Nan @ Tumblr

Any chance of a timeline of the fashion of Chinese men?

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 00:18:50 -0800

I would very much love to do a version for the men. Hopefully you’ll see it sometime in the near future. :)

Evolution of Chinese Clothing and Cheongsam the refs:...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 20:30:00 -0800

Evolution of Chinese Clothing and Cheongsam

the refs: http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y246/lilsuika/refs.jpg

Alt: Timeline as 1 cohesive file at http://lilsuika.deviantart.com/

Chinese clothing has approximately 5,000 years of history behind it, but regrettably I am only able to cover 2,500 years in this fashion timeline. I began with the Han dynasty as the term hanfu (meaning: dress of ethnic Chinese people) was coined in that period. Please bear in mind that this is only a generalized timeline of Chinese clothing primarily featuring aristocratic and upper-class ethnic Han Chinese women (the exceptions are Fig. 8 (dancer) and Fig. 11 (maid, due to the fact I couldn’t find many paintings in the Yuan period)).

My resources are mainly the books: 5,000 years of Chinese Costume, China Chic: East Meets West, Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation, and Hong Kong Museum of History. 5,000 years of Chinese Costume is an invaluable resource in English (though sadly currently out of print), I would highly recommend this book if you can get your hands on it.

NOTES OF INTEREST:

Han Dynasty:

“In the Han Dynasty, as of old, the one-piece garment remained the formal dress for women. However, it was somewhat different from that of the Warring States Period, in that it had an increased number of curves in the front and broadened lower hems. Close-fitting at the waist, it was always tied with a silk girdle.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 32)

Wei and Jin dynasties:

“On the whole, the costumes of the Wei and Jin period still followed the patterns of Qin and Han.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 54)

“From the costumes worn by the benefactors in the Dunhuang murals and the costumes of the pottery figurines unearthed in Louyang, it can be seen that women’s costumes in the period of Wei and Jin were generally large and loose. The upper garment opened at the front and was tied at the waist. The sleeves were broad and fringed at the cuffs with decorative borders of a different colour. The skirt had spaced coloured stripes and was tied with a white silk band at the waist. There was also an apron between the upper garment and skirt for the purpose of fastening the waist. Apart from wearing a multi-coloured skirt, women also wore other kinds such as the crimson gauze-covered skirt, the red-blue striped gauze double skirt, and the barrel-shaped red gauze skirt. Many of these styles are mentioned in historical records.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 65)

Southern and Northern Dynasties:

“During the Wei, Jin and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, though men no longer wore the traditional one-piece garment, some women continued to do so. However, the style was quite different from that seen in the Han Dynasty. Typically the women’s dress was decorated with xian and shao. The latter refers to pieces of silk cloth sewn onto the lower hem of the dress, which were wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, so that triangles were formed overlapping each other. Xian refers to some relatively long ribbons which extended from the short-cut skirt. While the wearer was walking, these lengthy ribbons made the sharp corners n the lower hem wave like a flying swallow, hence the Chinese phrase ‘beautiful ribbons and flying swallowtail’.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 62)

“During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, costumes underwent further changes in style. The long flying ribbons were no longer seen and the swallowtailed corners became enlarged. As a result the flying ribbons and swallowtailed corners were combined into one.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 62)

Sui Dynasty:

“During the period of the Sui and early Tang, a short jacket with tight sleeves was worn in conjunction with a tight long skirt whose waist was fastened almost to the armpits with a silk ribbon. In the ensuing century, the style of this costume remained basically the same, except for some minor changes such as letting out the jacket and/or its sleeves.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 88)

Tang Dynasty:

“The Tang Dynasty was the most prosperous period in China’s feudal society. Changan (now Xian, Shananxi Province), the capital, was the political, economic and cultural centre of the nation. […] Residents in Changan included people of such nationalities as Huihe (Uygur,) Tubo (Tibetan), and Nanzhao (Yi), and even Japanese, Xinluo (Korean), Persian and Arabian. Meanwhile, people frequently travelled to and fro between countries like Vietnam, India and the East Roman Empire and Changan, thus spreading Chinese culture to other parts of the world.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 76)

