significantly, with gold brocade and striped cotton emerging. The fine miniature paintings composed in Central Asia in the Middle Ages present valuable clues to the custom and costumes of the day as well. It clearly shows that a person’s dress reflected his or her religious, marital and social status as striped fabrics, for instance, were generally worn by the poorer sections of the population.