Culture of yaya clothing and stitched women’s shoes in mueng district, Phuket Province

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to 1) investigate the history of Chinese settlement in Phuket, 2) examine the culture of Yaya clothing and stitched women’s shoes, 3) study the pattern of Yaya clothing and stitched women’s shoes and 4) analyze the suitability of the city circumstance and clothing. The researcher studied the document and the pictures and collected the data by using Non-Participant Observation to observe the behavior of Chinese Violet (Yaya) clothing and stitched women’s shoes in Mueng district, Phuket province and conduct in-depth interview with 8 field specialists. Snowball sampling was used to select key informant. Data were analyzed by descriptive analysis. The results were found that during the reign of King Rama III and King Rama V, Hokkien Chinese from Southern and Eastern China migrated to Phuket by the junk boat. Mining is the major source of income of Chinese in Phuket, others are merchandising, fishing and agriculture. Most of Chinese got married with other local Thai people. We call them “Baba” for the people of mixed Thai and Chinese heritage. For the culture of Yaya clothing and stitched women’s shoes in Mueng district, Phuket province, it was found that in the previous days, the daily women clothing was the straight- point collar shirt with pleated sleeves and Pateh skirt. In the auspicious occasions, women wore long evening gowns and made a high hair bun. Later, wearing a long evening gown was adapted to be the short one according to the weather and circumstance and for better movement; Yaya shirt became popular because of its ventilation. Yaya clothing and stitched women’s shoes were designed into various patterns such as animals, flowers and plants, and nature. Stitched women’s shoes were made from laces or beads. The stitch pattern meant good luck and propitiousness. Both Yaya clothing and stitched women’s shoes were designed by the owners and inherited from generation to generation. For the result of the study about the suitability of the city circumstance and clothing, it was found that Yaya clothing is beautiful and unique; however, it is not suitable to wear in daily life because it is too thin and easily torn. At present, Phuket people cannot stitch the shoes themselves and they have to import them from Penang and Melaka with high price; consequently, it is not popular whil high heeled shoes are more popular. Anyway, Yaya clothing is conserved and restored to express its uniqueness and it is the strength of Phuket’s tourist attraction. Yaya clothing is back and adapted to changing society, culture and circumstance.