“…all the national minorities and foreign envoys who thronged the streets of Changan also contributed something of their own culture to the Tang. Consequently, paintings, carvings, music and dances of the Tang absorbed something of foreign skills and styles. The Tang government adopted the policy of taking in every exotic form whether or hats or clothing, so that Tang costumes became increasingly picturesque and beautiful.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 88)

“Women of the Tang Dynasty paid particular attention to facial appearance, and the application of powder or even rouge was common practice. Some women’s foreheads were painted dark yellow and the dai (a kind of dark blue pigment) was used to paint their eyebrows into different shapes that were called dai mei (painted eyebrows) in general.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 89)

“In the years of Tianbao during Emperor Xuanzong’s reign, women used to wear men’s costumes. This was not only a fashion among commoners, but also for a time it spread to the imperial court and became customary for women of high birth.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 89)

Song Dynasty

“The hairstyle of the women of the Song Dynasty still followed the fashion of the later period of the Tang Dynasty, the high bun being the favoured style. Women’s buns were often more than a foot in height.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 107)

“Women’s upper garments consisted mainly of coat, blouse, loose-sleeved dress, over-dress, short-sleeved jacket and vest. The lower garment was mostly a skirt.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 107)

“Women in the Song Dynasty seldom wore boots, since binding the feet had become fashionable.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 107)

“Although historians do not know exactly how or why foot binding began, it was apparently initially associated with dancers at the imperial court and professional female entertainers in the capital. During the Song dynasty (960-1279) the practice spread from the palace and entertainment quarters into the homes of the elite. ‘By the thirteenth century, archeological evidence shows clearly that foot-binding was practiced among the daughters and wives of officials,’ reports Patricia Buckley Ebrey […] Over the course of the next few centuries foot binding became increasingly common among gentry families, and the practice eventually penetrated the mass of the Chinese people.” (Chinese Chic: East Meets West, pg. 37-38)

Yuan Dynasty:

“Han women continued to wear the jacket and skirt. However, the choice of darker shades and buttoning on the left showed Mongolian influence.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 131)

“After the Mongols settled down in the Central Plains, Mongolian customs and costumes also had their influence on those of the Han people. While remaining the main costume for Han women, the jacket and skirt had deviated greatly in style from those of the Tang and Song periods. Tight-fitting garments gave way to big, loose ones; and collar, sleeves and skirt became straight. In addition, lighter more serene colours gained preference.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 142)

Ming Dynasty:

“The clothing for women in the Ming Dynasty consisted mainly of gowns, coats, rosy capes, over-dresses with or without sleeves, and skirts. These styles were imitations of ones first seen in the Tang and Song Dynasties. However, the openings were on the right-hand side, according to the Han Dynasty convention.” ((5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 147)

“The formal dress for commoners could only be made of coarse purple cloth, and no gold embroidery was allowed. Gowns could only in such light colours as purple, green and pink; and in no case should crimson, reddish blue or yellow be used. These regulations were observed for over a decade, and it was not until the 14^th year of Hong Wu that minor changes were made.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 147)

Qing Dynasty

When China fell under Manchurian rule, Chinese men were forced to adopt Manchurian customs. As a sign of submission, the new government made a decree that men must shave their head and wear the Manchurian queue or lose their heads. Many choose the latter.

On the other hand, Chinese women were not pressured to adopt Manchurian clothing and fashions. “Women, in general, wore skirts as their lower garments, and red skirts were for women of position. At first, there were still the “phoenix-tail” skirt and the “moonlight” skirt and others from the Ming tradition. However the styles evolved with the passage of time: some skirts were adorned with ribbons that floated in the air when one walked; some had little bells fastened under them: others had their lower edge embroidered with wavy designs. As the dynasty drew to an end, the wearing of trousers became the fashion among commoner women. There were trousers with full crotches and over trousers, both made of silk embroidered with patters.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 173)

The Manchurians attempted several times to eradicate the practice of foot-binding, but were largely unsuccessful. Manchurian women admired the gait of bound women but were effectively banned from practicing food-binding. Hence, a “flower pot shoe” later came into creation and it allowed its wearer the same unsteady gait but without any need for foot-binding.

