The chokha is a fulled wool coat worn across Georgia and the Caucasus for at least a thousand years, and its entire design argument sits on the chest: two mirrored rows of masri — hollow tubes that once held pre-measured powder charges — stitched flat and capped in silver, niello or gilt.

Everything else is deliberately plain. Dense matte broadcloth in black, wine or dark blue, a black leather belt of silver plaques, a khinjal at the hip. There is no embroidery, no gloss, no bevel. The only brightness in the garment is metal, arranged in a repeating rank you can count.