Happy Thursday, everyone! Today I’m sharing a Miao outfit that I made last year. Originally I was going to wait until I finished a tutorial for the shirt, apron, and sash before posting the outfit, but I decided that if I waited it would probably take another year. Honestly, it’s not high on my priority list since I have a lot of Hmong outfits left to make. I still have to finish some outfits for Hmong New Year!
:: Miao ::
In the summer of 2017, I visited one of my best friends in China and explored parts of Yunnan and Guizhou province with her. I was inspired to make this outfit based off of some of the outfits that I saw. In the past posts, I featured Hmong outfits and this post doesn’t quite fall into that category. In China, the Miao are the 5th largest minority group and Hmong is one of the subgroups under Miao. The other three subgroups include the Hmu, Who Xiong, and Ah Mao.
I remember walking through the streets of the Xijiang Miao Village and my friend asked me if I understood what the local people were saying. No I don’t. They speak a different branch of the Miao language and most of the words I didn’t understand.
:: Hmu ::
The heavily commercialized 10,000 Miao Village featured the Hmu sub group of Miao. They wear a lot of silver accessories and some are sewn onto their clothes. Silver is a sign of wealth. Some wear long skirts and others wear short skirts. I managed to bargain with one lady for a traditional long skirt outfit and accessories so I decided to make a short skirt version. The shirt is wrapped and tied on the side with the front of the shirt longer than the back. For Sacramento Hmong New Year I actually paired this outfit with a black skirt but I forgot to bring the black skirt to my photoshoot with Houa. The day of the shoot, I was rear ended so my mind was a little scattered.
In Datang, they wear dark blue pleated mini skirts! The skirts were super short but most wore shorts under and their leg wraps go much higher than what I’m used to seeing. Another outfit on my never ending list to replicate or acquire.
:: Outfit Details ::
Miao Outfit
Crossroads by Nancy White Pleated Skirt (37 X17.5)
:: Photography ::
Thank you for reading! I have a couple of shoots planned so stay tuned for more Hmong Outfit Series posts. I can wait to share some of my finished projects for Hmong New Year as well.
