Dress Item Number: 3596/1 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Long-sleeved woman's dress with a gathered skirt. Dress closes at neck with four silver buttons extending down bodice to waist. Front of dress consists of a panel with hemmed sides; stitching is done in a wavy line. Bottom edge of panel, along waistline, is decorated with a band of alternating circular and triangular beads; large silver button in centre. Band, with similar wavy stitching, circles front and sides of dress; back of dress, where gathered skirt secures to bodice, is exposed. Dress cuffs are trimmed with light pink cloth with blue flowers. Dress is red with bunches of pink and white flowers throughout; flowers have green-blue leaves and long stems.
Brightly coloured imported Russian cotton, available in the Chitral Bazar, was very popular with Kom Kati women for making their outfits c. 1977. Baggy pants with a draw string waist were worn underneath this style of dress. A cotton shawl would also be worn covering their hair and the top of the head.
German silver buttons and beads attached to the bodice seam are made by Kom Kati silversmiths traditionally called “bari”.
In the fall of 1977, while the donor was doing field research in the Kalash’a Valley area, she acquired this cotton woman’s dress from a Kom Kati (Nuristani) tribal woman living in Kunisht village at the top of the Rombour Valley, Chitral District, Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan.