My illustrated obsession with jewelry, female adornment and Khampas

Hi all! It's my first post here - lovely to meet you all! You can either go on reading my blog post - or just go to the website which I've made, here: http://sites.google.com/site/khampacolours/ or scroll down to enjoy some amazing pictures! I've written quite a lot - please let me start by saying - thanks for reading this! And also, please feel welcome to comment and reply. This is a subject that somewhat strangely, I haven't really told anyone in my life about before. To some of you reading it will seem silly, and it probably is, but maybe there are other silly people out there like me, who'll really enjoy it! I decided recently that I need to share this obsession (the reason I say obsession, is simply because over the years I've spent hundreds of hours web searching, reading, and imagining about it!) at least communicate it to someone somewhere somehow. So, as the title said my obsession is roughly speaking with jewelry, but more specifically with women illustriously adorned with jewelry, and recently with my discovery of the Khampa people! As I said, although I actually hardly wear any jewelry, since childhood I was about 5, I've often been fascinated with the possibility of how far a person can be (elegantly) adorned with jewels - in my teenage years I started to spend hours on ebay searching for the most gorgeous jewels, then imagining how they would all look together, if money was no object, how I'd love to see someone decorated all over with the lush jewels. Then, from random image searching, I chanced upon a some pictures of an ethnic group of Tibetans called the Khampas, and I got to see whether or not it would be beautiful if women were to be decorated in the way I imagined. And the answer for me, is yes!

For, Khampas costumes, ornamentation and jewelry, for very pratical reasons, are an essential part of their lives and culture. Khampas - living in the Himalayas - have to pick up and move home with every change of season because of the falling and thawing of snows. Rich Khampas have for centuries needed to invest in gold and precious stones to store their wealth - simply because it's themost portable form of wealth! So Khampas for centuries have invested all they have into jewelry. Because the costumes and jewels that a family own have often been passed down for generations within the family - often for centuries - Khampas place much pride and meaning in the ornaments. On festival days (all of these photos are taken at annual costume festivals) Khampas wear all of their family's wealth, and the sight is quite astonishing. These costumes can cost millions of dollars. Please look at the website I made for more info, but the costume in the 2 photos immediately below (one says 'clothing festival' in the background) are worth US$1.5million, as explained in a newspaper article which I link to on the site. I am always taken aback by the beauty of the costumes, then as I found out more, it was quite breathtaking to just how much value - both monetary value, and sentimental value - the ornaments that you see here have. Where you see gold, is basically gold, often near 24 carat. Almost the entire financial endowment of the family is invested into jewelry which never is never sold again except in the most dire circumstances. Every piece has it's own history and can be traced back through the generations. I find it amazing to see women decorated with such splendor, and have spent so many hours searching for these photos. Only because I can read a little bit of Chinese (I'm british, but lived in Japan and learnt Japanese, which helps me read a bit of Chinese) have I managed to find nearly 1000 photos now, although it's taken hours and hours of searching! As I keep saying, it's an obsession... and I know it. I don't know why, having discovered beautiful women being decorated from head to toe in jewels just gives me a rush of awe and wonder - the fulfillment of a long-held curiousity. But I search for hours, using chinese, a language I barely understand, because I crave to see more amazing pictures. Since I found out that the whole costumes were worth millions, that just a single ring on some of these girls fingers are worth as much as much as my car, that a single one of their many neclaces they wear is worth as much as my house, my wonderment has deepened, and I realized how I wanted to share my wonderment with others. Please leave a comment with whatever you think, whether you think this sucks, I suck, or whether you share my feeling of beauty and awe at this incredible adornment! I'd love to hear from you, the whole reason I've written all this is because firstly I want to share with other people, and secondly I want to hear what other people think! If you're enjoying it too, then that means all the hours I used to search for and find these pictures have gone to some good use ;D Also, if you like, please go look at the site I made recently about Khampas, there's many more pictures on there. Here's the link: http://sites.google.com/site/khampacolours/ love feeline