A Lao woman weaves on her handloom in her village near the town of Vang Vieng in Vientiane Province

Photographer

Habert, Jean

Date

• 1968-1969

Summary

• Many village Lao women spend much of their time weaving cloth that will be used for skirts or scarves or other clothing (e.g., a "phabien" or narrow sash-like cloth worn diagonally across the shoulder and chest). Their looms are often located under their stilted family houses. During the rainy season when less time is spent working in the rice paddies or highland rice fields, more time is devoted to weaving. This includes basket weaving in addition to textile weaving. Here the woman uses a shuttle loom or handloom to weave a textile, probably a skirt, in her village near the town of Vang Vieng in Vientiane Province.