This skirtcloth was woven and worn by a Maru Chin woman, using the ancient techniques of hand-spinning and dyeing cotton and a backstrap loom. It was woven using continuous warp (vertical) threads, to create the tubular form, which could then be worn wrapped around the waist. The colourful supplementary woven design with geometric motifs was probably made with commercially available thread. Many different sub-groups of the Chin community live across the hilly Chin state in the north-west region of Myanmar as well as across the border into Chittagong and other areas of north-east India. Their textile arts are a marker of their identity as a sub-group within the wider Chin community. Elaborate textiles also signal the owner's wealth and social standing within the village hierarchy.
