This tubular woven skirt has indigo-dyed ikat designs arranged in bands comprising geometric and anthropomorphic motifs. It was woven by the Li people of Hainan Island. Ikat, which literally means 'to tie' is a weaving technique in which the warp (vertical) and weft (horizontal) threads are tied and dyed such that, when woven, the designed pattern appears in the finished fabric.The Mien or Yao as they are often called, probably lived in southern China about 2,000 years ago and are related to the Hmong. They write in Chinese and speak a language derived from the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. The Yao migrated during the mid 19th century from Laos to Thailand.
