Kochi & Central Kerala · Western Coastal Strip
Kerala dress is defined by undyed off-white cotton with a band of gold zari called kasavu. The colour restraint is the tradition; the gold border is where the region, the weaver and the occasion show themselves.
What is worn
A two-piece unstitched garment — the mundu wrapped at the waist and the neriyathu draped over the blouse and left shoulder — in cream cotton with a kasavu border. The oldest surviving form of the sari in the region.
Worn for: Onam, Vishu, temple visits, weddings
A single length of cream cotton tied at the waist, worn plain for work and with a kasavu border for occasions. Folding it in half above the knee is normal; unfolding it in front of an elder is a mark of respect.
Worn for: Everyday and formal
The single-piece modern descendant of the set mundu — cream ground, gold border, now woven in tissue, silk-blend and hand-loomed cotton.
Worn for: Festivals and weddings
A checked or coloured mundu with a head covering, distinct from the cream mundu of the south — a reminder that Malabar dress runs on its own history.
Worn for: Everyday and weddings
Weaves and textiles
Handloom cotton woven on throw-shuttle pit looms by Shaliyar weavers settled here around 1800 under Travancore patronage. The finest kasavu comes from these looms.
Woven in the old Paliam family's weaving settlement, distinguished by a puliyilakara — a thin dark line running just inside the border.
Woven by the Devanga Chettiar community brought from Karnataka by the Kochi royal house; heavier kasavu work and more figured borders.
Vivid checks and stripes with a distinctive lustre, closer in feel to coastal Karnataka than to south Kerala.
Jewellery
Traditional dress of Kochi & Central Kerala — garments, handloom weaves, GI-tagged textiles and jewellery. (8)