Bai Clothes

The Bais' costumes and ornaments are eye-catching and exquisite. Clothes of men have little difference, simple and unadorned. But costumes of the Bai women vary a lot from each other. In general, the upper clothes and headgears are gaudy and the lower dress is relatively simple. Girls and children tend to wear gorgeous clothes, while middle-aged and old people prefer simple and elegant clothes. In terms of color, both men and women of the Bai ethnic minority adore white, and regard white clothes worshipful. Bai people, no matter old or young, all like to wrap sheepskins around themselves. Before the 1930s, the majority of Bai women practiced foot-binding.

The Bai men used to wear eight-square hat, eight-square headcloth, straw hat, and white or black turban. The men usually wear a white jacket buttoned down the front, a black collared unlined jacket and a pair of short loose trousers. Middle-aged and old men used to tie a leather bag made of muntjac or sheep skin to hold tobacco leaves. Now, the Bai men wear the same costumes as men of Han people, and they only dress traditionally in some festivals of the Bai ethnic minority.

Girls usually daintily arrange their hairs. They make beautiful hairstyle by combing the hair in one pigtail, coiling it up heads with a red cord, and wrapping it with a colorful embroidered towel and the tassel swaging to one side beyond the left ear. A married woman usually wears a white shirt matched with a red sleeveless jacket, or a light blue shirt matched with black velvet collared jacket, ties a short embroidered girdle, and wears blue broad trousers and embroidered shoes.