Mulao Costume

Mulao Costume

Mulao nationality is mainly distributed in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Mulao people advocate blue and the style of dress is simple and simple. Mulao people grow their own cotton and indigo, weave their own cloth and dye their own. The method of dyeing cloth is: put the cloth into the dyeing vat, soak it in Indigo water, color it evenly, then pick it up and paste it with rice soup, dioscorea cirrhosa and cowhide glue. After drying, the cloth is rolled with a stone roller or hammered with a club. In this way, the cloth is shiny, beautiful and durable. The local cloth dyed with Indigo is regarded as a treasure by Mulam people. The "old age proof clothes" of the old people and the "wedding clothes" of the girls are made of this kind of cloth.

Clothing characteristics

Mulao people are still dark blue. According to the general annals of Guangxi, "Mu's grandmother in Yishan is a member of Liao's family, and her clothes are still green..." It is one of the characteristics of Mulao people's clothing that they like to wear cyan. Mulao people grow their own cotton and indigo, weave their own cloth and dye their own.

According to historical records, before the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Mulao women mostly wore wide robes with rolled edges, wide sleeves and full cardigans, embroidered bucket skirts, silver rings on their necks, silver rings on their ears, and silver bracelets and rings on their hands, which were of national characteristics. During the Chenghua period (1465-1487) of the Ming Dynasty, the feudal rulers forced the Mulao people to refit, and then gradually changed.

Development stage

Mulao's clothing has its own characteristics, but because of the long-term interaction with Han and Zhuang, it is basically the same as the Han and Zhuang nearby in some aspects.

Before the revolution of 1911, in Mulao people's ordinary families, adult men only sewed a long shirt in their life and wore it as guests. At other times, they wear collarless blouses, which can cover the buttocks. They have wide sleeves, sewn buttons at the front and open at the side of the right chest. They are commonly known as "bucket cover" and "Pipa skirt".

In 1911, the number of men wearing Pipa lapels gradually decreased, and most of them changed to big lapels, that is, the lapels on the right side of the chest were moved under the ribs, and the style was still the same as Pipa lapels. At this time, the rise of "tights" and "breeches", more in winter wear.

In 1949, most of Mulao's clothing had been sinicized. The original clothes are rare except for some old people. In festivals, literary and artistic workers wear them as national art clothes.