Republic Era

“Ever since the Tang Dynasty, the design of Chinese women’s costumes had kept to the same straight style: flat and straight lines for the chest, shoulders and hips, with few curves visible; and it was not until the 1920’s that Chinese women came to appreciate ‘the beauty of curves’, and to pay attention to figure when cutting and making up dresses, instead of adhering to the traditional style.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 214)

“The most popular item of a Chinese woman’s wardrobe in modern times was the qi pao. Originall the dress of the Manchus, it was adopted by Han women in the 1920s. Modifications and improvements were then made so that for a time, it became the most fashionable form of dress for women in China.

Two main factors account for women’s general preference for the qi pao: first, it was economical and convenient to wear.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 214-215)

Women traditionally bound their breasts in the Ming and Qing dynasties with tight fitting vests and continued to do so in the early 20^th century.

“The vests were called xiaomajia ‘little vest’ or xiaoshan ‘little shirt” “used by Chinese women as underclothing for the upper part of the body.” (Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation: Finnane pg 162) “Doudu [is] a sort of apron for the upper body […] in former times the doudu had been worn by everyone, old and young, male and female. The young wore red, the middle-aged wore white or grey-green, the elderly wore black. A little pocket sewn into the top was used by adults to secrete them money and by children their sweets. When a girl got engaged, she would show off her embroidery skills by sending an elaborately worked doudu to her fiancé, decorated with bats for good forturne and pomegranates, symbolizing many sons.” (Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation: Finnane pg 162)

A ban on bound breasts began in 1927, in which the government started advocating for the “Natural Breast Movement”. Despite this, bound breasts still widely continued into the 1930s. The government also banned earrings as it fell under the criteria of deforming the natural body. The 1930s also saw the introduction of the western/French bra come to Shanghai.

“The little vest was designed to constrain the breasts and streamline the body. Such a garment was necessary to look comme il faut around 1908, when (as J. Dyer Ball observed): ‘fashion decreed that jackets should fit tight, though not yielding to the contours of the figure, except in the slightest degree, as such an exposure of the body would be considered immodest.’ It became necessary again in the mid-twenties, when the jacket-blouse—a garment cut on rounded lines – began to give way to the qipao. At this stage, darts were not used to tailor the bodice or upper part of the qipao, nor would they be till the mid-fifties. The most that could be done by way of further fitting the qipao to the bosom was to stretch the material at the right places through ironing. Under these circumstances, breast-binding must have made the tailor’s task easier.” (Finnane 163, Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation)

Successful eradication of bound feet would not come until the 1949 when the People’s Republic of China came into power.

1950s-1960’s

Under the People’s Republic of China, very few mainland women wore the cheongsam, save for ceremonial attire. Clothing became de-sexualized for mainlanders.

It was the flip side in Hong Kong, as the cheongsam continued its function as everyday wear which lasted until the late 1960s. The cheongsam in the 1950s and 1960s became even tighter fitting to further accentuate feminine curves. Western clothing became the default after the late 1960s, though the cheongsam continued to survive as uniforms for students (who donned a looser and androgynous version), waitresses, brides, and beauty contestants.

21^st century

Designers today are creating new forms of the qipao/cheongsam. The fish tail appears to be a current popular trend.

8th century Tang Dynasty Lady. From Zhou Fang’s painting:...

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 17:00:00 -0800

Reference painting. 8th century, Tang Dynasty. Artists: Zhou Fang.

8th century Tang Dynasty Lady. From Zhou Fang’s painting: Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers

Tang Dynasty, popularly known as the Golden Age of Chinese civilization and sexiest dynasty of them all.

Speedpaint: The Golden Rose. 1st is 50 minutes or so. 2nd is +...

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 09:56:13 -0700

Speedpaint: The Golden Rose. 1st is 50 minutes or so. 2nd is + 1 1/2 hour.

I am so out of practice! Arrgh!

Updated: Evolution of Vietnamese Clothing Full Version can be...

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 19:24:00 -0700

Updated: Evolution of Vietnamese Clothing

Full Version can be found here. Original refs in my pinterest.

