I. Style
The main forms of traditional clothing in China are open-breasted, large-breasted and double-breasted. Qiankaiyi originated in China and was formed in the era of the Yellow Emperor. There are two basic forms of traditional costumes in China, namely, under the coat and under the clothes. These two forms have been used alternately in the history of China for thousands of years. Women wear coats and skirts, and men wear robes that are connected from top to bottom.
The style of western clothing has an evolutionary process. In ancient Greece, clothes were wrapped. From ancient Rome to the Middle Ages, the styles of clothing were mainly wrapped in unformed clothing and semi-formed clothing with open front. In the 4th century A.D., the Germanic people went south, and the body-shaped clothing with the limbs separated by the Germanic people gradually penetrated into the basic style of European clothing. Since13rd century, body-shaped clothing has gradually occupied the main position, and its basic shape is men's tops and trousers, and women's skirts are connected up and down.
Second, the appearance characteristics
The modeling of traditional costumes in China emphasizes the sense of lengthways, and naturally hangs down from the collar, without exaggerating the shoulders. It often uses drooping lines, long sleeves, cylindrical robes and skirts and vertical decorations to make the body look slender, especially to make the limbs feel elongated. Clothing in many Asian countries has similar characteristics.
Clothing in the Qing dynasty was bulky, with cuffs and hem spread out. The Gao Qi bun and flowerpot shoes of women in Qing Dynasty, together with the cheongsam hanging to their feet, made the flag bearer look slimmer than women in previous dynasties.
The slender appearance of the clothing makes up for the short stature of the orientals, creates an optical illusion in the senses, and achieves perfect harmony in proportion. Natural and slender clothes make men look exquisite and elegant, while women look gentle and graceful. At the same time, the smooth clothing modeling is commensurate with the softer contours of China people's faces.
The appearance of western classical clothing emphasizes the sense of laterality, and it often adopts the shoulder contour, various stiff collars, wheel collars, unfolded sleeves, huge skirts, overlapping lace and flowers, sizing and padding in various parts, which makes the clothing lines exaggerated and radiate outward.
The appearance characteristics of western clothing conform to the passionate temperament of westerners, and the facial contour fluctuates obviously, and the figure is taller and straighter than that of orientals.
Third, the structural characteristics
From the structural features, Hanfu adopts the traditional plane straight line cutting method in China. Regardless of robes, shirts and jackets, there is usually only one structural line connecting the bottom seam of the sleeve and the side swing, and there is no shoulder and armhole part. The whole dress can be laid flat on the ground, with simple structure and stretching.
Western-style clothing adopts the three-dimensional cutting method, which regards the human body as a polyhedron or at least a tetrahedron, carefully handles the ups and downs of the human body from top to bottom and from front to back, and finally obtains the three-dimensional effect clothing consistent with the three-dimensional human body through clothing techniques such as pleating and dart processing.
Some people say that China clothing is like a plane painting, while western clothing is like a three-dimensional sculpture. This feeling is generally correct. Chinese clothing presents a two-dimensional effect, ignoring the side structure design. Western-style clothing emphasizes three-dimensional effect, which is suitable for the structural characteristics of human body and the law of human movement. It is fit and practical, so it is widely favored by people all over the world.
Fourth, the local structural characteristics.
From the local characteristics of clothing, the oblique collar, split V-neck, stand-up collar, slits on both sides of the hem, four slits on the front, back, left and right of the arrow robe style in Qing Dynasty, double-breasted clothes, large-breasted clothes, straight-breasted clothes and pipa-breasted clothes are all local details with oriental characteristics, which are often used by designers to express China's interest in clothing, among which Chinese stand-up collar and slits on both sides of the hem.
Naked collar and wheel pleated collar (like a fan around the neck) of western clothing are widely used. The continuous pleats of the wheel pleat collar are formed by ironing after sizing with cloth, and sometimes they need fine wire support. Clothing modeling likes padding or support, such as shoulder pad, chest pad, sleeve pad, hip pad, skirt support and so on. Because western-style clothes are not sleeves, but sleeves, epaulettes have various shapes. Sleeve styles vary greatly, such as half sleeves and bishop sleeves.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) decoration
From the point of view of decoration characteristics, because Hanfu is cut in a straight plane and presents a two-dimensional effect, the decoration is also based on two-dimensional effect, emphasizing plane decoration. Decorative means are traditional Chinese techniques such as embedding, embedding, rolling, winding and embroidery. The clever use of these techniques makes Hanfu simple in shape, but colorful and beautiful in pattern.
