Dress Adornment

Naxi people wear different styles of clothes in different areas. But the Yongao, meaning sheep skin, worn by people of the Lijiang area is most representative. A nomadic nationality in the early days, the Naxi people wore skin to protect themselves from cold and used it as a shoulder pad when shouldering a load. later, the sheep skin gradually transformed itself into a cape developed into an article of clothing gor women only, when men began to wear a felt cape. As time went on, the cape became more and more exquisitely made. Women made it by piecing together nine cloth disks embroidered in the seven colors of the rainbow. Two large disks, about 13cm in diameter, cover the two shoulders and are known as Niemei (the sun) for the left shoulder and Hengmei (the moon) for the right shoulder. The seven smaller disks, about 9cm in diameter, are arranged on the back and known as Shihe (the seven stars of the Big Dip- per). Each cloth disk is decorated with two long white tassels, symbolizing the rays of the sun, moon, and stars. Some women embroider designs of peach blossoms on the white band for tying on the cape and designs of sea shell, wave, potted flower, osmanthus flowers, bee or butterfly at the end corners of the band to symbolize that the Naxi people love life as ardently as the bees and butterflies.

Naxi women living in Lijiang District typically dress in wide-sleeved short and loose jackets, and pleated aprons. They often wear a sheep skin stole over the shoulder, on which seven round patterns representing seven stars are embroidered, symbolizing the remarkable capacity and the hard working spirit of the Naxi women. Women in Ninglang County prefer to wear long pleated skirts reaching the ground.