Huipil – a traditional Maya garment
You can still find this traditional tunic-style Maya garment, the huipil (pronounced weepeel) worn across Central America and Mexico. There’s a huge variation in styles, lengths and materials, often making distinctions between the wearer’s or producer’s origins. For example, living in the Yucatan you’d be pretty uncomfortable wearing the traditional wool garments from the highland areas and, likewise Maya women living in the highlands would get rather chilly in the light, cotton dresses suited to our more tropical climate of Quintana Roo.
We might be biased but we think our local huipil are pretty special. Each village has a distinctive style of embroidery and decoration - Pedro can identify where one has been sourced from by the local embroidery style within seconds!
The huipil is everyday attire for many Maya and Yucatec women, practical and cool. The most recognizable is the white cotton fabric tunic, with brightly colored flowers embroidered around the square neckline and hem. This style of huipil is often worn with a special petticoat called a fustán, which has lace around the bottom that shows beneath the huipil.
The huipil is everyday attire for many Maya and Yucatec women, practical and cool. The most recognizable is the white cotton fabric tunic, with brightly colored flowers embroidered around the square neckline and hem. This style of huipil is often worn with a special petticoat called a fustán, which has lace around the bottom that shows beneath the huipil.
The huipil is also part of the ceremonial dress called the terno. Made from three pieces, the huipil used for this is usually a slightly more luxurious fabric and has a wide lace hem. To create the full terno is created by wearing this with a more decorative version of the fustán; which can be seen through the lace of the huipil, and a short, fully embroidered blouse worn over the top.
The ceremonial outfit, often worn by Yucatec Folkloric Dancers, is topped off with a flower headdress, ribbons, and jewelry.
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