the.com/cummerbund
the silk waistband that hides shirt sins and quietly catches your dropped opera tickets.
means A pleated sash worn around the waist with formal eveningwear, traditionally with the pleats facing upward.
from From Hindi-Urdu kamarband, literally 'loin-band' or 'waist-binding' — kamar (waist) plus band (band, a Persian word that's a distant cousin of English 'bind' and 'bond'). British officers and officials in colonial India adopted the local garment and carried both the cloth and the word home, where English politely mangled the spelling into 'cummerbund.' The upward-facing pleats are said to have served as a handy pocket for theatre tickets and the like — fittingly, the name traveled from a working waistband to a piece of evening polish.
- pleats up
- Folds open upward as built-in crumb pockets
- persian roots
- From kamarband, Hindi-Persian for waist-band
- british raj
- Adopted by colonial officers in hot India
- replaces vest
- Cooler alternative to a stuffy waistcoat
- matches bow
- Traditionally paired with the matching bow tie
james bond formal wear — sean connery wore a black cummerbund in dr. no (1962) and subsequent films, establishing it as formal evening wear
indian formal dress — traditional cummerbund worn with sherwanis and lehengas at south asian weddings and ceremonies across india, pakistan, and bangladesh
naval officer dress uniform — white cummerbund part of u.s. navy dress whites uniform since early 20th century