Picrew hanfu

Unravelling the fascinating world of Chinese traditional clothing, hanfu. This was also the period in which Japanese traditional clothing became introduced to the Western world. Social segregation of clothing was primarily noticeable in the Nara period (710-794), through the division of upper and lower class. Since the upper outer garment was shorter and the lower garment was longer, the jacket gradually became longer to shorten the length of the exposed skirt. This proposed the widely held belief that those of lower ranking, who were perceived to be of less clothing due to their casual performance of manual labor, were not protected in the way that the upper class were in that time period. The clothes of the Qin and Han Dynasties mainly inherited the influence of the Zhou Dynasty, and still took the robe as the typical clothing style, which was mainly divided into straight trains and curved trains. As a result, a school of aesthetic thought known as iki, which valued and prioritised the display of wealth through almost mundane appearances, developed, a concept of kimono design and wear that continues to this day as a major influence.

The Asuka period began with the introduction of Buddhism, and the writing system of Chinese characters to Japan; during this time, Chinese influence over Japan was fairly strong. In the late 1910s, after the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the founding of the Republic of China, women began to partake in the education system. In 1869, the social class system was abolished, and with them, class-specific sumptuary laws. The Sogdians and their descendants (mostly from the merchant class) who lived in China during this period also wore a form of knee-length, yuanlingpao-like kaftan that retained their own ethnic characteristics but also showed some influences from East Asia (i.e., Chinese and early Turks). Genroku culture was spearheaded by the growing and increasingly-powerful merchant classes (chōnin); the clothing of chōnin classes, representative of their increasing economic power, rivalled that of the aristocracy and samurai classes, brightly coloured and utilising expensive production techniques, such as handpainted dyework. Elements previously lifted from the Tang Dynastic courts developed independently into what is known literally as “national culture” or “kokufū culture” (国風文化, kokufū-bunka), the term used to refer to Heian-period Japanese culture, particularly that of the upper classes. During the Heian period (794-1185 CE), Japan stopped sending envoys to the Chinese dynastic courts.

In Japan, modern Japanese fashion history might be conceived as a gradual westernization of Japanese clothes; both the woolen and worsted industries in Japan originated as a product of Japan’s re-established contact with the West in the early Meiji period (1850s-1860s). Before the 1860s, Japanese clothing consisted entirely of kimono of a number of varieties. With the opening of Japan’s ports for international trade in the 1860s, clothing from a number of different cultures arrived as exports; despite Japan’s historic contact with the Dutch before this time through its southerly ports, Western clothing had not caught on, tang dynasty hanfu male despite the study of and fascination with Dutch technologies and writings. During the Meiji period, the opening of Japan to Western trade after the enclosure of the Edo period led to a drive towards Western dress as a sign of “modernity”. Western clothing within their job roles, with the adoption of Western clothing by men in Japan happening at a much greater pace than by women. As early as the 4th century CE, traditional chinese male clothing images of priestess-queens and tribal chiefs in Japan depicted figures wearing clothing similar that of Han dynasty China. Join us for a month-long celebration and re-imagination of Chinese hanfu and traditional clothing!

The term changshan is composed of two Chinese characters: chang《長》which can literally be translated as “long” in length and shan《衫》, which literally means “shirt”. It can also be decorated with other auspicious symbols, such as pomegranate (symbolism for fertility), peony flowers, lotus flowers, bats, goldfish, butterfly and birds. Beads and Sequins: These can be sewn onto the dress to create patterns or to highlight certain areas, such as the collar or sleeves. Note wider cut, and unisex narrow obi and shorter sleeves. Originally worn with hakama, the kosode began to be held closed with a small belt known as an obi instead. Since they are a relatively small population, it makes them more distinctive in appearance in Jamaica and elsewhere. During the later Heian period, various clothing edicts reduced the number of layers a woman could wear, leading to the kosode (lit., “small sleeve”) garment-previously considered underwear-becoming outerwear by the time of the Muromachi period (1336-1573 CE). This prevented Chinese-imported goods-including clothing-from entering the Imperial Palace and disseminating to the upper classes, who were the main arbiters of traditional Japanese culture at the time and the only people allowed to wear such clothing.