Abstract:
Clothes are symbols of the cultural development of any civilization and are
classifications of the significant progress made through human behaviors and
attitudes. In the past decades “Dress” was considered as “walking sculpture” because
it revealed the whole process through which social and cultural transformation took
place. Hence, the attire of traditional Sri Lankan designs, ideally, should have values
and concepts. The sculptures were the visual facts that depict earlier female clothing
precisely. Every sculpture represents the prevailing status of the era in which it was
constructed. This paper is going to be discussing female clothing design elements
from the Anuradhapura era to the end of the Nineteenth Century. The problem
identification was based on how female clothing has evolved and developed over
time. The examination of past sculptures is beneficial when articulating past Sri
Lankan women’s clothing elements thoroughly as live visuals. The aim of this paper
is to identify and observe design details and elements of past female attire. The
methodology, which has been used collect data, is the qualitative method. To gather
the necessary data the Researcher visited museums, temples, the cultural triangle and
ancient cities and observed and gathered information as primary data as well as used
books and electronic journals as secondary data. The results depicted that the women
who lived in the Anuradhapura’ era to end of the Nineteenth Century, used limited
dress designs sparingly, especially for the upper part of the body which was
commonly covered by c jewelry And the lower part of the body was covered by
draping a single cloth. Their clothing was sparingly simple and differed according to
their caste, family status and creed. Jewelry was the main attraction of ladies in the
past and not the different clothing styles as in contemporary women’s fashion.