Embroidery has been used in clothing for a long time. Later, even "clothes must look good." Decorating the surface space of clothing with plane embroidery is a common method of clothing design in China, which has been used up to now. In particular, exquisite embroidery technology and silk fabrics make the clothing full of oriental charm, which is amazing.
Besides embroidery, inlay and rolling techniques are also widely used in China's clothing. For example, in the late Qing Dynasty, it became popular to decorate skirts with rolls, and women's skirts became wider and wider, from three sets with three rolls, five sets with five rolls, to "eighteen sets with one roll".
Western-style clothing is a three-dimensional design, showing a three-dimensional effect, so the decoration corresponds to the overall structural modeling, emphasizing three-dimensional and spatial sense. Decorative means is to decorate the garment surface with tassels, flounces, gold and silver ribbons, pleats, cuts and other three-dimensional objects. At first it was flowers, lace, etc. Just slightly modified the clothing surface, enriching the surface effect. In the Rococo period, some dresses were actually made of three-dimensional flowers.
The application of three-dimensional decoration in western clothing has its bright spots: first, three-dimensional decoration echoes with three-dimensional structural modeling, which is natural and harmonious; Second, the decorative effect conforms to the aesthetic psychology, because the straightforward and unobstructed surface is easy to cause people's monotonous feeling, while the layered, virtual and real collocation and overlapping surface space are intriguing and easy to cause the aesthetic feeling of viewing.
Six, fabrics, colors and patterns
Judging from the clothing fabrics, the earliest textiles used in China are kudzu vine, ramie and linen. Pueraria lobata is made of stem bark fibers of Pueraria lobata. Ramie is a unique plant in China. Europeans call it "China grass" and marijuana "hemp". China's world-famous clothing fabric is silk. Silkworm rearing, silk reeling and silk weaving are the outstanding contributions of our ancestors to the development of textile and clothing in the world. People in China wear cotton late, and cotton is imported from India. It was not until the Yuan and Ming Dynasties that cotton cloth became a common material for people to wear.
Judging from the color of clothing, in ancient times, black was considered by the ancestors of China as the color of the emperor who dominated everything, and the crowns of emperors in Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties were all black. Later, with the development of feudal centralization and autocracy, people turned their worship of the gods (black) to the worship of the earth (yellow), thus forming the traditional concept of "yellow is precious". Yellow has become the special color of emperors, symbolizing the supreme status of rulers.
The colors of traditional clothing are influenced by Yin and Yang and five elements, including green, red, black, white and yellow. Blue, red, black, white and yellow are regarded as positive colors, and other colors are intermediate colors. In most dynasties, positive color was reserved for the upper class to show nobility. In the folk, positive color is the color that people like and pursue in clothing color matching.
From the perspective of color matching methods, high brightness and strong contrast are traditional color matching methods in China. Strong contrasting colors, coupled with the buffering and cooperation of neutral colors such as gold, silver, black and white, make the clothing full of magnificent and simple atmosphere.
China people have a traditional love for blue, such as blue calico and indigo batik. Blue with the skin color of the yellow race is easy to reconcile and can produce a soft color contrast effect.
The patterns of traditional costumes in China are rich and varied, including birds and animals, flowers of four seasons, mountain pavilions and geometric patterns. Abstract, figurative, exaggerated and realistic, the pattern is not only exquisite, but also rich in connotation.
Hanfu likes to use patterns to express auspicious wishes. Since ancient times, auspicious patterns have been widely used, from noble silks and satins to folk printed fabrics. Such as dragons and phoenixes, dragons and phoenixes, dragons and dragons playing with pearls, lizards and dragons playing with Ganoderma lucidum, which not only symbolize totem worship, but also express the feelings of "descendants of dragons". A crane and deer in the same spring, a magpie plum blossom, a phoenix wearing peony, a group of cranes celebrating longevity, longevity and auspicious eight treasures reflect people's expectations for a happy life. In addition, the pattern of official uniforms attaches importance to the role of recognition. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, civil servants were birds and military officers were beasts. The emperor's dragon robe symbolizes the real dragon emperor, and the twelve patterns on the dragon robe have their own meanings: "the sun, the moon and the stars" take it as light; "Mountain" takes its stability; "Huachong" takes its beauty; "Fire" takes its light; "Algae" brings it clean; "Powder rice" takes its nourishment; "Zong Yi" takes its loyalty and filial piety; "Fu" is determined by it; "promise" is different.
