Hi, everyone! It’s been a while since my last Hmong Outfit Series Post. I have a couple of outfits to share over the next couple of months with you all. Today, I am featuring one of my favorite outfits, Hmong Leng of Yen Bai.
:: Yen Bai ::
Hmong Leng Yen Bai live in Northern Vietnam and dark earthy colors distinguish them from other Hmong groups. Their outfits have some similarities to the Hmong Leng in Sapa.
The Hmong Leng Yen Bai shirts have a royal blue collar and sleeves with batik, applique, and embroidery on the back and shoulders. My shirt is quite roadwaysupply simple and made more on the modern side with fitted seams. I love the embroidery on the belt. There is a mixture of cross stitch and chain stitch embroidery and the ends of the belt are made out of hemp dyed with indigo.
:: Skirt ::
The batik design on the middle of the skirt is quite simple on my skirt consisting of dots and lines. The more expensive skirts have a more complicated design and the batik design seems to vary. Unlike the Hmong Leng in Laos and Thailand, the colors used in the embroidery of the bottom of the skirt is made with earth-toned colors instead of bright pinks, oranges, and yellow. I almost bought a skirt that had more purple and dark blue in the embroidery but I wanted a bit of variation in my collection. My skirt has red, white, and black cotton applique lines on the taab tab with some red and blue rectangles. The embroidery consists of brown, white, and black cross-stitch.
The original skirt that I bought had a waistband made out of hemp but I had the waistband of the skirt altered since I wanted the skirt shorter and not as wide. I usually have Crossroads by Nancy’s mom alter my skirts for me. I understand the process but love her work so I just bring skirts for her to alter for me so that they fit better. She also makes one of the prettiest white pleated skirts. So far I haven’t found anyone that makes white skirts better than hers. High quality and extremely flattering.
:: Hat ::
Hmong Leng Yen Bai wear a black head wrap that is wrapped multiple times with paj ntaub on top similar to their belt. Usually, the head wrap is decorated with coins. For everyday wear, they opt to wear a colorful plaid headscarf.
:: Outfit Details ::
Hmong Leng Yen Bai Shirt / Tsho & Apron / Sev
Skirt ( 38 X 17)
Leg Wrap / Nrhoob
:: Photography ::
Thank you for reading! Fresno New Year is here and I can’t wait to share the outfits that I’m wearing. I will be wearing this outfit one of the many days that I am attending. If you want to see what I wore last year click here.
