Kazakh Attire: An Integral Part of a Nomadic Lifestyle

An ancient, nomadic, ethnic minority people living at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains in northwest China, Kazakhs have a dress style that features exotic patterns and colors. Their distinctive artistic and cultural characteristics reflect an aesthetic that forms an integral part of traditional costume culture in China.

- GUO ZHIDONG

THE people of the Kazakh ethnic minority in China are principally distributed in Mori and Barkol Kazakh autonomous counties in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Aksay Kazakh Autonomous County in Gansu Province. From ancient times to the present day, the ethnic Kazakhs have occupied themselves with an animal husbandry economy, while living a nomadic life. Over the long evolution process, their folk costumes have gradually changed to meet the needs of nomadic migration in the mountain grasslands, resulting in the formation of both a practical and attractive style that incorporates the group’s history.

The material selection of Kazakh attire is related to local production and life. Wildlife and livestock are abundant in the pastoral areas, so the raw materials of clothing include wild animal skins and livestock skins. Clothing materials can be divided into leather and cloth. Generally, they wear leather clothes in spring and winter and cotton clothes in summer and autumn. When making leather garments, they first use a fermentation agent to transform leather into a processed hide and then color dye them. The processed leather is then used to make overcoats, sleeveless jackets, and drop crotch pants. Affluent families used lambskins, ponyskins, even wolf and fox skins as raw materials.