Zara’s ‘check mini skirt’ caused quite a furore not too long ago, thanks to its resemblance to the ‘lungi.’ But the ‘Indian sarong’ (per Wikipedia) is trending again thanks to the Longyi Brothers, a two-year-old-brand that creates lungis that are tasteful and fashion forward, if you will. Run by Phillip Koo the longyi is similar to the lungi and is used widely in Myanmar.
According to a WhatsApp video doing the rounds, the longyis from LB, provide “1000 per cent more airflow to where you as a man need it the most.” You might laugh, but if you’re a man, you might also recognise the truth in that sentence. The video even details the many other ways you can use the longyi from turning it into shorts (by gathering it from the middle and tucking it into the waist), as a bag and as a make-shift changing room when you need to change your clothes in public to even as a beach blanket.
LB’s longyis are made ethically in Bangkok from 100 per cent cotton. While most of the longyis on the website are sold out, the ones that remain include the reversible Indigo, made from Thai denim with woven patterns of squares, and the Bushman, a thicker longyi made from Japanese cotton with botanical prints, among others.
While the lungis are still widely used in India, could we call for a fashionable update to the garment in India as well?! It wouldn’t be such a bad idea, we think!