The Shan Garments.
The description of the chief Shan garments in the George collection, presented in the following pages, includes groups of garments from the Taung-yo, Yang Lam, and La’hu tribes, as well as many other examples. In this connection it is interesting to note that whereas in most cases the men wear the conventional Shan dress, the women preserve the traditions of their tribes in the cut, colour and decoration of their garments.
Fig. 13. GS 60. Back of woman's coat. Mühso tribe, Kengtung State.
The Taung-yo Garments.
The Taung-yo are a northern Shan tribe which scarcely extends beyond the southern portion of Myelat (Fig. 1). The men wear Shan dress.
The women wear a garment called a thindoing, a sort of camisole or sleeveless short jacket, GS 57 (Fig. 7), GS 59n. Under this is worn a short kirtle, not extending below the knee, with which leggings, GS 58 (Fig. 9) are sometimes used. The wealthier members of the clan add embroidery to these garments. The hair is done up in a chignon, and a black cloth (tabet) wound round the head, turban fashion, and ornamented with a variety of coloured tassels, or else a head-dress is worn of the kind described in the following paragraph, GS 84 (Fig. 6) which has the cap portion placed on the head while the ends are allowed to hang down the back. The Palung women also wear a head-dress of a similar shape. The head dress belonging to a member of the Taung-yo tribe, is of special interest as it is folded in half and joined to form a kind of cap, instead of being a straigth length of material. The two edges on the left of Fig. 6 are joined throughout their entire length, 162 cm. (5ft. 4in.,) and on the right to a depth of 12.7 cm. (5in.) The width of the cloth, a coarsely woven grey cotton fabric, is 26.7 cm. (10½in.); and its ends are finished off by a twisted fringe (Fig. 6b) made from the warps by taking a pair in either hand, twisting in opposite directions, then together, and, finally, knotting the ends.
