Luoba Costume

Luoba Costume

Dress custom is an important manifestation of human material and spiritual life, which has a long history. Luoba people live in dozens of rivers in the vast area of Luoba. The distance between the north and the south is more than 300 kilometers, and the distance between the East and the west is about 1000 kilometers. From tropical to temperate zone, from plain to mountainous area, due to the difference of regional climate factors and the different acceptance of external influence, there are different forms of clothing, although different gender and age have different influences on the form, color and decoration of clothing Demand.

One of the prominent characteristics of Luoba clothing is to make full use of wild plant fiber and animal skin as raw materials. Luoba women like to wear a pair of lapel less and narrow sleeve top made of linen, covered with a piece of calf leather, a tight skirt slightly over the knee around their lower body, leg binding around their lower legs, and strapping at both ends. In addition to silver and copper bracelets and rings, they also have dozens of blue and white pearl necklaces, and round balls of seashells on their waist.

On June 7, 2008, Luoba costumes were listed in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list with the approval of the State Council.

Historical evolution

"The Luoba people have lived for a long time in the highland gorge, which is more than 1000 kilometers long from the east to the west, from the plain to the mountainous area. Influenced by the geographical and climatic factors, they have left the brand rooted in the production and life style and worshiping the traditional nature in the clothing culture." As a native of Luoba, Wei Jianyong, director of the culture and Broadcasting Bureau of Milin County, said.

In the long-term collection activities, Loba people learned to extract fibers from some unique wild plants, remove the gum, dry them in the sun, and then rub them into threads to form raw materials for weaving. The fur, leather and bone of beasts are widely used in materials, which not only shows the praise and yearning of the Luoba people for strength and courage, but also has high practicability. For example, men's bearskin helmets, in addition to the role of cold protection, bear skin helmets are extremely tough and unbreakable, which can prevent sharp weapons from hurting people.

Wei Jianyong said that with the continuous improvement of productivity and aesthetic concepts, people in Luoba have gradually learned to further process natural materials. On the basis of meeting the practical needs, we also strive to make our clothes develop in the direction of beauty, and improve the colors, materials and accessories of men's and women's clothing to meet the aesthetic needs.

"Rich color selection and totem design are influenced by nature worship to varying degrees. Many myths of the Luoba people talk about the father and mother giving birth to all things in the world. Therefore, people will paint the image of the sun in red on their clothes. The abstraction of animals and plants is widely used in jewelry design, such as bracelets with snake heads and bird patterns Wei Jianyong said.

The clothing of Luoba nationality has experienced the development process from simple to complex, from practical to beautiful.