Hi Saturday, everyone! Slowly but surely I’m finishing up my outfits for Hmong New Year. I actually need to update my inventory list too. Last year, I wrote down a list of my outfits I had but I’ve been putting off keeping a digital list. I mean if I update it regularly, I will have to come to terms with the amount of outfits I have. A reality I don’t really want to face especially when I know my collection is nowhere near being complete. I just have a lot of variations of the same type of outfit – another excuse I tell myself to justify my purchases and projects. Today I’m feature a Hmong Leng Outfit from Thailand or Hmong Thai Outfit as part of my Hmong Outfit Series.
:: Hmong Leng Thailand ::
There were two main patterns of migration for the Hmong Thai. The first group was in Thailand before the Vietnam war and migrated from Vietnam and Southern China. The second group was from Laos previous migrating from Vietnam and Southern China and fled Laos after the communist takeover.
Hmong Leng in Thailand wear their hair up in buns and decorate their buns with beads, coins, pom poms, and siv ceeb. However, the hair bun is not as large as some of the Hmong groups located in Vietnam. Rows of appliqué fabric decorate the front of shirt and one side runs in a zigzag pattern across the chest. Typically, the dab tsho is usually sewn face down with the appliqué hidden and the cuffs of the shirt tend to be blue. Occasionally, the stars are embroidered on the shirt.
:: Hmong Thai Skirt ::
There are different variations of the Hmong Thai skirt. One variation has a pink embroidered bottom section with rows of diamond appliqué running along the top and bottom. The top section consists of batik. Colorful ribbon and appliqué fill in the empty spaces in the batik design. In the past, skirts consisted of just the batik and cross stitch portion. Usually, the outfit is worn with a pink or red sash. The apron is typically plain black with two seams running down the middle. When wearing an outfit with embroidery or paj ntaub, it is sewn on the sleeves and top of the plain black apron. 
:: Outfit Details ::
Hmong Leng Outfit
Hlab
Pleated Skirt
Xauv
:: Photography ::
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