Squeezing in some time to update the Fashion Timeline of Vietnamese Clothing. I added 3 new figures and tweaked a few others. I think the transitions between 18th to 19th century makes a little more sense now. I’m still scratching my head over the seemingly sudden change from “hanfu-like robes” (Le Dynasty, 1428-1788) to buttons and collars (Nguyen dynasty, 1802-1945) thing. According to the historical fashion documentary, Di Tim Trang Phuc Viet, Le dynasty folks were vehemently against Qing dynasty styles (1644-1912) but Nguyen dynasty was not…?

It also appears that early 19th c. Cochinchina/Southern Vietnamese women were the early adopters of the whole turban/”khan dong” trend and not Tonkin/Northerners as I had initially thought. I’m highly impressed that Le dynasty and early Nguyen dynasty folks, from low to high class, primarily wore silk.

The timeline is still far from done, I hope to be able to add more clothing from the 2-10 A.D. centuries.

I’m always on the lookout for more refs, so please point out any paintings/works of art I might have missed!

Hats and Hair Fashion History: Vietnam This is a companion piece...

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 20:23:00 -0700

Hats and Hair Fashion History: Vietnam

This is a companion piece to my other fashion timeline as I was highly curious to see how hairstyles and hats have changed throughout the course of Vietnam’s history. I have to admit that I was quite surprised by what I have found. I dug through as many photographs, paintings, sculptures as I possibly could find to compile this and eventually decided to draw about 100 hats/hairstyles (it ended up being a little bit more…) I might add more drawings if any new archeological evidence surfaces. The reference material can be found at my pinterest, Troy’s Fotki gallery, Cornell University Library’s Southeast Asia Visions, and the documentary “Di Tim Trang Phuc Viet”.

To preserve accuracy, I have retained the historical names and spellings as they were originally captioned.

Notes and Tidbits:
From Christoforo Borri’s account of Cochinchina from 1618-1622 (Le dynasty):

Women wear five to six layers on top of each other and of different colors. They do not like having any parts of their bodies exposed and would much rather suffer through the greatest heat. Hair is left long to flow on shoulders and may even reach to the ground. The longer the hair, the prettier it is deemed. Women wear hats so wide brimmed that it obscures her face and renders her unable to see three or four steps ahead. Depending on her status, her hat may be mixed with silk and gold. (pg 50)

Men also wear five to six layers of clothing made of different colored fine silk. Sleeves are long and wide, and the layers from the belt down are slashed and jagged. With all these colors mixed together it creates an effect like that of a peacock displaying the colorful array of his feathers. The men also grow their hair long where it reaches to the heel. Like women they also wear wide brimmed hats. Men with beards are rare and those that don one do not shave it. Noble men allow their finger nails to grow long as a mark of status to distinguish themselves from the working class. (pg 52)

From Views of Seventeenth-Century Vietnam: Christoforo Borri on Cochinchina and Samuel Baron on Tonkin

“The Cochin-Chineses are in colour like the Chineses; that is, inclining to an olive color: I mean those that are nearest the sea; for those up the inland, as far as Tonchin, are as white as the Europeans. The shape of their faces is exactly like the Chineses, with flat noses, little eyes, but of an indifferent stature, not so small as the Japoneses, nor so tall as the Chineses. Yet they are stronger and more active than either of them, and braver than the Chineses, but are out-done by the Japoneses in one thing, which is the contempt of life in dangers and battles; The Japoneses seeming to make no account of life, nor to apprehend the least fear of death.” (pg 113)

“If a male die, he is clothed with twelve of his best coats; if a female, with nine.” (pg 265)

From John Crawfurd’s Journal of an Embassy to the Courts of Siam and Cochin-China , published in 1830:

“Both sexes dress nearly alike. For the lower part of the body, the covering consists of a pair of loose trowsers, secured at the waist by a sash. The main portion of dress consists of two or more loose frocks, reaching half-way down the thigh. This, for such matters as among other Eastern people is uniform and constant, overlaps to the right side, and is secured by five buttons and as many hoops. Its sleeves are loose, and with persons not compelled to labour, they dangle a foot, or even a foot and a half, beyond the extremities of the fingers; but the lower orders, from necessity, wear them short.” (pg 277)

