Miao pleated skirt

Miao pleated skirt

　　It is said that long ago, a peacock in the deep mountains and dense forests saw a Miao girl. Instead of flying away, it spread its tail feathers to compete in beauty with the girl’s pleated floral skirt. But it lost the contest and flew off in jealousy.

　　This magical legend is a tribute to the hard work of Miao girls. Because Miao girls often regard the most beautifully embroidered clothes as a symbol of diligence and capability. They put their heart and soul into the design, pattern conception, and embroidery of their skirts. If you look closely at their floral skirts, you’ll find that strands of colored threads, through their skillful hands, bring together various mountain flowers onto the skirts. The patterns on Miao women’s skirts are neat and symmetrical, with complex and dazzling colors. There is no Miao girl who does not know how to embroider. From the day their daughters are born, mothers begin teaching them to recognize the various flowers in the mountains and distinguish their colors. When the girls are old enough to use a needle and thread, they are taught to embroider and weave brocades, because a girl who cannot embroider—or does it poorly—will not catch a young man’s eye, no matter how beautiful she may be.

　　Every year, when the Flower Mountain Festival comes, it is the time for the girls’ pleated skirts to compete in splendor. As the girls walk along mountain paths blooming with wildflowers, they look like colorful butterflies dancing in flight. At this time, if a girl’s dress is embroidered most beautifully, the elders will praise her without end, and young men will swarm around her like bees to flowers, singing her the first song of love.

　　A type of skirt worn by women of the Yi, Miao, and Dong ethnic groups. Popular in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, and other regions, during the Ming Dynasty, these skirts were often made with dark blue fabric and featured over 20 pleats, with multicolored peach blossom patterns below the waist. Modern versions have many dense pleats, and the skirts come in both long and short lengths—the long ones trailing on the ground, the short ones reaching the knees. The Dong people’s pleated skirts consist of two panels, front and back. When worn, the calves are wrapped with leg bindings or covered with sock-like tubes. These skirts are worn regardless of season, for festivals or outings. In the Liangshan region of Sichuan and the Ninglang Yi area of Yunnan, the skirts are generally sewn together from three different colored fabrics.