2010 Hermès Scarf Cent Plis des Miao

Photo courtesy of Phoua Vang

After harvesting each year, the Miao people celebrate New Year in the 10th month of the lunar calendar in southwestern China. As the Miao’s New Year unfolds, it is time to unroll a precious silk scroll - the Hermès carré Cent Plis des Miao.

Photo Courtesy of 2390890985MSH

In the year 2010, Hermès announced the year’s theme was “Storytelling”. The French fashion house collaborated with the artist Aline Honoré to create the carré Cent Plis des Miao. The detailed description from the Hermès catalogue: “A fan of fine ribs inspired by the large leaves of the palm, the skirt of a hundred folds is spread across a carpet of delicate patterns, which symbolise the culture and craft of the Miao people. In the southwest of China, protected by the mountains of the moon, women weave, create batiks, and embroider, reproducing the colours and symbols belonging to their group. Each young girl possesses a skirt of a hundred folds and silver jewellery, as betoken by this little carved horse, who prances from the fold to fold. This carré prompted a meeting with the Museum of Quai Branly in Paris. Offered by Hermès, the skirt now figures amongst its collections.”

The Miao People are on the left side in the 50 cents banknote of RMB.

The people’s Republic of China is a united multi-ethnic nation of 56 ethnic groups. With a population of more than nine million in China, the Miao people form one of the largest ethnic minorities. After five major immigration and incalculable relocation over thousand years of history, the Miao people spread and live mainly in Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan, Hunan, Hubei, Guangxi and Hainan Provinces. The Miao people who live in Laos, Myanmar, northern Vietnam, Thailand, France and the United States of America are known as the Hmong (pronounced as “mung”).

Photo courtesy of ghmoonkiller

The Miao have a highly diversified culture developed from a common root. At a rough estimate, there are around 134 different types of Miao costumes. The most notable similarities of the female costumes are the pleated skirts and pure silver accessories. As the media of history and cultural symbols, Miao’s ethnic costumes are called “The Wearable Epics”. The Miao people do not have text, or they have vanished during wars or on the journey to the new settlements. The Miao ancestors recorded almost everything on the costumes during their immigration journey. Traditional textile-making technology, batik techniques and creative embroidery were widely used within the Miao tribes. The Miao ancestors held the needles as their pens, and they glided the colourful threads on the fabrics as the inks ran on the papers. The most significant purposes of the Miao costume are to document history, celebrate in ceremonies, express creativity, preserve art for the next generations, pass on and inherit their traditional culture, and distinguish different tribes or clans.

A skirt of a hundred folds is spread across a textile of delicate patterns on the carré. At the centre of the carré is a “Hermès Paris” seal stamp in a large square on the pattern representing the sun and terraced paddy fields. Plenty of small squares representing rice fields and planting plans are densely distributed on the surface of the carré. Surrounding the paddy fields are geomatic patterns that represent the mountains with abundant plants, rivers and creeks, and axles of the thread winding and fabric weaving machines.

Two squares containing two birds with flowers and vines sit at the bottom of the textile. The ancient Miao myth “Twelve Eggs” tells that the Miao ancestors called the butterfly their mother. They believed their human ancestors were transformed from butterfly eggs. The ancient Miao lyric explained: “Wind gives birth to fog, fog gives birth to clouds, and clouds give birth to rain. Maple trees grew from the ground. After the maple tree grew up, it attracted two birds to live in and sing on the tree branches. The birds’ chirping sound annoyed the goddess who lived under the tree. The angry goddess chopped down the maple tree, and the tree’s heart turned into a butterfly. The butterfly fell in love with the water bubble YouFang and gave birth to twelve ShenHeng eggs. The Jiyu Bird incubated the eggs for twelve years. Twelve brothers include Jiang Yang (human), Thunder King, Dragon King, elephant, cow, sheep, chicken, snake, centipede, bobcat, tiger, and the dog eventually hatched.” Therefore, the Miao people worship the Jiyu bird as one of their ancestors.

According to the myth, for the Miao people, ChiYou was a wise mythical king. The square pattern located in the upper right is a portion of the Chiyou fortress. The Miao people embroidered the pattern on their clothes to remember their hometown. Another legend has it that this Miao tribe was defeated in an ancient battle. On the way to escape, the male leader handed the seal stamp representing the power of the tribe to a female leader. And then he sacrificed himself while he covered and protected the tribe from fleeing. The rest of the tribe must be separated and seek seclusion in the mountains at that time. However, the seal stamp may expose their identities. The female leader stamped on each member’s cloth with ink before she destroyed the seal stamp. The pattern of the seal stamp was later embroidered on the fabric with silk threads. The pattern became their secret identification to contact each other and to reunite in the future.

In the upper left square, the auspicious clouds surround a Miao tribe. The Miao people believe the auspicious clouds are good gods’ carriers symbolising that they are always protected and blessed by the gods.

The theme of the textile in the carré is to depict the culture and crafts of the Miao people - their ways of worshipping their ancestors, kings and heroes from the past, memorising the images of the place where they came from and recalling their history. It records the scenes where the Miao people lived and associated events. Last but not least, they wish their tribes will multiply, and their future generations will grow well and healthy with god’s blessing.

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Le Jardin de Cloud

Hermès Scarf Cent Plis des Miao

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