“With the women, the inner frock reaches below the knee, and the outer down to the ankles.” (pg 278)

“The hair of the head is worn long, and put up in a knot at the back of the head, as was practiced by the Chinese before the present absurd fashion was imposed upon them by the Tartars. Both sexes wear turbans, which are put on with much neatness.” (pg 278)

“The lower orders, except when dressed, seldom wear these turbans.” (pg 278) “When abroad, both sexes wear varnished straw hats, little less than two feet in diameter, tied under the chin. These, which are sometimes in the form of an inverted basin, and at others resembling a sugar-loaf, afford, however grotesque in appearance, good protection against sun and rain.” (pg 278)

“The materials of dress consist of silk or cotton; the first being of more frequent use than I have observed in any other country. The inner frock is cotton of domestic manufacture, always unbleached; for, literally, there is not a rag of white linen in the kingdom. The outer frocks and gown, with the better ranks, are always of silk, or flowered gauze; and the latter is commonly Chinese manufacture. The trowsers, with the same class, are either plain silk, or crape of domestic fabric.” (pg 278-279)

“The turban is crape, always black or blue, but most frequently the former; and this is also a home fabric.” (pg 279)

“The lower orders are generally clad in cotton; but, even among them, silk is not unfrequently to be seen. Their cotton dress is very generally dyed of a dark brown color, as if tanned. This color is given to it by the tuberous root which I have mentioned in another place.” (pg 279)

“Ornaments of the precious metals, or gems, do not appear to be very general. The women wear occasionally armlets and bracelets of gold. Where gems are worn, those of most frequent use are pearls, and amber brought from Yu-nan.” (pg 279)

“The women wear ear-rings, and secure the hair by a bodkin with an ornamented gold-head.” (pg 279)

“The shoes that are worn by the Cochin Chinese are slippers without heels. It may here be remarked, that the Chinese fashion of little feet among the women is unknown to the Cochin Chinese.” (pg 279-280)

—

From the many photographs and illustrations I’ve looked at, it seems that Early Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945) has bulkier looking turbans, due to the fact that the cloth needed to be manually wrapped around the hair. By the late 19th to early 20th century , turbans become less bulky and eventually did not require manual wrapping as a premade “turban” of stiffened fabric allowed the wearer to easily put on and take off his/her headdress.

Anyhow this may be the last of the Vietnamese fashion infographics, as I hope to study the Champa Kingdom next.

Various drawings of the different hairstyles and headgear of...

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:26:57 -0700

Various drawings of the different hairstyles and headgear of 17th-18th century Le Dynasty folks. References here.

Been stuck in a bit of an art rut, so I decided to revise old...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:18:26 -0700

Been stuck in a bit of an art rut, so I decided to revise old artwork from 2009. Those blah expressions and Zuko’s pouty lips have bugged me soooooo much.

You can see the bigger versions here and here.

If Atla become a Cdrama… Started watching/rewatching HK...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:08:00 -0700

If Atla become a Cdrama…

Started watching/rewatching HK and Cdramas again, and started noticing how certain actors and actresses could pass off as certain Avatar: the Last Airbender characters and vice versa. Thought it would be fun to match them up. A few were matched up according to similarities of animated character and actor’s looks/abilities (Steven Ma = Kuei, Vincent Jiao = Ozai, Liu Xiao Ling Tong = Roku), others purely due to similarities of hairstyle/clothing.

This is also proof that I watch waaaay too much HK/Cdramas.

Titles of the series used: Duke of Mt. Deer 1998, Royal Tramp 2008, Sword Stained with Royal Blood 2006, Sword Stained with Royal Blood 06, Whatever it Takes 03, Conqueror’s Story 2003, Condor Heroes Return 95, Journey to the West (?), Conqueror’s Story 03, Conqueror’s Story 03, Sword Stained with Royal Blood 06, Three Kingdoms 2011, Journey to the West 96, Yang Guifei (?), Three Kingdoms 2011, Three Kingdoms 2011, Da Tang Fu Rong Yuan, Three Kingdoms 2011, Semi Devils Demi Gods 2003. Screencaps borrowed from Avatarspirit.

