Question for November 2024

This is a good question with no simple answer. The Aztec huipil was a tunic-like garment that hung down over a wrap-around skirt. It was made from two or three cloth-panels sewn together, with an opening for the head. Aztec weavers used the backstrap loom to make clothing, as many weavers do today. Cotton, white and brown, was carefully spun. Then, as now, experienced weavers relied on a range of dyestuffs. If weavers were skilful, they created complex designs and textures in the cloth while it was on the loom. A richly decorated multicoloured huipil would have taken very much longer to make than a simple one.

Pic 1: A Mexica mother teachers her daughter how to weave on a backstrap loom; Codex Mendoza fol. 60r (detail)

The museum recently asked contemporary weavers to make a replica huipil. From start to finish, the task took over a year. Of course the garments worn by ordinary women were simpler and quicker to make. As I have said, there is no simple answer to your question. Weavers in modern Mexico start learning their craft at the age of 10 or 11, and increase their skill over time. This was also true in Aztec society. Complex work, which requires ingenuity and patience, always takes longer than basic work.

Pic 3: Woven cloth fragment. Found near Chilapa, Guerrero, it has been carbon-dated to between CE 1210 and 1370. It was probably part of a tunic – either a woman’s huipil or a man’s tunic. (© Marcos Ortiz)