Hi Everyone! I can’t believe it’s February already. This Hmong Leng Luang Namtha outfit took years to complete. I’ve been wanting a skirt from this group for over 5 years! I started to give up on my search and asked one of my trusted overseas skirt ladies to replicate. Unfortunately, she was able to make it correctly 2 years in a row. I stumbled upon a new maker who was willing to include as many rows of applique as I wanted. Most told me that it’s too much work. I was a little disappointed to settle for replicas but that was better than nothing. While my order was shipped to me, one of my friends found a vintage skirt at a local store near here. So I ended up with 3 skirts.
Today, I’m sharing a Hmong Leng Luang Namtha outfit from northern Laos as part of my Hmong Outfit Series.
:: Hmong Leng Luang Namtha ::
This group is distinguished by their skirts with colorful rows of applique and are from the Luang Namtha and Bokeo province in Laos. The very bottom of the skirt is typically white with large triangle applique. Usually, they use orange, yellow, white, and pink thread on the cross stitch portion of their skirt.
One of the details, that I like about vintage skirts is the small square diamond applique. So soft and dainty.
Older Hmong Leng shirts actually don’t have the blue cuff on the sleeves. This shirt is relatively old as rows of applique along the lapels are faded. Like other Hmong Leng groups in Laos and Thailand, they sew their dab tsho with the applique side down. This group traditionally wears a black apron / sev but will wear an apron like their white Hmong counterparts.
They wear a simple pink sash and leg wraps. Leg wraps are not pictured because I forgot to put them on for the photoshoot. I’m actually getting better at wrapping. Sorry for the messy hair too. I meant to put my hair up in a bun for this outfit before I put on my hat, but my hair was not cooperating with me that day. I have a lot of baby hair and it was going to take too much time to slick everything down. In older pictures, you can see them wear a bun on top of their head more often than a headwrap or phuam.
:: Outfit #1 Details ::
Jacket / Tsho
Apron / Sev
Sash / Hlab
Skirt / Tiab
Outfit #2 will feature my replica skirts and outfit with reverse applique details. Often this group would wear sev plooj and decorate their jackets with embroidery or applique.
:: Phuam ::
The Hmong in this region actually wear a variety of headwraps/phuam. I featured this one because it’s more common. Pom poms are often called paj or flower in Hmong. I wonder if wildflowers were as round as pom poms.
If you remember my hat tutorial on my Instagram, I bought two hats years ago but was unsatisfied with craftmanship as everything was hot glued and had to take my hats apart and reconstruct them. It was a total waste of the pom poms because I could tell before the glue they were well made.
A small money belt is worn across the forehead and decorated with coins. I opted for silver pieces for this hat because I have multiple money belts reserved for hats with coins.
The back piece of the hat has multiple rows of pom poms as well.
:: Coin Vest Money Bag Set ::
Honestly, I don’t know the official name of this money bag set in Hmong. However, this group wears reverse applique bags on their chest and back. When I added coins, I purposely left off some coins as I was afraid that they would be too heavy.
:: Photography ::
:: Outfit #2 Details ::
Jacket / Tsho
Apron / Sev
Hat / Phuam
Sash / Hlab
Thank you for reading! I hope you love this outfit as much as I do. Also, think of me if you ever want to let go of a skirt like this. Next, I might feature a simple tutorial of a Hmong Thai head wrap.
***Don’t mind my long bag in the back. The straps were too long for me and I didn’t want to cut the straps. It’s supposed to sit much higher.