Felt like drawing Mulan one day. Just a rough quickie.

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 18:05:00 -0700

Felt like drawing Mulan one day. Just a rough quickie.

Practice portrait of Zuko, as if I don’t draw him enough...

Fri, 11 May 2012 20:23:53 -0700

Practice portrait of Zuko, as if I don’t draw him enough already.

I haven’t had the chance to watch Korra yet and there are spoilers everywhere! T_T

1,000 Years of Vietnamese Clothing A follow up to the previous...

Sat, 05 May 2012 17:15:00 -0700

1,000 Years of Vietnamese Clothing

A follow up to the previous historical fashion timeline, this time I’ve separated the clothing according to dynasty and social rank from 11th to 21st centuries. The intent was to see a generalized view of how clothes changed from dynasty to dynasty. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough material from Ly and Tran dynasties so I had to lump them together. The majority of historical referenced material is from the documentary “Di Tim Trang Phuc Viet”, and a few are from Wikipedia and Google. Contemporary/modern clothing are from observation and/or refs from Google again.

My refs here. I had to make a few educated guesses on colors, I hope I’m not too far off the mark…

Some notes and observations from the documentary:

• Sui and Tang dynasty ruled Vietnam from 602-906 AD, hence Ly to Tran dynasty will have Sui/Tang influence in their clothing. Ming dynasty only ruled for 20 years but they took an extremely aggressive attempt to sinicize Vietnam, therefore it is no surprise to see very strong Ming clothing influence on Le dynasty people. Nguyen dynasty appears to be a curious mix of Ming/Qing influence (for royals especially) and native styles.

• Vietnamese emperors apparently dressed in Dragon Robes reminiscent to Chinese Emperors as a means to demonstrate that they were equals with China. This purportedly started with the Ly dynasty. Previous dynasties did not attempt to do so due to backlash from China. (Trinh Quang Vu, episode 5)

• Generally speaking, robes reached to the feet in the Le Dynasty whereas the length of the clothes shortened considerably by the late Nguyen dynasty.

• One of the historians (Trinh Bac, episode 17) commented that the Le Dynasty folks continued wearing Ming-styled clothing and refused to accept Qing dynasty styles. On the other hand, it was the Nguyen Dynasty who incorporated some elements of Qing Dynasty clothing into their attire. The documentary also compared and contrasted the royal clothing of Qing and Nguyen dynasties. (robes on the bottom is a comparison I did) One of the striking similarities that you can see is the colorful stripped patterns on the bottom of the robes that existed ONLY in the Qing dynasty and was emulated by the Nguyen royalty.

• The most common woman’s hairstyle in the Le Dynasty seems to be long hair that was either left loose or tied with a ribbon. It looks a lot like the ladies of Heian period in my opinion. Long hair with a hair bun or just buns seem popular as well.

• Speaking of hair… Due to Confucian beliefs that one’s hair is a gift from one’s parents and should not be damaged, it was traditional for male and females alike to grow out their hair and not cut it out of filial piety. (Chinese folk did this up until the Qing Dynasty when Chinese men were forced to shave their hair and adopt the Manchurian queue. Anyone who resisted was executed while monks were the exception from the rule.) If one wanted to cut/perm their hair (e.g. wanting a more modern haircut) they had to obtain permission from their elders and go through an ancestral ceremony. (Truong Ngoc Tuong, episode 19) Obviously this is no longer true today.

o Although to be honest… if no one cut their hair wouldn’t they all look like Rapunzel?

