According to ethnic experts, there are six branches of the Miao people in Longlin: Pian Miao, Bai Miao, Hongtou Miao, Qingshui Miao, Hua Miao, and Su Miao. Each branch is divided by different costumes. The women's clothing of the six branches of the Miao people is quite different, with various styles and characteristics. Similarities: In the past, the Miao people's clothing was mainly made of linen cloth. The more typical attire of women was a short top, a pleated skirt, and a waist. The unique batik and embroidery techniques were widely used. The materials, colors, styles, and embroidery of the clothing are very ethnic. The accessories are mostly silver ornaments on the head, neck, chest, and hands. The colorful costumes of the Miao people fully demonstrate the wisdom of the Miao compatriots and maintain a strong ethnic characteristic. For example: pure linen handmade batik, embroidery, clothing, and gold and silver jewelry crafts, etc. The following is a brief introduction to the clothing of the six branches of the Miao people in Longlin: (I) Men's clothing Among the six branches of the Miao people in Longlin, the men's clothing is similar, and can be roughly divided into classical men's clothing and modern men's clothing. 1. Classical men's clothing. Before the 1980s, the men of the Miao nationality in Longlin liked to wear a long-tailed black lace headscarf on their heads. Men with long hair would also tie their hair into a knot and put it behind their heads. When going to the market, celebrating festivals or jumping on the slope, some young men liked to wear silver collars and a few earrings. There are two styles of classical men's clothing, one is a single-layer clothing and the other is a double-layer or multi-layer clothing. The former is for spring and summer, and the latter is for winter to keep warm. Most of the clothes are long clothes with the same style. The collar and the lapels form a curve. The back is high and the front is low. There is a small lace around the lapels. It is long to the calf. There are no buttons on the two lapels. When wearing it, the left lapels cover the right lapels to form an oblique intersection. A 12-foot long linen cloth is used as a belt. The belt has embroidered patterns and lace ties at both ends, which are inserted behind the waist so that the ties hang down to the calf. The bottom is a large trouser with wide trouser legs, mostly in blue and black. 2. Modern men's clothing. Middle-aged and old men wear headscarves, but since the 1950s, young people have basically been wearing unity caps (military-style mass caps with sunshades in the front). The upper body is made of linen, corduroy cotton and other fabrics, with a small collar and wide sleeves, and the colors are all black, all blue, and all green. A small number of people wear white lining or white shirts under the outer coat, and the outer coat is trimmed with long strips of fine lace. Except in summer, they generally like to wear multiple pieces, with seven to nine pairs of buttons, which are fastened from bottom to top. Most people do not button the top two pairs of buttons to show their demeanor and handsomeness. The lower body wears wide-waisted and large-legged twisted crotch trousers, and the calves are wrapped with green fine linen leggings. The feet wear brown rope straw sandals or Qing hemp straw sandals. After entering the 1980s, the linen weaving technology was gradually lost. Miao men now no longer wear headscarves and hats, or rarely wear them. They wear cotton fiber fabrics, suits, and Jiefang shoes, leather shoes, etc. (II) Children's clothing Boys' clothing is made of batik, embroidery and colorful silk fabrics. The bottom is open-crotch and does not require a belt. Linen strips are sewn into ear loops at the waist of the pants and put on both shoulders. They wear a square cat-ear or tiger-ear hat. Girls' clothing is lively and cute. The style is a dress. They wear a rabbit-ear or dog-ear hat, and silver bell pendants are sewn on the ear tips and the back edge to distinguish between boys and girls. Flowers are embroidered on the top of the hat, and the brim is decorated with silver ornaments of the Eighteen Arhats. It looks good and energetic when worn. (III) Women's clothing 1. Pian Miao (Mengsha, homophonic in Chinese) Women's clothing He called it Pian Miao because the women of this branch combed their hair and inserted a comb on the side of the hair. The production style and pattern of Pian Miao women's clothing, especially skirts, have strong historical commemorative significance. The Miao people have no written language since ancient times, and can only pass on