Hi Pamela;
Thank you very much for your reply. It is very informative and I am certainly looking forward to more information from the forum and hopefully contribute as well.
Firstly, to clear the confusion on my statement "applique cross stitch pattern", I am basically refering to the technique that was used for one of its decoration. From what I have seen, the DAI jacket consists of two methods of decoration i.e wax resists dyeing and pieces of squarish cloths decorated using cross stitch and then applied on the jacket. The jacket is by itself already indigo in colour.
In any case, thanks for the pictures you have posted. Unfortunately, it is not what I have seen although the pair of jackets are quite similar. The patterns are very abstract consisting of squares, crosses, stars shapes. Nothing like the blue miao dress with human figures.
I will try to take a picture of the jacket and hopefully, everyone can get a better idea. What is for sure is that this is a DAI jacket at least according to the details.
I am wondering, based on your knowledge, can we always tell from the motifs or techniques whether a textile belongs to a certain tribe expecially in Southwest China i.e Yunnan, Guizhou etc. From what I understand, there is a lot of intermingling and sometimes the MIAO item might looks like the Yi item etc.
I am not surprised to hear that there is an industry going on to produce full scale tribal items for the tourist market. However, is there anyway to know? As a collector, it is important the collecting is for pieces that are distinctive and not mass produce. I guess that is always a peril of collecting isn't it.
Anyway, I will try post the picture and hopefully, more info can be obtained.
Thanks