• There was an unearthed Le dynasty mummy that had 23 layers of clothing on it. Gloves were also found on the mummy. There was also boots that had strings on the back for the wearer to tie, which meant the boots weren’t slip-ons. Interestingly there is a piece of fabric attached to the collar of one of the robes and the researchers believe it to be a scarf. You can see some of the screencaps I took here. (Nguyen Lan Cuong, episode 12)

• The number layers on the Khan Dong (turban on fig. 22) told the status of the person. Commoners had 5-6 layers on their turban. Officials and higher class persons had 8-9 layers. (Truong Ngoc Tuong, episode 19)

• Nguyen Dynasty clothing is very loose by today’s standards. Clothing for brides required even more looseness and sleeves were wider than the norm. The clothing of brides was traditionally red or pink on the outside and yellow or green/blue on the inside. Grooms wore blue on the outside and red, pink, or yellow on the inside. (Truong Ngoc Tuong, episode 19)

• Black was the most common color in the Nguyen Dynasty. (Truong Ngoc Tuong, episode 19)

• There was friendly trading with Japan harking back to at least the 16th century. As to whether there may or may not be some Japanese influence on Vietnamese clothing… I don’t really know.

—

Explanation on the Figures

• Fig. 1 is an imperial concubine who later becomes the Queen Mother (as in the mother of the reigning King/Emperor).

• According to the researchers, the relief statue of Fig. 2 is not of an actual Tran Emperor but someone with the surname “Ngo.” Apparently they believe the outfit is supposed to be cross between a king/emperor’s dragon robe and monk attire. Confused? Yeah, so am I. There is a statue of an actual Tran emperor but the figure has been beheaded by foreigners. I decided to depict this figure anyways because the details are more clear (for the headdress especially), and someday will draw the statue of the actual Tran Emperor. In either case, it is still useful because the clothing styles between the two is somewhat similar.

• The statue I referenced Fig. 3 from was also beheaded by foreigners. I followed the recreated version in the documentary.

• Fig. 7: the reference photo on Wikipedia was in black/white and I couldn’t find the color version. I thought the next best thing was to reference the colors from an excavated robe that belonged to another Le Emperor. Furthermore, a lot of the details were washed out and difficult to decipher. If anyone has a better version of this painting, please let me know!

• Fig. 13 and 14 are probably around 17th century.

• Fig. 14: This style of dress appears to pop up quite frequently on Le dynasty statues and it seems pretty significant so that is why I decided to include it here. Remnants of this particular dress could be found in Nguyen dynasty dancers.

• Fig. 25 appears to be the dress that has preserved the most historical elements. However the ao tu than is typically associated with northern women and is mostly regarded as a “peasant” dress nowadays.

• Fig. 26 and 27 are typical wedding attire. Fig. 27’s attire is derived from the royal Nguyen dynasty dress.

• Fig. 29: The Jing people are ethnic Vietnamese who immigrated to Mainland China hundreds of years ago. I was hoping to see preservation of ancient clothing but alas it seems that their clothing is updated with fashions trends from the motherland. I decided to include them anyways because I thought their fashion take was quite cute with a glitzy touch to it.

—
Last but not least:

Thank you everyone for your feedback from my last historical fashion timeline! I haven’t managed to get through all the comments but I will try to soon!

If I ever do another fashion timeline it will be a toss up between Thailand, Mongolia, Korea, or Japan. I’m debating whether or not if I want to do Chinese hanfu but there’s 5,000 years worth of Chinese clothing to wade through and there are plenty enough resources so…

Tyzula - Festival I’ve always wanted to do Ty Lee and...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:04:00 -0700

Tyzula - Festival

I’ve always wanted to do Ty Lee and Azula piece and this commission for bored-wizard gave me the perfect chance to do so!

The description:

“Post series, Ty Lee visits Azula after the war and is allowed to tour the annual Fire Nation Festival with her. Azula’s handcuffs keep her from firebending. Based on this fanfiction.

—
I used Tanghulu 糖葫蘆 (or as I call ‘em “apple kebabs”) as a visual base for the spiced apples in the fic. Tanghulu is a very common snack in Asia.

Working on some more historical fashion drawings of Ancient...

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 18:30:15 -0700

Clothing of Ancient Vietnam - Drafts

Refs

Working on some more historical fashion drawings of Ancient Vietnamese clothing with a focus on Royalty and the Imperial court. Haven’t been able to devote much time to this project these last few weeks so the going has been rather slow.

Your Vietnamese fashion time line is to die for and I highly encourage you to tackle more countries if you have the patience.

