Traditionally the garb of Thai women of previous generations in northeast Thailand (Isaan), these skirts, known as ‘phaa sin’, began life as the cocoons of silk worms, which were spun into the silk thread of which the cloth was woven. Natural dyestuffs were then collected and processed to create the colors, and the weft threads were tied with dye-resistant bindings to form the patterns. Dyeing was carefully done, on auspicious days only, with the threads re-tied after each color. Only after the dyeing, and untying of the threads, was the cloth then woven by hand. Known in Thai as ‘mut mee’, or also by the Indonesian term ‘ikat’, this laborious process requires great skill and patience. 'Mut mee' patterns are many and varied, and can often be identified by locale and even ethnic group: those in the northeast incorporate motifs from Laos, while further south there is Khmer influence from Cambodia.

Today one rarely sees silk ‘phaa sin’ like these being worn, and the naturally-dyed ones have all but disappeared. In more recent times synthetic colors have replaced those of nature, sometimes mimicking the natural ones. This collection reflects our love of those colors and the feel of the old silk, and our appreciation for the skill required to create a complex, multicolor ‘mut mee’ pattern. We have also included some obviously synthetically-colored pieces which display a particularly artful color harmony or effect.

Comprising fine silk approximately two yards in length by a yard wide, these beautiful textiles can be enjoyed in several ways: