Traditional Dress

Bhutanese traditional dress is called the gho (men’s robes) and kira (women’s dress).

The women’s dress is a length of woven material (kira) that is draped across the body over a blouse, and held in place over the shoulders with silver clasps. A toego (or jacket) is usually worn over the dress.

The man’s gho is a stitched robe, which reaches the ground when first worn. This is then pulled up to knee length and tied in place at the waist with a hand-woven belt. Long socks and shoes, or traditional hand made boots complete the attire.

Traditional dress is worn for all formal occasions including working in the office. The Bhutanese wear their best hand-woven ghos and kiras on formal occasions while machine milled traditional clothing is also popular for daily wear.

There has been a revival in interest in the traditional dress largely inspired by the annual national textile competition and shows organised by the Textile Museum. This annual event encourages weavers to design and produce textiles using the season’s colours and has helped to make the gho and kira very fashionable especially among the youth.