Of all of Asian cultures, Hmong may be one of the most often overlooked. With tribes located in China, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, there are as many as 5 million Hmong people in the world, including over 200,000 in the United States. Like many cultures, the Hmong people have their own unique background, style, and traditions.
One of the more fun aspects of Hmong culture are Hmong costumes, although the name "costume" may be misleading. Hmong costumes are really a traditional dress/fashion that is most often worn on special events or during Hmong dances. Hmong culture also allows for the integration of more modern style over time, so many of these costumes have been updated and advanced as time has passed. Hmong costumes come in four different types:
White Hmong
White Hmong (Hmoob Dawb) style of dress is a type of Hmong costume that integrates an apron with a white pleated skirt. The sleeves, belt, and apron are all decorated with traditional Hmong artistic pieces. White Hmong is the name of the people, but the colors of the fabric can vary, and many of the costumes come in bright green and black, with many pinks and yellows. In all of these costumes, including white Hmong, the women wear a head covering that resembles a small turban. In the case of White Hmong, this small turban is more of a ribbon.
Green Hmong
The Green Hmong costumes (Hmoob Ntsuab) are slightly more complex, but resemble the White Hmong costume style. While they tend to come in black more often, they are highly pleated with a considerable amount of color, especially in the women's skirts, which have artistic stitching involving many pinks, peaches, greens, whites, oranges and purples. The men use the same colors on their vests. The Green Hmong dress also uses a ribbon as the women's' turban.
Striped Hmong
Hmoob Txaij (Striped Hmong) costumes differ from other costumes because the arms of the costumes are striped. Interestingly, this is one of the only differences between Striped Hmong and other Hmong costumes. They also wear much more of a turban than both Green and White Hmong, and have slightly different designs in the dress.
Hmong Chinese
Hmong Chinese (Hmoob Suav) style clothing is perhaps the most distinct of the group. Their costumes tend to be one color from head to toe, usually in a style similar to Chinese traditional dresses, but still decorated with the Hmong artistic decoration that makes these costumes unique. The headdress is also much larger for women, with strings filled with beads that come down from the sides of the hat.
Styles of Hmong Dress
Hmong costumes are some of the more distinctive traditional clothes in Asia. While the differences between them may be less obvious at first, analyzing Hmong costumes can allow you to pick up on many key differences that give them all their own personality.
