With their skillful hands, the Nung women have made their own costumes with indigo-dyed fabrics with simple but very harmonious stripes. The unique feature on the costume of this ethnic group is the pattern, which is not picky but more prone to posing. 

The Nung women in their costume

Nung An ethnic costumes

The clothes of the Nung are cut and sewn from indigo-dyed black cloth, most of which does not have many patterns and lines. In particular, Nung men and women reach adulthood with a gold tooth in their upper jaw and this is considered beautiful and luxurious. 

Both men and women have long worn a type of wide-legged pants that are ankle-length, and the color stripes are most prominent at the hem of the shirt.

The Nung costume

Nung men usually wear a hip-length ao dai, sewn tight, the sleeves are long and wide and the collar is cut round. The shirt has 7 buttons and usually has 4 or 2 pockets. Meanwhile, the costumes of Nung women are richer and more diverse.

Nung women wear an indigo five-part shirt, short enough to cover the buttocks, the shirt is sewn very wide in both the body and arms, allowing comfortable movements. The dress of the Nung women is decorated by adding a cloth of different colors to the cuffs and the front of the chest, usually black cloth over the indigo shirt.

Costumes of the Nung Din people

Today, they wear both 5-part and 4-part shirts. The 4-part short shirt is with a round collar, slit chest, wide brace and hem, two small pockets on the front flap, 9 rows of fabric buttons in the brace. This type of shirt is mostly used at home, going to work or wearing inside a five-part long shirt. Only the Nung Din group wear the 4-part short shirt as the main type of shirt, while the 5-part shirt is sewn short, just covering the belly, used to wear indoors, when going to sleep, or inside the 4-part shirt when going out.

The Nung shirt

The colors on the Nung ethnic costumes are also quite diverse, such as light blue, dark blue, charcoal-purple, and most commonly indigo-color.

Besides the shirt, the skirt is also an important part, creating a unique feature of the Nung traditional costume. The skirt of the Nung is clearly divided into the skirt waistband, skirt tie, skirt body and skirt hem. Sometimes they call the waistband the top of the skirt, and the hem the bottom of the skirt. The body of the skirt is assembled from 4 pieces, the hem of the skirt is covered with a different color fabric, both for the hard hem and beauty. When wearing, people fold the excess part of the skirt to the front or the hip. When going to the market or visiting others, people let the hem of the skirt cover the ankle, and while at work they fold the skirt up for convenience and cleanliness. 

The art of making skirts of the Nung Din is the most typical of the Nung. They have pleated skirts and dresses made of two layers of fabric, the outer layer is thicker and stiffer and the inner layer is thin and soft. The two edges of the skirt are left open when worn, one edge overlaps the other, making the wearer feel discreet. 

The structure of the Nung Din dress is made up of skirt waistband, top of skirt, body of skirt and hem of skirt. The skirt waist connects to the top of the skirt, the two sides form two long cloth straps used to replace the belt or draw. It is tied when wearing to hold tight to the waist. The top of the skirt is usually a piece of fabric of a different color, white or blue, sewn on one side with the skirt body, the other side with the skirt waist. The top of the skirt is about one and a half times the length of the waist, but much shorter than the width of the body fabric. Therefore, when stitching together, the skirt body must be pleated so that when worn, the pleats are evenly flowing along the skirt. When going to work, in order to be neat and easy to move, people grab a cloth of the skirt body at the back, tie it to form a lump called Phan Phai (cloth bag), from this the names Nung U or Nung Phan Phai appeared.

The accessories

Besides, the belt is also an important part to complete the Nung costume. This type of accessory varies in different groups. The Nung Din group has a belt woven with silk yarn, the fabric surface is woven with parallel patterns. When wearing them they wrap the belt around the abdomen. Meanwhile, Nung Loi women's belts are made of cotton yarn woven and indigo-dyed, the two ends of the rope are long to the calf. The belts of the Nung An group are indigo-dyed, while the Nung Xuong women wear many belts outside of their long shirts, on which they wear a cross-bracelet or silver cord, clearly visible on the background of the indigo belt.

Nung women often use two types of headscarves, which are commonly called bau crow and only worn during weddings and festivals, called Bau Chip. In addition, the costumes of Nung women also include aprons, leggings, shoulder pads, canvas shoes and some jewelry made of metal. The Nung wear necklaces, bracelets, hair brooches, ear rings both to make them beautiful and express their beliefs about the gods in the sacred Northwest mountains.

Tags: Vietnamese ethnic costume, ethnic costume meaning, ethnic costume accessories, The Nung ethnic group in Vietnam, the Nung ethnic costumes for men and women, the Nung culture and costume, the Nung cloth and accessories, traditional costume of Vietnamese ethnic groups