16" Elegant Married Couple from Sikkim | Traditional Handmade Dolls

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The kho is the signature dress of the Sikkimese people. It is a long, loose, flowing garment that is draped around the body and belted in place at the neck and the waist. The adorably miniature ones draped on this handsome doll-couple are the more elegant varieties of men's and women's kho, worn to traditional festivals and gatherings. The garment is supposed to cover the legs when draped by women, while men team a shorter hemline with trousers. The dolls you see on this page are a married couple, as could be gauged from the pangden that cascades down from the lady's waist: it is the vernacular word for the striped silk garment that married women use to tie over their khos, indicative of their marital status.

The two of them make a young, elegant couple. The husband has teamed his shimmering dark gold kho with a solid pastel yellow shirt, while the wife wears a full-sleeved blouse in red underneath her embroidered red kho. Designers of traditional khos usually turn to local foliage for motifs to embroider these gorgeous garments. Both the dolls are wearing dark velvet hats that are wide-rimmed, indicating that they may be from one of the northern villages where drizzling snow is a common phenomenon. Tall leather boots is the traditional footwear of choice for both men and women, even though in this case the lady is in gleaming leather pumps. This pair would make for a unique, expressive piece of home decor.