In rural areas of Peru many of the older women still wear elements of traditional clothing, often mixed with something western, like a fleece jacket, that really doesn’t go with the rest of the outfit! Most commonly they wear long full skirts decorated with a woven pattern and/or embroidery border at the bottom. Their clothing and accessories identify their ancestry, and the local people of the Cañón del Colca wear two distinctive types of hats. They are descendants of two conflicting groups; the Cabanas and the Collagua, who used to perform cranial deformations to distinguish themselves. Today their hats do the same job; one made from straw with a flat top and embellished with lace, sequins and medallions, the other is made from heavily embroidered fabric with a rounded top and the brim flipped up at the back.
