Rochambeau: from the Streets of New York to the Hills of the Hmong

Designers Michael Venker, Joshua Cooper, and Laurence Chandler met at Parsons’ senior thesis show in 2007, afterwards launching the label Rochambeau, which is Egyptian for the popular game of rock-paper-scissors.

For spring/summer 2011, the Rochambeau collection takes us to the Far Eastern hills of Asia where the Hmong people dwell.

I first became acquainted with the Hmong in university when I was teaching refugees fleeing Laos, many of whom were Hmong. I then lived amidst the Hmong in China where they are readily called Miao.

The dress of the Hmong depends on the tribe, but what is pervasive among most Hmong tribes are colorfully embroidered garments and batik, which is fabric dyed with wax-drawn motifs.

Rochambeau incorporates the colors and other isolated garments into the 2011 spring/summer collection with draping, panels, and vesting.

Check out the entire collection here.

Photos Copyright Rochambeau.

Miao People—All about Fashion

One of the largest minority groups with whom I had the most contact in China was with the Miao, who have dwelt in the Guizhou province for the past 2,000 years.

The Miao total about 9.6 million people, who are scattered not only throughout southern China but also Southeast Asia, where they arrived in the 18th century.

Outside China, the Miao are known as Mèo or H’Mông in Vietnam, Maew or Mong in Thailand, and Mun Lu-Myo in Burma. Although the Miao prefer to call themselves Hmong or Mong, their names do not end there.

Interestingly, Miao tribes classify themselves according to the colors and patterns of their clothing—White Hmong, Green Hmong, Black Hmong, and Striped Hmong, Red Miao, Flowery Miao.

Now that’s a fashion statement!

The Miao peoples produce textiles called “flower cloth,” which features intricate stitch work and embroidery of bold designs and bright, contrasting colors.

Some Miao tribes wear batik, which is created by dripping hot wax on white cloth that is then dipped in dye.

The most common of Miao patterns are flowers, birds, fish, butterflies, and fruit—each of which carries a specific meanings.

It is not uncommon for Miao women to adorn themselves in massive silver jewelry that takes the form of immense bullhorns and ornate crowns.



Photo by Cyril Massenet Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License at Wiki Commons.
Photo by Michael Mooney Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License at Wiki Commons.
Slideshow Copyright Men's Fashion by Francesco.

Guizhou Minorities in the 80's

Ninety percent of the population in the region where I resided could be classified under one heading: down-and-out poor. In other words, there were plenty of paupers, especially among the minority groups, who lived entirely distinct from the mainstream of Chinese “Hans.”

The minorities in our province were cut off from the outside world and subsisted on the petty provisions of third-world conditions and tribal superstitions. In their eyes, I was an alien from another galaxy; but just the same, I tried to reach out to them by providing medicine, clothing, and other basic commodities.

One cold day, I stopped by a cinder block hut of stone masons, who existed on cabbage and hot peppers. I proposed that we have dinner together. A progressive adolescent in the bunch cackled his excitement with “Oh, boy, coffee!” At sundown, I lugged three pounds of pork over to their hut. We gathered the wood, lit a bonfire, roasted the hot peppers, and had a decent meal and conversed about our different cultures.

Although in the next articles we will see the beautiful traditional dress of China’s minorities, in the 1980’s most men could not afford to wear anything other than the military blue or green version of the Mao suit.

Photos & slideshow Copyright Men's Fashion by Francesco.

Menswear—Not Just Fashion: Focus on China

Menswear does not just stand for fashion but rather embraces so much more, such as the history, culture, psychology, sociology, economics, dance, and music of any given group of men.

Menswear does not merely entail a man’s clothing or garments but also entails how and why they wear what they choose.

As we approach the holiday season and a brand-new year, I would like to introduce a whole new series of articles that arise from my travels throughout several countries in the Far East, beginning with a focus on China, where I lived for 4 years.

We hear so much about China as a new world economic power that boasts one of the world’s oldest civilizations and a population of 1.35 billion people! But what do we know about China’s men: how do they think and what do they wear?

Like many countries, China is not homogeneous but rather home to 56 ethnic groups, the largest of which is the Han.

Besides the Han majority, there exist fascinating peoples like the Zhuang (16 million), Manchu (10 million), Hui (9 million), Miao (8 million), Uighur (7 million), Yi (7 million), Tujia (5.75 million), Mongols (5 million), Tibetans (5 million), Buyi (3 million), Dong (2.9 million), Yao (2.5 million), Bai (1.8 million), Gelao, (0.5 million), Shui (0.5 million), and Qiang (0.2 million).

I must say that I have been extremely fortunate—and privileged—to have lived 4 years in a region of southwest China where 11 of these minorities constitute 37% of the local population.

During my sojourn, I became acquainted with the men and their languages, cultures, music and dance, cuisine, and—of course—their traditional dress.

Since I lived in this minority region in the 1980’s, much of the minority life that I experienced has slowly disappeared.

So, I have done my best to reproduce it for you with the photos that I took and the memoirs that I wrote!

Photos Copyright Men's Fashion by Francesco.