Mekong Fashion

During our three day tour through the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, which eventually took us overland to Cambodia, we noticed a fashion trend that we hadn’t really seen before, and never really saw again.  We’re not sure exactly how to describe it except for maybe The Pajama Phenomenon.  The seemed to be infinitely comfortable knit fabrics in patterns I’ve never before experienced.

The women of the Mekong seem to be the primary rowers, ferrying goods and people in their boats equipped with oars to be rowed standing up, or conveyed with an outboard motor on a long stick in order to navigate the varying depths of the waters in the are. Their powerful arms and shoulders are something to behold. So are their pants, for that matter.

It seems like they might have some sort of pajama jamboree (pajamboree) where they swap out tops and bottoms, because some of these sets had clearly been broken up.

When the matching sets were combined, however, they had the most impact on the viewer. And some of them were had a powerful impact indeed.

This little girl was a daughter of one of a group of women with boats who rowed us through a floating village.  She was rocking her own sense of fashion, complete with a ruffled hat, a necklace, and several bracelets.

Her mother was very proud of her (as were the other women who seemed to be a fairly tight-knit community) and she knew how to smile for the camera.  A little fashion maven in the making.