---
node: fashion_early_thailand
type: fashion
slug: early_thailand_fashion
title: "Fashion in Early Thailand"
lead: "In early Thailand, before the Thai peoples moved south, Mon (Dvaravati) and Khmer cultures flourished and Indian-derived wrapped cloth was worn; Buddhist and Hindu images record the dress."
published: 2026-07-28
updated: 2026-07-28
change: "Created as a fashion sub-page under the history section (thailand region)"
requester: internal
reason: "Per the owner's decision, fashion lives under each history era"
---

## Overview

From the Bronze Age Ban Chiang culture to the Mon and Khmer states, dress here was draped and wrapped cloth under Indian influence.

## Key garments and style

People wore a cloth wrapped at the waist (a sampot-like wrapped garment) as the basis, the upper body bare or with a cloth over the shoulder. Buddhist and Hindu images are carved with figures in ornaments and thin wrapped cloth.

## Transition

In the 13th century, when the Thai founded a kingdom at Sukhothai, this wrapped-cloth tradition passed into Thai dress.