There is a gap between the use of fabrics, colors and patterns in western clothing and the eastern tradition.
The clothing fabrics in ancient Greece and Rome were mainly semi-wool fabrics and linen. The ancient Greeks loved white, and the most popular colors in ancient Roman costumes were white and purple, with purple symbolizing nobility and white symbolizing purity and integrity. Ordinary people's clothes are all natural primary colors of wool and linen, which is very simple.
In the middle ages, there were many precious fabrics in the west, including silk and brocade in the east, velvet, high-grade wool and precious fur in northern Europe. At that time, the stained glass windows in Gothic churches were beautifully decorated, which led people to pursue the colors of heaven, so the colors full of religious flavor in costumes were yearned for by people.
Since the Renaissance in Europe, with the upgrading of the luxury of clothing, bright colors have been welcomed by people, and glittering gold and silver silk threads have been woven into brocade and velvet. French people especially like cloves and roses, and they are also obsessed with subtle sky blue and holy white. Spaniards admire elegant rose and silver-gray tones. In Britain, black is regarded as a mysterious and noble color, especially black satin and black velvet are often the first choice for ladies. Charming black is very dazzling against the white skin color of white women.
The patterns on traditional costumes in western Europe are constantly changing with the changes of history. Flowers and plants were popular in ancient times, and gorgeous flowers and plants were popular in the Italian Renaissance. In the period of Louis XV, influenced by the decorative style of rococo, S-shaped or spiral rattan grass and light and soft garden flowers and plants were very popular. Influential popular patterns in modern times include Duffy pattern of Fauvism, disco pattern with the theme of Galaxy Universe, opal pattern designed by geometric illusion principle, electronic pattern designed by computer and so on.
Seven, aesthetic culture
There are many differences in the aesthetic culture of eastern and western costumes.
Western culture originates from marine civilization, and its cultural instinct is relatively open, so it is easy to integrate foreign clothing culture.
China culture originated from mainland civilization, its cultural instinct is relatively closed, and it has a stubborn sense of "original body" in its clothing. Traditional clothing has been in a stable position for thousands of years, and it is relatively difficult to absorb foreign clothing.
Western culture is good at expressing contradictions and conflicts, emphasizing stimulation and extreme forms in clothing composition, and taking pride in highlighting individuality.
China culture is a kind of harmonious culture. It emphasizes the balanced, symmetrical and unified clothing modeling method, and the regularity and stability are the most beautiful.
Western culture is a simile culture, which attaches importance to the objective aesthetic feeling of modeling, lines, patterns and colors and puts visual comfort in the first place.
China culture is a metaphorical culture, and its art emphasizes lyricism and pursues the spiritual implication and cultural taste of clothing elements.
Western culture advocates the beauty of the human body, attaches importance to showing the gender differences of the human body, and is not afraid of showing sexiness. The classic model shows women's secondary sexual characteristics, such as neck, shoulders, back and chest, and shows women's carcass curve by tightening waistline and padding hips. Modern mode is to express the natural figure of human body in a simple form, with short exposure and tight fitting as modern fashion.
China culture ignores the existence of "sex", and clothing does not show the curve of human body and has no elements of sensory stimulation. Take off your coat and put on a rich belt to cover your body, showing a solemn and subtle beauty.
The aesthetic characteristics of China traditional costumes reflect the aesthetic psychology and cultural characteristics of the Chinese nation. Influenced by the complementary aesthetic thoughts of Confucianism and Taoism, China people attach importance to the combination of reason and emotion, and pursue leisure, plainness, moderation and metaphysical spiritual meaning. China women's dresses are tightly wrapped around the human body, so it is difficult to see the details and increase the mystery. Chinese men's wear is neat and slender, permeated with the beauty of neutralization. The emperor's dress is wide, complicated and gorgeous. The emperor's clothing is not only a symbol of power, but also the embodiment of China people's aesthetic standards.