history through oral transmission or handicrafts. The skirt of a Miao woman is about 2.5 meters long and about 0.60-0.8 meters wide, depending on the height of the person. It is generally made of three pieces of cloth of equal length. Small strips of cloth with different patterns are embedded in between, and the strips and pieces are clear and distinct. Its structure is roughly divided into three parts: the upper skirt cloth (called Nthov Taib in Miao language), the middle skirt cloth (called Twb Daib in Miao language) and the bottom skirt cloth (called Biooj Dawb taib in Miao language). The upper skirt cloth is about 6 inches wide and is made of batik patterned cloth. The pattern resembles continuous mountains; the middle skirt cloth is about 6 inches wide and is made of black cloth or multi-colored silk cloth embroidered with flowers and plants, which resembles a vast and boundless land; the bottom skirt cloth is about 1 foot wide and is usually made of black cloth. A strip of cloth with a clear red and black square pattern about 1 inch wide is inlaid between the upper skirt cloth and the middle skirt cloth; two strips of cloth, each 1 inch wide, are inlaid between the middle skirt cloth and the bottom skirt cloth; the colorful cloth pieces on the upper strip are circled and tightly sewn on the strip, and the lower strip is inlaid with pure white cloth strips, which resemble the endless Yellow River and Yangtze River, symbolizing the difficult journey of the Miao people crossing the river during their thousand-year migration. No wonder people say that "the Miao people are a nation that writes their national history on their clothes." The whole skirt is inlaid with embroidery, batik, colored cloth and black cloth to form a long skirt. When wearing, the two sides of the skirt are folded into pleats, the skirt is as long as the calf, and is tied around the waist with a black cloth belt (belt), and then an apron about eight inches wide and the same length as the skirt is matched in front. White or blue cloth belts (about one inch wide) are sewn on both sides of the top of the apron to tie the waist, leaving the tail belt fluttering in front. This waist is mainly used to cover the non-patterned part and look beautiful and generous. The top is short, only reaching the waist, without a collar, and divided into two parts, front and back, with the right side open, without buttons, and two small cloth strips tied into a bow at the button place, and a small piece of lace made of three-color silk threads on both sides of the collar. There are two types of headwear for unmarried and married women. Unmarried young women use thick black thread (in the past, girls from wealthy families used silk thread) to braid the ends of their hair into two braids about 4 feet long and coil them on their heads. They use several towels with tails to roll them into a horn-shaped hat and wear them on their heads, or fold them in half into two sections and place them flat on the top of the head, letting the scarf hang naturally on the back of the neck. Married women remove their silk wigs, insert a carved wooden comb into the hairline on the right or left side of their heads, wrap their hair around the comb and make a bun, then use a rectangular black cloth (mostly black corduroy) that is one foot wide and one and a half feet long, fold it into a cloth stack that is more than one inch thick, and then sew two white cloth straps on both sides of the top corners of each cloth piece, cross-fold it into a one-centimeter thick strap, tie the black cloth stack into a circle, so that the cloth stack forms a semicircle and buckles it on the head, forming a sharp contrast with unmarried women. White cloth is used as leggings to wrap the calves to the knee bend. The main jewelry includes: gold and silver earrings, large ring silver necklaces, hollow silver bracelets, carved silver fingers, carved flat silver bracelets, mouth string needle and thread treasure box, etc. 2. Bai Miao (Meng Lou) women's clothing Women of this branch wear homemade white pleated skirts, which are neither dyed nor embroidered, hence the name. Women's skirts are only long to the knees, and they wear short tops on the upper body. Elderly people usually wear black, green, blue and other colors to make tops. The square collars are turned back and are all exquisitely hand-embroidered. When wearing them, two to three black belts are wrapped around the waist to tie the bottom of the clothes and the waist of the skirt together. The tail of the belt is left hanging from the waist to the bottom of the skirt. The waist is wrapped with a piece of black cloth about two