Over Dress Item Number: 3486/138 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
A woven over dress (aksu) formed from two connected panels hand-stitched together. The black panels are decorated with horizontal bands. The bottom panel features a band with 'x' motifs in white with yellow and red accents, solids bands in orangeish-red, red, purple, white, grey, and yellow, followed by a thick decorative band with zigzag and diamond motifs in the same colours flanked by thin bands with white diagonal motifs, finished with a border of flower, triangle, and bird motifs in red and white. The top panel includes similar bands with the addition of geometric rectangular and 's' shaped motifs and chevron patterning.
The aksu is an asymmetrical garment that is worn over top of a full dress made of bayeta. The lower panel generally has more coloured and patterned bands than the upper panel. The upper panel is worn folded over the bodice and pinned at one shoulder. The aksu wraps only partly around the woman’s body with the seam at the waist, over which a belt is worn. It displays the patterns and colours typical of her community, generally a dark ground with white, yellow and red in the pattern area and smaller amounts of other colours in the stripes.
Purchased by the donor in 1983 in Sucre, Bolivia from the shop of Elizabeth Rojas.
The patterns in Macha are usually diamonds or zigzags, and they are woven in 2-colour complementary warp weave.