Anatomy of Hmong Clothes

As I was posting up Hmong inspired clothes and trying to describe each piece, I realized that I have not talked about the anatomy of a Hmong outfit yet.

Here, I am wearing a Hmong Chinese outfit designed by my sister-in-law's family.  There is so much that I love about this outfit.

Anatomy of a Hmong Outfit (in order of how it goes on):

1.  Shirt (it can be worn as a jacket with American clothes.

2.  Skirt (Hand pleated).

3.  Shay (apron like piece in front).

4.  Lahng (Belt piece).

5.  Doun (Leg wrappers - traditionally, the doun covers from the ankle to under the knees.  With the newer styles, some are still long, but many are short like this one.)

6.  Hat (This hat comes with the outfit).

Here are some more pictures of the same outfit.  Many of the appliques (pa dau) on Hmong clothes are hand created.  These were machined embroidered in China.  Other than that, everything is put together by hand.  As noted above, the skirt is hand-pleated, with pleats of 1/2 inch wide.  As you will see in some of the photos below, the skirt have a lot of materials in it.  This first picture here is shown with a traditional Hmong Chinese, also known as Maio, hat.

Here are more views.  Note how much materials there are in the skirt.