feet long and one foot wide. Five kinds of flower threads, red, yellow, green, pink and white, are used to embroider the black cloth on three sides. Each side is embroidered with 3-5 laces, and the reverse side is pressed with a one-inch and five-inch flower cloth. Wear two to three headscarves and black foot wraps. The total length is 1.7 meters. Young people are particular about their dress. Their clothes are made of colorful fabrics, including floral fabrics, silk and other fabrics. They choose the most colorful fabrics to make clothes. They wear pleated skirts and bright clothes. Generally, they wear one or two tops. The collars of young people are similar to those of the elderly, but the sleeves are different. They use a piece of black or white cloth about an inch long, which is exquisitely embroidered by hand and then sewn on the sleeves. One or two small lace edges are pasted on the cuffs, and small beads are nailed on them. The whole dress is very beautiful. The baotou is all hand-embroidered and divided into three parts: the first part is close to the head, about 1.4 feet long and 4.5 inches wide; the second part is the middle section, about 1.8 to 2.2 feet long, this part is mainly embroidered with a piece of black or white cloth into a pattern, with small lace attached to the two ends of the flower, and the tail is nailed with small beads or flower threads. The Miao people rely on the tail to tie the whole baotou tightly and firmly. According to personal preference, they wear five or seven baotou. For the belt part, a black cloth about seven feet long is used as the belt, and then a piece of black or white cloth about one foot long and six inches wide is hand-embroidered, and then sewn to the tail cloth of the belt, and then small beads are nailed on the tail end. Generally, young people wear at least 17 to 18 belts, which are red, green, yellow, cyan, blue, purple, pink, etc., and each color is separated by a black belt. The apron is divided into two parts: the first part uses a piece of black or white cloth about 2 feet long and 9 inches wide, and is regularly embroidered with various flowers. After the whole piece is embroidered, a thin piece of gauze is pasted on the back as the lining: the second part uses a piece of black or white cloth 2 feet 5 inches long and 2.5 inches wide to embroider the apron head. After embroidery, a piece of thin gauze of the same size as the apron head is used as the back lining, and then the apron and the apron head are connected. The last step is to manually nail a row of small patterned beads on the connecting section of the apron and the apron head, and then nail three trouser hooks on both ends of the apron head, which is very convenient to wear. Foot binding: according to individual needs, a piece of black or white cloth about two and a half to three feet long is cut into a triangle, and then a pattern is embroidered on the cloth, and small lace is attached to the edge of the embroidered cloth. Then a row of small beads is nailed to the bottom of the bound foot, and then two straps are sewn on the end of the bound foot. This kind of foot binding is both beautiful and simple. 3. The Red-headed Miao (Menglun) is named because their clothing is decorated with red thread and colorful cloth. The Red-headed Miao women's clothing consists of six parts: headscarf, clothes, belt, skirt, waist and foot binding. (1) Head scarf: Before the 1950s, the Red-headed Miao headscarf was made of red cloth. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was basically changed to black or black and white linen headscarf. Generally, men wear black headscarves, while women wear black and white headscarves. Women's headscarves are made of 1 foot wide and 5 feet long, neatly folded into a 3-inch wide strip. When worn, the inner layer is white cloth and the outer layer is black cloth, fixed on the top of the head. Each layer is wrapped around the head about three times. (2) Clothes: In the old days, the clothes of the Hongtou Miao were usually made of white linen, with a cross-belt tied at the waist, without buttons, and a square embroidered collar hanging on the back. The edges of the front were embroidered with small yellow and red flowers, and the edges were wrapped with red cloth to match the collar; the sleeves were three-quarter sleeves, and five-quarters were exquisite embroidered pieces of the same color as the collar. After the 1990s, the colors of clothes mainly included blue, white, blue flowers, gray, etc. The styles and embroidery of clothes were not much different from the past. (3) Belts: In the old days, women's belts were made of black linen