The beauty of the Gia Rai’s costumes

The Gia Rai people have their own identities in graphic design and decorating their clothes. Though each Gia Rai group has it own way to decorate, they all have common features.

In the daily life, men wind indigo-blue turbans for several rounds on the heads then let the end down on one side or wear the same turbans as Kinh’s. Normally, men wear loin-clothes. The daily loin-clothes are shorter than the one used in special festivals and are made from white striped cloth. In festivals, they wear indigo-blue loin-clothes (410 centimetres long and 29 centimetres wide) which are decorated red and white patterns to make edge lines and two fringed ends on the ground of indigo-blue color. Some groups wear no tunic but the others do (the indigo-blue non-sleeved or long-sleeved jumpers). The non- sleeved ones have the white threaded selvedge on the sides while the long –sleeved ones look the same as the Ede or Mnong’s female shirts.Women have long hair and usually twist in buns in the back of their necks or on the top of heads. Popularly, they wear short, ship-shape-necked jumpers but the Gia rai Mthur group often wear low V-necked jumpers and other popular ones. On the indigo-blue jumpers, they often decorate horizontally the jumper bodies, necks, shoulders, sleeves, chests, cuffs and fringes with the striped patterns. Red with white, yellow with indigo-blue or plain green with indigo-blue are preferred. Unsewed dresses are put on by winding around the hips (about 140 centimetres long and 100 centimetres wide). The decoration of dresses are the same as the jumpers. A group in Pleiku use the same decoration but more patterns at the middle of dresses and on the below haft of jumper body or sleeves. Necklaces and bracelets are used commonly.