Persian miniature paintings employ both vivid and muted colors for clothing, although the colors of paint pigment often do not match the colors of dyes. Persian men and women usually wore a full-length pants called Shalvar. Undergarments for men were limited to a pair of short pants, called zir-šalvar (literally “under-pants”). Persian clothing, although not worn in urban areas, has been well preserved in texts and paintings throughout history, and is still worn in various forms in rural parts of the Persian countries of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan today.