cloth 6-8 feet long and 1 foot wide, with 5-inch wide flowers embroidered on both ends and with tassels. It was mainly used to tie the clothes and skirts together, and when worn, a section of the edge and tassels as long as the skirt was left. After the 1960s and 1970s, the waistband of the Hongtou Miao women became 4-8 pieces of black cloth of equal length and width, with 5-inch wide lace embroidered on both ends and tail tassels. However, after the 1980s, the skirt had 8-16 edges and tassels, which were the same length as the skirt. (4) Skirt: The skirt of the Hongtou Miao women is divided into three sections, the middle section is the main one, which is made of 2 meters long and 1 foot wide white linen cloth. After carefully drawing a pattern with beeswax to form a unified pattern, the drawn cloth is dyed black and then boiled to remove the wax to form a flowered cloth; the hem is the bottom part of the skirt, which is generally made of 5-inch wide and 2 meters long black linen cloth and carefully embroidered with white, red and yellow wool. The above two pieces are sewn together, folded into countless folds to form a pleated skirt, and then the waist piece is sewn according to the size of the individual waist to form a complete Hongtou Miao skirt. (5) Waistband: The Hongtou Miao waistband is the outermost piece of exquisite embroidery 5-6 inches longer and 1 foot wider than the skirt, which is tied around the waist after putting on the clothes, tying the skirt with the belt, and finally tying it around the waist. (6) Foot binding: In the past, the Hongtou Miao people used to bind their feet with white linen cloth that was 20 feet long and 1 foot wide, without any embroidery. The foot binding was done layer by layer around the calves. Now, this has changed greatly. It is only a triangular piece of black cloth with lace sewn on it. 4. Qingshui Miao (Mengbu) women's clothing is named because this branch grows green linen cloth, which is different from other branches that grow fire linen cloth. In addition, the tops of women in this branch are mostly made of green cloth. The skirts of Qingshui Miao women are green cloth wax-dyed flower skirts that are as long as the calf. They are divided into two parts, the upper part is about five to six inches long and made of pure white cloth; the lower part is about one foot and two inches long, with wax-painted flower skirts and embroidered lace. The waist is tied with one or two black belts that are about five inches wide and six feet long. The top is usually sky blue, with buttons on the right side. There are three colorful patterns embroidered around the collar. The sleeves are short, covering the elbows by three inches. The sleeves are embroidered with eight different colored patterns, distributed on the arms, and there is a small piece of lace on the cuffs. Those with short hair add artificial hairpins to make them into a spiral shell shape, and use silver hairpins to make their hair look fine. Wear a black scarf, about five feet long, fold it into an inch wide and wrap it around your head. Usually wrap one, and when there is a happy event or visiting relatives, wrap two or three, wrapping it into a straw hat-like spiral shape. Use a white cloth belt that is two centimeters wide and about two feet long as a strap to wrap the calf to the knee bend. 5. Hua Miao (Meng Zou) women's clothing is named because the women's clothing of this branch has more embroidery than other branches, and the whole body is covered with flowers. Hua Miao women's clothing is long-sleeved, with a middle opening, and all kinds of colorful patterns and designs are embroidered on the chest, back, sleeves and cuffs. They are all made by themselves with wax painting and various colored silk threads. Batik flower long skirts, most of which are made of self-woven linen, dyed with indigo into light blue, painted with various patterns and designs, really a body of flowers. The headdress is coiled into a sideburn extending to the surroundings, tied like a mill. Wearing silver earrings and silver necklaces. 6. Su Miao (Mumbai) Women's Clothing Su Miao has no special symbolic basis. Su Miao women's skirts are long to the ankles, mostly black homespun or plain floor-length skirts, and often tied with a black waistband. The clothes still retain the ancient style, with the collar turned to the shoulders, and white cloth about five or six centimeters wide rolled on both sides, put on from top to bottom, with two layers inside and outside, and the outer layer is embroidered with small square patterns on the back, long to the waist, short to the skirt head in front, tied with a belt.