Each Stripe Is a Statement, Not a Pattern
Naga shawls are not decorative in the way a printed cotton scarf is decorative. The stripes, their colours, their width, and their sequence are a grammar. Among the Ao Naga, the Tsungkotepsu shawl, a dark field with broad red and white bands, was historically worn only by men who had performed a head-hunt or a feast of merit. Wearing it without that standing was not a fashion faux pas. It was a social claim that the community would have immediately read and rejected.
