Descended from refugees of the ancient Kingdom of Champa, the Cham people gradually fled Vietnam and settled in Cambodia. The Cambodian Cham share several cultural similarities with the Malay people, including their Islamic faith and distinctive dress. In both cultures, women traditionally wear a sarong–like garment, knotted at the waist, and a turban or scarf known as a “kiet.”
Finely woven in silk by machine or by hand, kiets are resist-dyed in rich colors – red, purple, maroon or indigo – and boldly patterned in mauve, orange, yellow, blue or green using the “plangi” method. This technique involves positioning the fabric tightly over the tip of a pointed instrument and securely wrapping it with a tie. The tie resists dye, leaving an undyed area that can be left natural or colored by re-dyeing or painting directly with another color.
The maker of this kiet combined the plangi method with the “tritik” tie-dye technique – marking dye-resistant areas with one or two rows of stitches that are drawn up tightly before dyeing. When the stitches are removed, the undyed area emerges as a band with uneven edges. On this example, the tritik technique was used to outline the diamond and square forms, as well as the border.
