Zhiju beauty contest: Where traditional costumes meet catwalk

Every year, when the Lantern Festival comes on January 15th of Chinese lunar calendar, a 600-year-old beauty contest will be staged in Zhiju Village where local girls display their self-embroidered costumes.

The Lantern Festival is celebrated on January 15th of Chinese lunar calendar. When it comes, a Costume Competition Festival is held in Zhiju Village, central Yunnan’s Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture every year. It is a precious opportunity for local Yi girls to show their stunning costumes made by themselves. And local unmarried young men also grab this opportunity to seek their Mrs. Right.

Before the festival, each girl embroiders her own clothes and accessories by herself. When it comes, the girl who displays the most clothes and masters exquisite traditional embroidery skill will be seen as the most intelligent and hardworking.

During the festival, eye-catching items are everywhere from Yi girls’ heads to feet. Hat, bodices, skirts, shoes, bags are all embroidered with colorful and distinctive patterns telling stories about natural phenomenon, animals, and people in love, etc.

According to historical record, the Costume Competition Festival in Zhiju Village has been celebrated for more than 600 years, so it is probably the earliest beauty contest in the world. If you go to Zhiju in lunar January, believe it or not, you will be astonished by the creative clothing art. 

Editor: John Li