Traditional Thai Wedding Dresses Style Ideas

Choosing a wedding gown is already a difficult task but choosing a “Thai Traditional Wedding Dress” that fits with your Thai wedding ceremony is even more difficult!

Many prospective brides right now are probably busy with choosing their white wedding gowns, right? Choosing the right wedding gown that suits us is already different – choosing the right skirt style, the bodice, and the fabric – but do not forget to think about the traditional Thai wedding dress that will need to be worn during the Thai ceremony.

Selecting a traditional is considered more difficult and challenging than selecting a white wedding gown because many may not have prior experiences in dealing with traditional Thai wedding dresses as it is not often seen despite its immense importance in a Thai wedding ceremony.

The principles and process of choosing a traditional Thai wedding dress are similar to selecting a Western wedding gown, which is to keep the concept or the theme of the ceremony in mind. Is the venue outdoors or indoors? Is the ceremony set at a hotel or is it set at home? Not to mention the shape, skin tone, and the preferences of the bride as the main deciding factor.

And so we want to explore with you the types of traditional Thai wedding dresses which suit you best and the other factors you should consider before purchasing a dress.

Selecting a Traditional Thai Wedding Dress Which Suits Your Body Type

1. Tall and Slender Body Shape

Brides who have a tall, slender and shapely figure are suited to wear traditional Thai wedding dresses that are form-fitting, with emphasis on the neck section to make it stand out. The traditional Thai dress styles that are appropriate are the semi-modern styles with its form-fitting cut, three-quarter or long sleeves, front-parted with all buttons closed, and worn with an ankle-length sarong. This semi-modern Thai wedding dress will make the bride appear elegant – a lady who still retains some modern values in herself.

The traditional Thai wedding dresses that suit this body type are as follows.

Thai Reun-ton Dress

If you cannot picture a “Thai Reun-ton Dress”, picture the outfit of Thai Airline’s air hostess that has a form-fitting shape, three-quarter sleeve, round neck, borderless shoulders, front parted, buttoned up and worn with a sarong. It is popularly made with cotton or silk with either a base color gradient or a plain color gradient. Therefore, the Thai Reun-ton Dress is appropriate for brides with long elegant necks because it puts emphasis on this part but it is not suitable for those with longer necks or those with fuller body shapes who have larger chests because the silhouette may appear to look too wide.

This is why the Thai Reun-ton Dress is appropriate for slender-figured brides who want a simplistic Thai wedding dress that fits the atmosphere of an easy-going wedding, or a home wedding.

Thai Chitralada

The Thai Chitralada will have similar appearances to the Thai Reun-ton Dress with the difference being the shoulder seam and the wrist length rectangular sleeve. It is often made from colored silk or brocade. The popularly used sarongs are ankle length and made from colored silk with a pleat fold.

The Thai Chitralada dress is a suitable traditional Thai wedding dress for slender-figured brides and appropriate for a more formal Thai wedding ceremony.

Thai Amarintra

The Thai Amarintra dress is more ornate than the Thai Chitralada dress, with its dress characteristics being the same as the Thai Chitralada dress with the only difference being its higher quality fabric, with silver or gold brocade fabric being popularly used. It is suitable for brides who want to appear beautiful and graceful in a more adult manner. If the ceremony is set during the evening, the traditional Thai wedding dress “Thai Amarintra” is a highly appropriate choice.

Thai Boromphiman

The Thai Boromphiman is considered the most luxurious dress in its family of semi-modern traditional Thai wedding dresses. It has a form-fitting shape with wrist-long cylinder sleeves, round collar, and padded shoulders. The traditionally correct Thai Boromphiman dress must not have a back-part or a front-part because it will be impolite when the wearer bows down or crawl. This type of Thai wedding dress is popularly tailored to have the shirt stuck with the ankle-length, front pleated skirt, side-tucked cloth, and a gold belt. It is appropriate for a royal wedding, a sacred water-pouring ceremony, or formal ceremonies in the evening.

Thai Siwalai

The Thai Siwalai is similar to the Thai Boromphiman dress, only that it is more formal. It must be worn with an ankle-length breast cloth made from gold brocade fabric, front pleated skirt, and a gold belt. It is highly suitable for a highly formal ceremony but it is not commonly used as a traditional Thai wedding dress because it can appear too formal and inappropriate for hot weather.

Read more: A wedding checklist every couple should have

2. Plump or Petite Body Shape

For those who do not fit into the tall and slender body, do not worry, because there are still Thai wedding dresses that will look beautiful on your body type whether it be the plump or petite body shape.

Traditional Thai wedding dresses that will help give you a more slender appearance will usually have shoulder hanging breast cloth, a front-pleated sarong, and a gold belt.

The Thai wedding dresses that are suitable for brides with plump or petite body shape are as follows.

Thai Chakri

The Thai Chakri traditional Thai wedding dress has a classic style which makes the bride appear beautiful and delicate, appealing to the classic Thai beauty standards. It is suitable for both plump and petite body shapes. Its breast cloth will moderately drape over the back, a front-pleated brocade sarong with a side-tucked cloth pouch, and a gold belt.

