How To Activate The Traditional Costume Cultural Symbols

Recently, at the scene of the Chinese Poetry Conference, four pairs of "newlyweds" dressed in wedding clothes of the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty walked slowly, or wore flower hairpins and combs on their heads, or decorated with three white makeup and pearl makeup, or wore a phoenix crown and a Xiapei, or black clothes. Behind these four dynasties' wedding clothes, Liang Yan, a professor of the Center for Fashion Culture and Design Innovation of the School of Fashion Arts and Engineering of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, led the team to fight for more than two months.

Today's still popular red auspicious dress, the wedding dress with phoenix crown and Xia Pei had a deep relationship with the wedding dress of the Ming Dynasty. Liang Yan's team reviewed the ancient books and materials such as the "Da Ming Festival Code", "Continuation of the General Code", "Ming History · Annals · Volume Four and Thirteen", and "Ming History · Public Service Annals", and checked the cultural relics unearthed from the Hu Town Tomb in Gao'an, Jiangxi Province, the cultural relics unearthed from the Ding Tomb in Beijing, and the collections of the Confucius Museum in Shandong Province, which made the wedding dress form of many official ranks in the Ming Dynasty clearer.

"The restoration of ancient wedding clothes should first consider the differences in official rank and social background of different dynasties.

For example, the fifth and fourth grade officials can wear the third grade official wedding dress. The common people can also wear the wedding dress of low rank on that day. The bridal hood of the third grade official and the groom's red dress contain the pattern of "happy" and "double lotus", while the double lotus brocade with gold makeup was originally the pattern of the dress worn by Empress Xiaojing during her wedding in the Ming Dynasty. Liang Yan believed that this further explained that "the wedding ceremony of the Ming Dynasty allowed the phenomenon of 'excess'".

Different from the appearance of wedding clothes in TV dramas, the team focuses on the most accurate restoration and cultural context research of ancient wedding clothes. For example, in the TV play "Do you know whether it should be green, fat, red and thin", when Minglan got married, the story background was set to the Northern Song Dynasty, continuing the Tang Dynasty wedding dress style of "red men and young women". The women wore turquoise wedding dresses, while the men wore crimson wedding dresses.

The wedding dresses of Song Dynasty completed by the team of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology are all red. Liang Yan explained that "since the Sui and Tang dynasties, the color of official uniforms has also had a more clear dress system and ritual requirements". The wedding dress recovered by the team in the Song Dynasty was worn by the five grade officials in the Southern Song Dynasty. The grade officials can wear red clothes, while those above the seventh grade can wear green clothes. In the Southern Song Dynasty, it was considered that women should obey their husbands' official dress when they married. Therefore, the wedding clothes of the fifth grade brides and brides were all red.

A different phenomenon is that the ancient wedding dress did not all respect red and green. For example, in the Qin and Han Dynasties, people respected the "dark yellow heaven and earth". At that time, people believed that black represented the "heaven" with a deep and boundless distance, so the color of the wedding dress was black (that is, slightly red black), which was more solemn.

The wedding clothes of Qin and Han Dynasties are compatible. Courtesy of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology

The wedding dress headwear of the Qin and Han Dynasties is relatively more upright. Liang Yan's team searched many ancient books. The research team, based on the historical records, as well as the data of imperial crowns drawn in the Song Dynasty and other comprehensive considerations, restored the square and nearly rectangular man's head crowns in the wedding clothes of the Qin and Han Dynasties; The woman has restored the hair style of "hanging cloud bun" at that time.

