The earliest clothing should have originated from labor. In ancient times, clothes began to appear in the period of Huangdi and Yaoshun, ending the prehistoric state of wearing clothes. People wear this style of clothes to worship their ancestors and heaven and earth. People know from experience that before dawn in the morning, the sky is dark (called "Xuan") and the coat is like the sky, so it is dark black; The ground is yellow, and the lower part is like the ground, so it is yellow, indicating the worship of heaven and earth. In ancient times, tops and bottoms represented the styles of clothing, and there was a "deep clothing system" which connected tops and bottoms. At that time, there was no difference between men and women.
Weijin clothes
Although the Wei and Jin Dynasties maintained the basic form of the Han Dynasty, they had unique and outstanding characteristics in style, which was closely related to the creative ideas of artworks and handicrafts at that time, and the identity of their styles was obvious.
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it was stipulated that the palace, China and Korea should take red and often purple. White serves ordinary people. At this time, the dress style is still dominated by skirts and dresses, and autumn is informal dress. Women's decorations are exquisite, such as gold rings, silver fingers and jumping around their wrists. There is still a big difference between the texture inside and outside the palace.
Southern and Northern Dynasties clothes
During the Southern Dynasties, skirts were the main style of dress, and women, especially women wearing skirts, were orthodox. It is considered impolite to show your pants without wearing a skirt. At that time, the woman wore a white silk scarf on her head (a blue ribbon headscarf, which was said to have been worn by Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period), with long and narrow sleeves and a wisp of carved flowers. Dancers wear robes, long belts and ten thousand towels on their heads.
In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there were also "robes" and "shirts", and shirts were a necessary costume in the Jin Dynasty. "Qiu" is extremely precious at this time, especially mink. "It is teenagers' favorite clothes, and superficial teenagers prefer colored clothes", "Yan", "Bi" and "Crane", which are all popular clothes at this time.
During the Northern Dynasties, officials wore red light clothes on formal occasions, so that uniforms and uniforms were the mainstay. Wear a red robe with a gold belt and a small sleeve gown with a gold belt. Ordinary women take coats as official uniforms, just like the Southern Dynasties. In the Northern Dynasties, silk brocade was the most luxurious clothing material.
The rolling grass pattern in the Southern and Northern Dynasties was developed on the basis of the moire pattern in the Han Dynasty. Dynamic images such as well drilling in Dunhuang (suitable for patterns alone), triangle flower (suitable for patterns), strip flower (continuous in two directions), flying and moire are skillfully combined, which are concise, beautiful and implicit. Wool carpets, linen and silk were all popular products at that time.
Xizhou clothes
With the establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the social productive forces have greatly developed and improved, the material is obviously rich, and the social order has been organized and established. Due to the existence of hierarchy and the need of etiquette, the form of clothing has been further standardized, and it has been included in the category of "ruling the country by courtesy", which is different in terms of honor and inferiority.
At this time, the special boundary grade marks of clothing began to be clear, and the variety categories also increased accordingly, such as the special sacrificial dress in the palace when offering sacrifices to the gods and ghosts of heaven and earth, the court dress in the court ceremony, the military service dress, the wedding dress, the mourning dress and so on. Although the clothes are still yellow, a big belt (made of silk or silk with a width of four inches) and jade (made of jade with a ribbon around the waist) are added to the official clothes. In addition, clothing colors are also graded. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, in addition to the unique style of taking off the long ribbon of the coat, it also absorbed the clothes with hooks at the waist of Xianbei people (now Xibo people) in the north (thin hooks or buckles made of gold, silver, copper or iron at the connection of the ribbon).
Qin dynasty clothes
During the Qin and Han dynasties, due to the unification of the country, clothing styles tended to be consistent. The Qin Dynasty was the first feudal unified country with vast territory and numerous nationalities in the history of China. After Qin became Qin Shihuang, he immediately began to implement a series of measures to strengthen centralization, such as unified measurement, criminal laws and regulations, and so on, including the clothing system. However, due to Qin Shihuang's short ruling time, the clothing system is just beginning and incomplete, and only the colors of clothing are unified. Qin Shihuang was deeply influenced by the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements. He believes that Qin should be fire and water, because the Zhou Dynasty is "fire is better than gold, and color is still red", so Qin Shengzhou is a water virtue, and color advocates black. In this way, in the Qin Dynasty, black was a noble color, and clothing was also a fashionable color.
