5

The Kayan are an ethnic subgroup of the Karenni people, a minority speaking a Tibeto-Burman language.

In 1990, due to conflict with the Burmese military regime, many Kayan tribes fled to Thailand. Today, they live with uncertain legal status in border villages, surviving mainly through tourism linked to their distinctive cultural tradition: the brass neck rings worn by Kayan women.

In Italy, they are known as the “giraffe women,” a nickname inspired by the striking visual effect of the heavy brass coils, first worn at around the age of five. As the women grow older, the coils are replaced with longer ones, gradually pushing down the collarbone and compressing the rib cage.

Contrary to common belief, it is not the neck that lengthens, but the shoulders that are lowered—the illusion of elongation comes from the deformation of the collarbone.

Adult women may wear up to twenty-five rings, and some also wear them around their legs. Another poetic nickname they are given is the “swan women.”