The advantage of the Thai Chakri dress is the use of its breast cloth to help conceal the figure of the bride, it is suitable for brides who have a larger bust but do not want to put emphasis on it – to help with that, a breast cloth with floral patterns will be best.

As for brides with smaller or petite frames, you should select larger breast cloths to completely cover your collar bone and use a larger belt to add on to your silhouette, making the overall appearance appear proportionate.

Thai Chakraphad

The Thai Chakraphad wedding dress is a more luxurious version of the Thai Chakri wedding dress and is more suitable for formal ceremonies. Layered gold brocade silk is often used. Two layers of breast cloth are used, the lower layer will be satin and the top layer will be embroidered to enhance the ornate look.

However, the Thai Chakraphad dress will appear less delicate than the Thai Chakri dress, but if you were to use it as your traditional Thai wedding dress – it will give you the look of a high-born lady because of its extravagant form and seams.

The Thai Chakraphad dress is suitable for both plump and petite body shapes, but for the plump body shape the breast cloth used must be on the narrower side otherwise the dress will appear too thick.

Thai Dusit

The Thai Dusit is a Thai wedding dress without a breast cloth, yet, it is highly appropriate for girls with plumper body shapes because of its boat-neck and a sleeveless top, silver and gold laces, pearls and beads – it is suitable for brides with wider busts if they want to show off the beautiful top section of the dress. This Thai wedding dress will make plumper brides appear even more shapely.

Or if you still cannot decide on a traditional Thai wedding dress, you select a Thai wedding dress style that adapts different components of each style to compliment your body shape. This type of wedding dress is highly popular because it fits all body shapes – plump, petite, and slender. Sometimes a see-through breast cloth or a lace cloth can be used for an additional layer of sweetness. The top will be a one-shoulder top with pleats on the shirt itself.

Read more: The wedding costs manual for couples across all budgets

Selecting a Traditional Thai Wedding Dress To Suit Your Skin Tone

Other than the body shape of the bride, the skin tone also plays an important role in choosing a wedding dress.

Brides with darker skin tone: Suitable for traditional Thai wedding dresses that have the following tones: cream, beige, gold-cream, or brown-cream.

This is because it will help your skin appear smooth and more radiant.

• Brides with paler skin tones: The sarong used should have a thicker color than the top but they both should follow the same tone.
• Brides with rosy white skin tones: You should select darker colors such as grey, purple, or blue because they will help your skin tone stand out more than the lighter color-toned wedding dresses.
• Brides with gold skin tones: This skin tone is an enviable skin tone because you can use whichever color Thai wedding dress you would like to.

Ideas To Adapt the Traditional Thai Wedding Dresses

You do not need to follow the blueprint for traditional Thai wedding dresses exactly, you can cut out or add-in components to make the dress a better fit for the theme, the location or the factors concerning your body shape and skin tone.

And so we want to showcase a few ideas in adapting traditional Thai wedding dresses.

1. Reduce the Patterns on the Breast Cloth

Because the traditional Thai wedding dresses such as the Thai Chakraphad and the Thai Chakri are outfits that are highly formal whilst retaining a look of elegant beauty, this is what may cause many brides to feel indecisive when selecting their Thai wedding dress because they are worried they will appear too formal.

You can decrease the formality of the traditional Thai wedding dresses and have them appear more easy-going by cutting out the details on the breast cloth, making the patterns appear more simple. This is applicable to both the Thai Chakri and the Thai Chakraphad dress. By doing this, the outfit will have a sweeter look whilst keeping its elegance without the stiffness.

2. Increasing or Decreasing the Shoulders of the Thai Wedding Dress

As for the shoulders for semi-modern Thai wedding dresses, it is highly polarizing with some brides liking them and some disliking them. For those who like a more ornate look, increasing the shoulders to make it stiffer will make the traditional Thai wedding dress appear more formal, not only that, you will instantly appear to be more classy.

If you are someone who is into the modern style and wants a more minimal Thai wedding dress, you could decrease the shoulders. This method is suitable for Rattanakosin Era Thai wedding dresses that are made from lace fabric, have stiff collars, puffy sleeves, and layered. You can make these dresses more modern by decreasing the shoulders and reducing the puffiness of the sleeves, making it appear simple and elegant without being “too much”.

Selecting a Thai wedding dress may appear to be challenging because you yourself may not have any prior experiences with Thai wedding dresses before, but if you have selected a traditional Thai wedding dress which truly suits you in all aspects – body shape, skin tone, and formality of the event, it will make you a truly beautiful Thai bride on your wedding day.

Other than selecting the right wedding dress for your ceremony, another indispensable component is selecting a diamond wedding ring to symbolize you and your partner’s love. For that, you can have Above Diamond search for and create high-quality diamond wedding rings worthy of your love, to do that – you can contact us right here.

Credit Pictures: WanitaWedding, Vanus Couture, Springnews, Sanook