The Miao nationality is a nation with a long history. Thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the Miao nationality worked, lived and multiplied in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. During the Qin and Han dynasties, they lived in Xiangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan and other places. Later, some of them migrated westward to Muli. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, they basically formed the current distribution of large dispersion and small settlement. The costumes of the Miao people scattered in Muli are divided into three branches due to different natural environments, unbalanced economic development, historical ethnic origins and many other reasons, forming different types of costumes. [Era of Origin] The origin of the Miao women's clothing is described in "The Origin of the Miao Flowery Clothes". It is said that when the Miao people migrated westward along the river, they all wore the same costumes, one pattern, and one dress. When they migrated to the same place, because there were too many people and the land was too narrow to live in one place, they planted a big stone there and agreed to lead a group of children with the same ancestor to find a better life, and agreed to meet here again after thirteen years to recognize their ancestors. Thirteen years later, everyone lived together in this place as agreed. There were too many children and grandchildren to recognize each other. Two old men quarreled over a girl and even killed one person. Everyone sat down to discuss this and agreed that each branch should make a kind of clothing, decorate with a kind of pattern, and dress in a way that would prevent them from mistaking their children and grandchildren. After the agreement, the Miao people who lived in the mountains made short skirts to make it easier to climb up the slopes; the branch who lived in the plains made long skirts; the branch who lived in a medium-high place made skirts that were neither too long nor too short, only reaching the knees; the branch who lived in the forest was afraid of being caught by wild thorns, so they only tied two aprons, and the clothes were also of a kind of pattern. This created the pattern of Miao clothing, which has been passed down to this day. According to the type of clothing of the Muli Miao people, the Muli Miao people are the branch that went to the Erban Mountain, which was neither too high nor too low, and made skirts that were neither too long nor too short. 【Distribution area】The distribution area of the Miao people in Muli is relatively small, with different natural conditions and poor production conditions. Therefore, the economy of the Miao settlement area is relatively backward. The Miao people mainly live in Qiaowa Town, Muli County. Qiaowa Town (formerly Bo'ao Township) is located in the northern suburbs of Muli County. It is surrounded by mountains and waters with Xiangjiao, Baidiao, Liziping, Lewa and Kala Townships. The township has 3 administrative villages, 28 villagers' groups and 29 natural villages with a total area of 255.75 square kilometers. The town government is located in the former Muli County Food Processing Factory. There are 9,410 hectares of forest, 8,090 hectares of grassland and more than 7,600 mu of cultivated land in the whole territory. The main crops are corn, wheat, potatoes, buckwheat and vegetables, followed by beans, rice and barley. Economic trees include apples, pears, peaches, walnuts, citrus, peppers, etc. Animal husbandry is mainly raising pigs, sheep, cattle and poultry, followed by mules, horses and yaks. 【Basic content】Miao costumes are varied and colorful, and are an important part of Miao culture. Due to different natural environments, unbalanced economic development, historical ethnic origins and many other reasons, the Miao costumes scattered in Muli are divided into three branches, forming different types of costumes. Among them, Hua Miao costumes pursue exquisiteness, Qing Miao costumes tend to be solemn, and Bai Miao costumes focus on simplicity. The Miao people in Muli are divided into Qing Miao, Hua Miao, and Bai Miao. Men's costumes are slightly different from each branch. Men's clothing includes long gowns with large collars and short clothes and pants. The head is wrapped with a 1012-foot black gauze scarf or blue cotton cloth; except for modern short clothes, whether it is daily or formal wear, the large collar brand square cloth logo is indispensable; women's clothing is generally a top and a skirt, and there can be flower decorations from head to toe. The head is wrapped with a blue gauze scarf, and various beads, sea petals, silver headdresses and various silver earrings are worn. 23 pieces of embroidered waistcoats with ribbons and an embroidered belt are tied, and the calves are wrapped with white cloth or black (elderly) leggings. These floral decorations not only represent the wisdom of the Miao people, but also represent that the Miao people use this clothing to commemorate the gift of nature to life. For example, the three-plated embroidery on the narrow sleeves of women's clothing represents the three hearts of three Miao branches gathered together; the two circular lines embroidered with black thread or inlaid with blue cloth above the hem of the pleated skirt represent the longing for the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. As early as in the "Book of the Later Han" and "Records of the Jin Dynasty", there were records about the Wuxi Miao people "liking five-color clothes"; the great Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu praised the Miao costumes with "Wuxi clothes share the sky". The costumes of the Muli Miao people are divided into gender, formal dress and casual dress, and they have always maintained their own unique style, with certain clothing styles, fixed structures and characteristics. The Miao costumes maintain the traditional craftsmanship of weaving, embroidery, embroidery and dyeing. Most of them use other craftsmanship while using a main craft technique, or embroidery in embroidery, or embroidery in dyeing, or a combination of weaving and embroidery, so that the clothing patterns are colorful and overflowing. From the content point of view, most of the clothing patterns are drawn from various lively objects in daily life, which play an important role in expressing meaning and identifying ethnic groups, branches and languages, and are called "epics worn on the body". From the modeling point of view, line drawing or nearly line drawing is used, with a single line as the outline of the pattern. From the production technology point of view, there are weaving, knitting, sewing, splicing and cutting types. From the color point of view, they are good at choosing a variety of strong contrasting colors, pursuing rich and heavy colors. Red, yellow, blue, black, white and other colors are generally used. From the composition point of view, they do not focus on highlighting the theme, but emphasize the requirement of adapting to the overall sense of clothing. From the form point of view, it is divided into two categories: formal dress and casual dress. Formal dress, the clothes are gorgeous, worn on festivals, protocols, important events, etc., and concentrate on reflecting the artistic level of Miao clothing. Casual dress, plain and simple, less material and labor, for daily wear. 【Basic Characteristics】Miao costumes are characterized by unique and flexible design, exquisite craftsmanship, convenient use, strong practicality, various patterns, rich colors, and superior patterns. Before and in the early days of liberation, in order to meet the needs of self-sufficiency, the Miao people basically had to grow hemp, spin yarn, and weave cloth. However, with the development of commodity economy and social progress, the materials for clothing also use various fine cotton cloth, velvet, silk and other textile industrial products supplied by the market, and homemade linen has become an ancient memory. In the Miao society, embroidery is a point in the life of the Miao people. Girls start to learn textile and embroidery skills at the age of 6 or 7. As they grow older, their craftsmanship becomes more sophisticated, and most of them become experts in drawing dragons and phoenixes in their youth. The Miao embroidery of Muli is good at embroidery. The basic needlework is cross embroidery and flat embroidery. The technique is mostly embroidery on the reverse side, and the front view is the characteristic. The embroidery patterns are mostly deformed flowers, butterflies, birds, animals and geometric patterns, with neat and symmetrical composition. As the main ornament, the embroidery is derived from a wide range of themes in life. The relationship between man and nature is vividly reflected and passed down from generation to generation in the skillful hands of Miao women. [Basic Value] Miao clothing plays an important role in Miao society. It has the stability of clothing styles, especially fixed groups of people wear fixed styles, which divides Miao society into several fixed groups. Miao clothing is the carrier of Miao culture. Its skilled and exquisite embroidery craftsmanship encompasses the profound national cultural connotation, showing strong national emotional colors and outstanding national characteristics. Miao clothing is formed and developed by the Miao people in the process of continuous migration. Different living environments have created different dressing styles. Therefore, Miao clothing is of great value to the study of Miao migration.