Akha clothing

Like the other hill tribes in Thailand, the Akha can be distinguished by their clothing and jewelry. Men generally wear loose trousers, a white vest, and a blue jacket. Akha women traditionally wear a jacket, short skirt, sash with decorated ends, leggings, and their most characteristic piece of clothing, a headdress.

Akha women decorate their clothing and themselves with silver chains, beads, buckles, bracelets, earrings, and finger rings. The young women of marriageable age wear the most elaborate clothing, contrary to their elders, who wear clothing with less ornamentation.

The traditional Akha clothing started to disappear from everyday life by the 1990s. A different attire including T-shirts and jeans became part of the Akha’s daily clothing too, as a result of contact with the Thai lowlands and the Western lifestyle. A woman’s headdress, for example, is now only donned for special occasions or tourist events, while traditionally women never removed it and wore it everywhere. They even slept wearing them!