Miao Women's Costume

A rich diversity of costume exists among the Miao of Guizhou. A typical Miao woman's festival costume consists of an exquisitely embroidered cotton, hemp, ramie or silk jacket or cape. Embroidered pieces replete with symbolic meaning are attached to sleeves, jacket fronts and sometimes the back of the jacket. Occasionally the embroidery is worked directly onto the jacket or skirt. Skirts of varying lengths are usually made of pleated cotton or hemp.

Festival costumes are skillfully worked and highly valued by the girls because each set can take months or even years to weave and embroider. Should it rain, a festival is immediately cancelled, or if in progress, will be abandoned because the girls do not want to risk spoiling their costumes.

Jackets

Jackets come in many different forms and are decorated in different ways, each specific to a group, village or area. In the southeast, jackets are heavily and intricately embroidered. Jackets in the northwest among the 'Big Flowery' Miao tend to be more like capes that are decorated with woven pieces and applique work, while the 'Little Flowery' Miao also wear a cape-like jacket with exquisite cross-stitch in geometric designs.

In the southeast, sleeve pieces are decorated in a highly pictorial style with birds, flowers, animals and insects found in the creation story as well as with Miao hero. A particular artistic girl will design her own in the style of her area. In some other villages in the region, the embroidery tends to be strongly geometric, expressing the Miao love of colour and design rather than reflecting historical or mythological events.

Skirt

Pleated Skirt is an important characteristic of the Miao costume. In the southeast a cotton skirt is traditionally prepared by wearing strips about 14 to 18 inches wide, depending on the region. Pleats can be achieved in a variety of ways. Miao in the Chonganjiang area explained that they pleat their skirts by sewing several rows of running stitch 12 inches apart, starching the skirt heavily and then drawing it up and drying it slowly away from the sun.

The book, Clothings and Ornaments of China's Miao People, describes the process of making a skirt in the Rongshui area of northeast Guangxi, bordering Guizhou:

"In Rongshui area the usual length of a pleated skirt is 50cm (20 inches) and the width over 6 m (20 feet). It is pieced together with eighteen pieces of homemade cloth of narrow width. It takes three skilled women three days to make a pleated skirt by the continuous process. The process begins with placing a piece of shiny cloth on a wooden board, firstly starching and beating it, then drawing vertical lines evenly on both sides. Afterwards the cloth is folded along the lines and both ends are sewn up tightly. The folded piece is tied up on a semicircular piece of bamboo, put into a thick bamboo tube and steamed for an hour. Then the folded cloth is taken out and air-dried. Thus the pleats of the skirt are given a permanent set and will not deform in course of time"