By Independent Mon News Agency – Moulmein – About 400 Mon people joined in a ceremony in Moulmein, the capital of Mon State, celebrating 40 years of wearing Mon dress on May 8th.
Speaking at the beginning of the ceremony, Nai Maung Toe, the chairman of the Mon National Suit and Dress Formation Committee, said, “We did not have [standardized] Mon dress while we were university students. We were very sad while we looked at the other ethnic people wearing their national dress.”
“As a result, all of our students have formed our committee to form Mon dress,” he said.
The ceremony was held in the Shwe Myit Moe hotel in Moulmein, and three Mon ministers presided including Min Nwe Soe and Nai Lawi Oung and Nai Chit Oo. University students from Rangon, Moulmein, and Kawkareik from Karen State also joined in the celebration.
At the ceremony, university students dressed in different colors of Mon dress and styles and performed a catwalk show. Besides contemporary Mon styles, some modeled Mon former dress from the time of the Mon Kings and Queens Dawarawatoi, Suwanaphum, Hongsarwatoi, and Kongbound.
Students also dressed up in the styles of the king Manuho, Rajadhirah, and Mi Jow Phu, as well as the Mon Queen Jamper Dawe and a well-known wealthy man, Nai Oak.
“Mon businessmen today have created a new fashion of Mon dress now. It look very nice on the youths when they wear it [the Mon contemporary style]” said Mi Aye Yin, a retired university professor in Moulmein. “But, they should not ignore the former styles of Mon dress that we recognize as our true dress,”
“We invited only 250 people, but about 400 people joined the ceremony as there are interested in the issue. There was not enough space at the ceremony,” said Nai Thit Kine, the chairman from the Heritage of Mon Culture, a ceremony organizer.
On August 21, 1971, a group of Mon university students formed the Mon National Suit and Dress Formation Committee and the group selected 11 executive committee members. Nai Maung Toe served as a chairman along with the joint chairman Nai Seik Lwin.
Nai Seik Lwin’s family donated money to hold the first celebration for the 40 year commemoration of a standardized Mon dress.
