Hmong women's costume. Huanping, China

Hmong women's costume; Huanping, China.
Silk and cotton.
Measurements: 74 cm skirt length; 80 cm jacket length; 16 cm diameter of the cap.
A female dress from Huanping County in the southern Chinese province of Guizhou. It belongs to the Hmong ethnic group, commonly known as Miao, which in Mandarin can be translated as "rare". The Hmong now number around six million and are one of the officially recognised nationalities in China. They are mainly found in the mountainous areas of southwest China, although there are also Miao populations in Vietnam, Burma and northern Thailand, and even in South America, specifically in French Guiana, brought from Laos by the French government in 1977 in order to populate the territory. The Miao are socially organised in clans, with subdivisions depending on each county and comarca. This is a female dress from Huangping County, consisting of an embroidered cap, jacket, pleated skirt and sash. In this geographical area, it is usual for most of the embroidery to be on the back of the jacket and on the upper arms, as shown here. The embroidery is very intricate, intricate and dense. In fact, the Miao are known for their mastery of three techniques: embroidery, hairdressing and silversmithing. As for the cap, it is of the type worn by unmarried girls. The entire costume is made of silk, which acquires its particular shine thanks to a laborious process of successive dyeing, which ends with the beating of the fabric with wooden sticks. This laborious technique has even given rise to a popular saying that you know you are near a Miao village because you can hear the sound of the beating of the cloth everywhere.