Tajikistan said Wednesday it would publish a new book updating the country's dress "guidelines" for women, tightening the secular state's policing of women's clothing.
Authorities in the Muslim-majority Central Asian nation maintain strict control over society, including issues affecting women and girls.
The ex-Soviet country has in recent years championed "traditional" Tajik attire, banning "clothing alien to national culture" last year, while trying to stamp out what they see as "radical Islamic cultural influences."
Traditional dress for women usually consists of ?olourful embroidered long-sleeved tunic dresses worn over loose-fitting trousers.
An official in Tajikistan's culture ministry told AFP it had developed new "recommendations on national dress for girls and women" which would be set out in a book published in July.
"Clothing is one of the key elements of national culture, which has been left to us from our ancestors and has retained its elegance and beauty throughout the centuries," said Khurshed Nizomi, head of the ministry's cultural institutions and folk craft department.
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