Lahu Shi Men's Dress

Just as with the women's clothing, the Lahu Shi men's clothing is of black cloth with layers of brightly colored fabric strips appliqued to it along with silver 'button' or bell decorations. There are also differences between the married and unmarried men's clothing. In general the men's clothing consists of a loose jacket with decoration along the hems and a pair of loose pants with decoration from just under the knees to the ankles.

The married man's jacket shows considerably less decoration than that of the bachelor, a much narrower band of applique stripes follows the hem and there is much less silver. Again, there is a distinct lack of decoration along the shoulder seam with the married man's jacket, matching that lack in the married woman's jacket. Another interesting detail to note is the wrist hem as there is only a simple blue band high at the wrist rather than more of the colorful bands at the hem.

A very interesting difference between the men's clothing and that of the women is the addition of small bits of embroidery that do not show up in the women's adornment. Below is a close up view of the married man's jacket showing the line of embroidery running along the inside of the applique bands.

The unmarried man's outfit has considerably more decoration to it, not just in the amount of applique and silver but also in the number of colors used. The bands on the front of the jacket are much larger and more ornate. Silver 'buttons' are used liberally in the ubiquitous triangle design. The shoulder seams are decorated.

The above picture shows the interesting mock-detail of a traditional chinese jacket. The top of the right hand jacket front has a section of applique that is horizontal rather than vertical and mimics the type of adornment usually associated with Chinese garments. However, the Lahu men's jacket opens at the center rather than off to one side as would the chinese-style jacket that the decoration is suggesting.

Below is a picture of a rather flamboyant bachelor playing the naw pipes. The turban that he wears is quite brilliant, but I have absolutely no information about men wearing turbans in the traditional Lahu Shi costume. (Of course that in no way means that it doesn't happen, but that I don't have enough information to truly comment on it at this time.)

These close-up views above and below of bachelor's clothing show more of the embroidery that seems to be reserved for men's clothing. Note the very skillful bands of evenly applied applique!