Dungarees! Did you know?

I have seen Dungarees around but could never have thought of the origin.

While I researching on ‘costume garments’ which are basically garments that are complete in themselves and are not flexible enough to be mixed and matched to create new outfits, I stumbled across this interesting piece of info on ‘dungarees.’

Bombay, now Mumbai, but will always be ‘Bombay/Mobai’ in my heart; is my hometown and anything that relates to Bombay catches my attention.

It seems ‘dungri’ was the hindi connotation for the thick, durable, cheap and poorly-woven twill-weave cotton manufactured at ‘Dongri Killa’ in Bombay. This fabric is not as thick and coarse as denim but the two are identical. One-piece protective garments for workers, that were loose, were made out of this and were called ‘overalls.’ In time, children’s outfits were designed in overalls and slowly and surely they found their place in the fashion world as leisure wear.

Dungarees, now available in a host of fabrics and styles, are one-pieces that have the pants (short or long) with an attached front patch that covers the stomach, leaving the chest and sides uncovered, held with shoulder straps. They may be worn by themselves or paired with an upper body garment.

So next time you come across Dungarees, you know!

Image taken from Amazon.