Not only the headdresses of different dynasties are different, but also the auspicious texture of clothes is very particular. Chen Qianqian, a 2022 graduate student in the direction of fashion design and management in the art major of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, participated in the drawing of patterns of the Qin and Han Dynasties. "The Qin and Han Dynasties were restored on the basis of the unearthed cultural relics' double dancing bird and animal patterns', implying that they are in pairs and that they are lucky and happy. The wedding dress patterns of the Tang Dynasty were based on the patterns of the treasured appearance, implying good luck and good luck; In the Song Dynasty, most of the patterns were connected flowers, which meant that new people were united; In the Ming Dynasty, the main pattern of the robe was the pattern of miscellaneous treasures. In addition to the auspicious implication, the pattern of hidden flowers on the ground was more calm and dignified. "

Liang Yan further explained that the restoration of patterns, as an important display element in wedding clothes, not only needs to study the historical and cultural background, but also needs to consider the placement position, form and size of patterns on clothes, as well as the textile technology and technical background at that time.

Matchmaking clothes of common people in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Courtesy of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology

However, the difficulty in restoring ancient wedding clothes lies in the incomplete information and differences between ancient books and paintings. When making the wedding dress with large sleeves in the Tang Dynasty, the team learned from the Dunhuang mural "Marriage Picture" of the flourishing Tang Dynasty that the bride's wedding dress was Ru skirt system. The difference is that the ancient book wrote: "Every wedding dress with flower hairpin should be worn by wives and women below the sixth grade. The dress should be large sleeved, with green texture. The plain gauze should be single, knee covering, and large belt. It should be worn with blue clothing, shoes, and shoes."

Liang Yan explained that for the current situation of information inconsistency between images and texts, multiple evidence method is needed in the restoration, and cross verification between words and images can be more and more close to the historical truth. Through verification, the team finally determined the dress shape of the Tang Dynasty bride as the blue Ru skirt style.

Walking between ancient and modern times, immersed in ancient books, literature and ancient paintings, Liang Yan led the team to refer to more than 110 cultural relics, more than 200 ancient books and literature materials, and more than 300 painting and calligraphy pictures in more than 40 museums across the country, focusing on the relationship between clothing and etiquette, clothing shape, color, pattern restoration, fabric selection, model makeup, etc, We completed the research and restoration of wedding costumes of 10 costumes in the Qin and Han Dynasties, 12 costumes in the Tang Dynasty, 11 costumes in the Song Dynasty, and 13 costumes in the Ming Dynasty, totaling 8 wedding costumes and 46 costumes.

"The study of ancient wedding dress not only represents the ancient people's aesthetic and social etiquette with modern technology, but also combs the development history of traditional culture," said Liang Yan.

After the program of "China Poetry Conference" was broadcasted, "new people" from different dynasties crossed time and space, emerged from the words, and amazed the public with their wedding documents, fans, and hands. Many netizens left messages and marveled at the exquisite traditional Chinese clothing culture.

Wedding clothes of the Song Dynasty. Courtesy of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology

In the process of participating in the restoration work, the 2023 graduate student in the clothing design and management direction of the design major of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology was born in Luya Discovery. The makeup and clothing of some dynasties have also become popular elements in the current fashion mix. "For example, the pearl makeup commonly seen by women in the Song Dynasty has become an element of retro makeup. The horse face skirt in the wedding dress of the Ming Dynasty has also become a new Chinese fashion trend, which has become a casual and even work style for some young people.

"'Cultural confidence' is not a slogan." In Liang Yan's view, when the restored ancient wedding dress came into the public's view, more and more people not only saw the aesthetic gene of Chinese traditional culture, but also understood the breadth and depth of Chinese traditional culture.

The wedding dress of the Ming Dynasty. Courtesy of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology

Now, in addition to focusing on the restoration of traditional wedding clothes, Liang Yan's team is also promoting the project of innovative design of Chinese traditional culture, thinking about how to combine Chinese style with modern commuting clothes, and make appropriate improvements from the practical and functional levels.

18 Restoration of patterns in the Ming Dynasty (partial). Courtesy of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology

In Liang Yan's view, "activating the cultural symbols of traditional clothing and letting the beauty of Chinese traditional clothing enter the homes of ordinary people is the destination of the activation and innovation of traditional culture in the future." (Reporter Yang Jie)

(Source: China Youth Daily)