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 16:57:36 -0700

Oh yes, there are many other countries I would love to do a fashion time line for. Once I finish up with the rest of Vietnamese clothing, I’d like to tackle the Sinosphere, Indosphere, Middle East and make my way around the world. Granted I worked on this timeline for 3-4 months so it will take some endurance…

Fashion Timeline History of Vietnamese Clothing (and Ao Dai). A...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:20:00 -0800

Fashion Timeline History of Vietnamese Clothing (and Ao Dai).

A few of my refs here.

I love historical clothing and seeing how it evolves. I’ve longed to see the evolution of Vietnamese clothing but always came up empty handed due to lack of information… until now. I owe a lot of the references to the documentary “Searching for Vietnamese Clothing” (which impressively took the filmmaker’ 3 decades to research) and the sources on the Internet. I created this timeline because as a visual person, I like to know how clothing changed by seeing it side by side.

I attempted to make a timeline with only primary references (i.e. paintings, sculptures, and photographs from that time period). I tried to stay true to the original sources’ as much as possible but I can’t say that this is completely accurate. A few art pieces were really hard to decipher (the sitting Buddhist statues in particular) and not being able to see them in person required me to take some educated guesses. I used my own color preferences with the statues that did not have color to reference from. Regrettably I had to skip a few early dynasties because artifacts of those eras seem to have been lost to time or too stylized.

Continually a work in progress and more may be added.

Artist Observations:

*Due to approximately 1,000 years of various periods of Chinese domination, the clothing inevitably shares qualities with Hanfu. Regardless, there are tell-tale differences. Dong Son Culture (fig. 1) is the time period before any Han influence takes place.

* The colors and textile in Fig. 1 is largely hypothetical. I have a feeling that the Dong Son culture resembles the ethnic tribes still in VN and took inspiration from there. The pattern on her yellow sash thingy (words fail me, bah) came from an Ao Dai which coincidentally had a pattern that came from a Dong Son drum. Coming full circle here. Lol.

* On average, people wore 3-5 layers of clothing. The climate could be cold (e.g. the Northern regions) and 16-18th century scarves and gloves have been excavated. [link]

* Sleeves could reach to 40cm and were typically the length of chin to waist in the Le Dynasty.

* Skirts were banned in 1826 as they were deemed to be “unseemly”. Not all women followed suit as it was easier to work in skirts than pants.

* Buttoned up collars and buttoned clothing does not seem to appear until the 19th century (perhaps late 18th century at the earliest). Interestingly this change seems to coincide with the advent of French Imperialism/Colonization. Collars started rather low but gradually got higher and closer together.

* The Ao Tu Than (Fig. 9, 10 and 12) is still around today but as it stopped evolving in the 20th century I decided to concentrate on the Ao Dai (long shirt).

* The conical rice hat was originally worn by men (which can be seen in many photographs with Nguyen dynasty soldiers) and only became part of women’s wear sometime in the 20th century.

* Le Dynasty wins for being the most stylish and varied. IMO.

Taang Found the black and white ink version. I think I like this...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:03:06 -0800

Taang

Found the black and white ink version. I think I like this more than the colored piece.

Tang Dynasty-inspired character art commission for MJ...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:00:05 -0800

Tang Dynasty-inspired character art commission for MJ Bridger’s fantastical Ten Kingdoms.

You can check out the book at Amazon. “Read the continuing story of one man’s quest to defy his fate in Forbidden History, the second book of the Khalduni Wars series.”

Sailor ChibiChibi Color and painting exercise. Been having a bit...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:50:11 -0800

Sailor ChibiChibi

Color and painting exercise. Been having a bit of Sailor Moon nostalgia and wanted to see if I could paint in the dollfie style. But the more I colored it, the worse it seemed to get. Eventually I had enough and decided to call it finished. >_<

Recently found this old sketch from a pile of .psds I managed to...

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:03:19 -0800

Recently found this old sketch from a pile of .psds I managed to recover from a catastrophic computer wipe-out that happened a while back. Just felt like giving it a dab of color while I ~~procrastinate~~ mull for a bit. Why does my muse always strike at the worst possible times? Arrgh!