Overview
The basic garment was an unstitched cloth wound around the hips and legs, worn by both sexes, with women adding a breast or shoulder cloth and men often going bare above the waist. Cloth was cotton or, for the court, silk, and the elegance lay in the drape rather than in cut and tailoring.
How it is worn
The lower cloth is wrapped and tucked at the waist, sometimes drawn between the legs in the manner later called chong kraben, and secured without buttons; a sabai-like cloth is looped over one shoulder for modesty or rank. The refined figures of Sukhothai bronzes show the smooth, close drape prized in the age.
History
Sukhothai flourished in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as an early Thai kingdom, and its art, influenced by Khmer and Mon neighbours, records a dress of wrapped cloths that would continue through Ayutthaya. It set the graceful template for later Siamese court and everyday dress.