This cotton jacket with appliquéd squares of coloured cloth, is part of a set of garments comprising a head cloth and trousers worn by the women of Lolo, a highland community in North Vietnam, known as Flower Lolo (Rong Me). The geometric patterns in predominantly red, yellow, pink and blue are hand-sewn using an appliqué method of cutting and stitching coloured cloth onto the indigo-dyed garments. The Lolo are Tibeto-Burman language speakers who live in settled villages, farm wet rice and raise cattle. Ancestor worship is predominant and ancient head-hunting rites are still observed at funerals.
