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| Today bilums are custom-designed to be worn in any formal setting as the pictures on the right depicts. Order yours now! |
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| Young lady in her bilum (string bag ) outfit |
Bilums will always be useful in these areas but they have over years changed their shapes, colours, designs and uses. Thanks to creative, innovative and talented weavers the bilum has broken out of the domestic domain now turning heads and catching the eye at formal gatherings in the form of bilum wear. Now one can turn up at their graduation looking stunning and feeling great in an outstanding bilum outfit. The outfit can include head wear, arm bands and scarves. Bilum wear is definitely setting a trend. Groups of young women at a number of formal gatherings in the Highlands have been attention grabbers with their bilum wear outfits. The outfits are cost saving for parents and guardians who otherwise would have struggled to buy graduation gowns and outfits from shops. �I am very proud of my own child who graduated wearing a bilum outfit I produced with my own hands,� said Martha Kon whose daughter graduated from the Goroka Secondary School last month. She said this added significance and meaning to all the years she had worked to find money to educate her daughter. Grade 10 and 12 girls that graduated from the Yaweh Moses secondary school in Chimbu province last week were a sight to behold in different coloured bilum outfits. The school�s senior teacher Philip Launa applauded the girls for promoting a new product. �Your bilum outfits makes this graduation very special, it creates an atmosphere of a new product on the market,� he said. The traditional skills and art of bilum making have developed as weavers adapted new styles and methods to produce these outfits. The creations obviously bring in more income for the weaver. At the moment there is no specific outlet producing bilum outfits on a large scale. However women groups in Eastern Highlands and Chimbu province will produce bilum outfits upon requests and orders from interested individuals and groups. The outfits are made according to the customers' needs. |
| On average it would take about K50 ($17) worth of wool to make an outfit. For groups there could be a standard cost not exceeding K200 ($75) but for an individual order the rate varies excluding the wool costs. One can negotiate with a weaver on style and price. Individuals and women�s groups who weave bilums are making the most of this new fashion trend which is booming in the Highlands and Momase regions. It�s an opportunity to increase earnings, enhance their skills and venture into a new marketing and business arena. According to the wearers bilum outfits are cool, flexible and comfortable. Bilum outfits currently available on the market are skirts, shirts, dresses, over coats and men�s trousers. |
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| Grade 10 and 12 girls graduands at Yaweh Moses Secondary School in Chuave district Chimbu province in their bilum outfits, sitting is Senior Teacher Philip Launa
Source: The National News -06 |
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| Source: The National News - 06 |
| Click here to see proper ways to carry a bilum and more outfits |