---
node: fashion_modern_thailand
type: fashion
slug: modern_thailand_fashion
title: "Fashion in Modern Thailand"
lead: "In modern Thailand everyday wear became Western, but the national formal dress, chut thai, lives on as ceremonial dress; the chut thai is the formal Thai costume that Queen Sirikit codified from tradition in the 1960s."
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

Through the constitutional revolution and modernisation, Thai dress combined Western clothing with a newly ordered national formal dress.

## Key garments and style

In the 1940s the cultural policies of the Phibun government urged the wearing of hats and Western dress and pushed the modernisation of dress. In the 1960s Queen Sirikit codified, from court and historical dress, the chut thai — a formal set of a silk top and wrapped skirt — into eight styles, still worn for ceremonies and festivals.

## Transition

Modern Thai dress keeps the chut thai as a national garment within global fashion and a growing domestic fashion industry.