Cát Cát

Cát Cát lies in a steep valley a short walk below Sa Pa, beside a stream and a waterfall. It is a Black H’Mông village, and the women here have made the family’s clothes from hemp for generations, growing the plant, spinning, weaving, dyeing and embroidering. The indigo-dyed jackets, pleated skirts and embroidered collars are the dress of the community and of its festivals and ceremonies. The village’s water-powered wheels, still turning by the stream, once pounded rice and other grain.

Because it is so close to Sa Pa, Cát Cát has become one of the most visited villages in the north. There is an entrance fee, a paved path, craft stalls and performances, and much of the clothing on sale is now factory-made or from elsewhere. The craft continues in households away from the main path, where women still spin hemp while they walk and sit embroidering between other work. It is worth taking time to see it. Women from other villages around Sa Pa also come down to sell their own work, so the stalls give a broad picture of the region’s cloth.

Good H’Mông hemp cloth is firm and uneven to the touch, and the indigo is deep and slightly glossy where it has been beaten. Embroidery should be dense and fine, often in cross-stitch and reverse appliqué, with small geometric motifs. Batik lines should be crisp. Bright colours and slick surfaces suggest machine-made cloth. Older pieces, worn soft and faded unevenly, are often more interesting than new ones.