Ladies in Andean Ecuador

Warning:  this is about Ecuadorean clothing, and won't appeal to many of you.  I was fascinated.  Also, photographing indigenous people isn't okay here, so many of our photos are cheats -- snuck from the back, from a bus window, or from a distance. 

Women's clothing, especially, varies pretty dramatically by region.  This is especially obvious in the markets, as the vendors are typically indigenous folks, wearing their regional clothing.  From a traveling folklore dance troupe we came to realize that our geographic exposure has been very limited -- we've been only in the Andean regions, north to south (about 530 km) -- and that the attire for men and women across the entire country is far more varied than what we saw, so this is a smattering.

Men's clothing isn't as noticeably different as is the women's, or more likely my head doesn't pick up the nuances as easily.  Hats vary for both sexes across regions.  I've especially enjoyed the Cuencan ladies' skirts, which are brightly colored, deeply pleated and lavishly embroidered, indicative of their pueblos, their hometowns.

The big sophisticated capitol of Quito had little interesting clothing.  In northern Otavalo, and then in the central highlands, and especially here in the south, individuality and beauty emerged.
 

In Otavalo, typical black skirts, sandals and headgear.

And the necklaces and embroidered shirts are also typical Otavalan. 

Typical hair for Otavalan men, a lovely braid. 

Even the younger women wore these skirts in Otavalo, with their hoodies.  This was a wifi area in town.

Heading south on the bus through the countryside from Quito to Cuenca, skirts are changing to lighter weight pencil-pleated skirts with embroidered bottoms.  And the panama hats become more bowlers, trimmed in stitched down ribbons. 

Another mid-Ecuador-Andean lady, gather-pleated with bowler.

Now in Cuenca, the colors became even more vibrant, and beautifully embroidered. These Panama hats (which were always made in Ecuador, but got their name from their use on the Panama canal) are typical.  Ribbons and shapes vary a bit. 

Cuencan ladies.  One embroidered, the green one simply pleated with about 10 rows of  tucking around the bottom.

Fancy, underbacking of gingham visible on the right.

Massive embroidery on a skirt in the market.  This is some kind of fleeced wool.  A couple of times I saw an actual polyester fleece version of this skirt, but mostly they're wool.

These new ones in a market, ranging from $50-$150.

These Incan ladies dressed up for a protest regarding indigenous rights in the countryside.  Note the depth of the embroidery -- a sign of fanciness.   It occurred in Cuenca just outside the governor's office and included a rainbow banner, indicative of indigenous needs/rights -- not gay pride.

My favorite Cuencan skirt -- it has hummingbirds embroidered in the design -- indicative of her specific pueblo/town, or so I've been told.   Leggings are typical under clothing.  There's typically an underskirt (or two) with pockets, as well.

 Now we're outside of Cuenca, into the hills where more indigenous lived.  Black hats indicate (proud) Inca heritage; white straw ones for (proud) Canar/other Indian lines.  

In the town of Canar, in the hills, these are Incan women (dark hats) on their way to church.  No embroidery on their skirts.

In this fancy skirt town the bowler hats were adorned with two little cotton ball-looking things.  Dangling from the hat in front for single folks (ladies and men), in back for married, no balls for widowed folks. 

All three of these ladies are wearing the lighter weight pleated, embroidered skirts.  Can't explain the mix of hats. 

Sometimes skirts were worn inside out, with the gingham embroidery backing on the outside --  to protect the actual fancy embroidery on dirty-work days? 

Again, fancy hem on shawl and skirt, bowler hats all around (men and women).

 

In the town of Biblan, at the market, skirts with narrower embroidery.  These ladies' shawls were also embroidered.  The socks were often quite interesting, too.  I never saw a woman in an indigenous skirt wearing stilettos.  Too smart for that?