Short Skirts Raise Eyebrows in Rangoon

Rangoon’s street scene is changing as increasing numbers of young women in Burma’s largest city cast off their sarongs in exchange for miniskirts and hot pants. Low-cut blouses with “spaghetti” straps are also “in,” observers of the local fashion scene report.

Sarongs and even jeans are “out,” according to boutique and clothing store owners. A shopkeeper in Rangoon’s Yuzana Plaza said: “Most teenagers prefer shorts. They like revealing styles.”

Shorts are the preferred style for trips to a disco or a nightclub, but the fashion is also seen increasingly in Rangoon streets and on buses.

Weather plays a role in what the young women of Rangoon are wearing. “When it’s hot they prefer the freedom and light styles of short pants and blouses,” a Rangoon journalist said.

Rangoon fashion designer Thet Hnin Aye, however, advised young women to dress according to the occasion.

“Fashion can’t be separated from culture,” she said. “The girls should think twice about where they’re going. They should dress appropriately according to the occasion.”