Han dynasty clothes
China's complete clothing system was established in the Han Dynasty. In the Han Dynasty, dyeing and weaving technology, embroidery technology and metal technology developed rapidly, which promoted the changes of clothing decoration.
When the Western Han Dynasty was established, it basically followed the clothing system of the Qin Dynasty. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, wearing black clothes must be accompanied by purple silk ornaments. The "long crown costume" is commonly used in sacrificial ceremonies. The queen's sacrificial clothes are: black on the top and soap on the bottom. The queen's silkworm suit is blue on the top and light green (light yellow) on the bottom. When Emperor Wendi was in power, he lived frugally and wore black silk clothes and leather shoes. Generally, officials should wear Zen clothes, which is also commonly known as "talent clothes". During the two hundred years of the Western Han Dynasty, clothing was mainly "deep clothing", which was characterized by cicada's wing crown (hat), red clothing, Tian Zi-style collar, jade and red shoes. The shape of the deep coat is to connect the lower half of the coat and sew it together to make the middle coat of the sacrificial clothing. As a royal coat, you need a red edge. At that time, it was common for men and women to wear the same clothes. Clothing is collectively called "Zen clothing". Zen clothing is a single coat. Zen clothes can be divided into medium clothes and deep clothes, and there is little difference between them in shape and Zen clothes, but the sleeves have changed, and they all belong to single-layer cloth and silk clothes. Officials should wear black Zen clothes in court.
Spring and Autumn Warring States Clothing
Men's wear is dominated by cross collars, narrow sleeves and belts. During the Warring States period, hooks were mostly made of gold, silver, copper, iron and jade. The hooks are engraved with patterns and sometimes inlaid with turquoise to show dignity and wealth. There is also the manual craft of gold and silver dislocation. After the stone is processed, its appearance is more exquisite and luxurious. During the Warring States period, the iron smelting industry was relatively developed, and copper knives hanging on people could be made. The craftsmanship is also excellent, such as a small curved knife with a length of 25 cm. The back of the knife is engraved with various patterns, which was widely loved and worn by people at that time and was called "Rong Dao". At this time, the hanging knife is not completely practical, and the decoration has largely replaced the practicality.
Shang dynasty clothes
In ancient China, characters began to appear in the Yin and Shang Dynasties. At that time, most of the characters were hieroglyphs, even pictures. From Oracle Bone Inscriptions, we can see clothes, shoes, Huang Shang, belts, dresses and other words that reflect clothes. From the unearthed figures, we can see Yu Pei, Yuhuan, earrings, necklaces, combs, silk, linen and bronze ornaments, and distinguish exquisite ornaments from elegant clothes, but these are all owned by nobles. It shows that clothing and clothing system are being further improved.
The appearance of clothing shapes such as clothes, skirts, crowns, shoes, hats and socks shows that people's understanding of clothing is also increasing day by day, and gradually develops from simple practical function to decorative embellishment, thus making ancient clothing tend to be complete and unified.
garment of traditional Chinese style
In the Tang Dynasty, it was also very popular for women to wear "Khufu". "Khufu" is the costume of western people. The form of the belt is also deeply influenced by Khufu. Before this, people's waist ornaments were made of gold, silver, copper and iron. At this time, "water belt" with gold ornaments was popular, and the belt for tying things was short and small. This kind of belt was the most popular in the Tang Dynasty and lasted until the Northern Song Dynasty.
After the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the influence of Khufu gradually weakened, and the styles of women's clothes became wider and wider. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, this feature was more obvious. Generally speaking, women's sleeves are often more than four feet wide. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, aristocratic dresses were usually worn on important occasions. Wearing this kind of clothes, there are golden flowers in the hair, so it is also called "women's gift clothes".
Song dynasty clothes
The main trend in the history of the Song Dynasty is the popularization of civilians, and the costumes are also simple and simple, reflecting the trend of the times.
There are three kinds of women's dresses in the Song Dynasty: one is the "official dress" used by queens, imperial concubines and maids at all levels, and the other is the "dress" used by ordinary people for good or ill luck; A daily uniform.
Song clothes inherited Tang clothes, and women's clothes are still dominated by shirts, coats, backs, skirts, robes, coats and deep clothes. Most of them are straight-collared and double-breasted, without shoulder straps and buttons, and the collar is sewn on the outer edge of the neckline. The sleeves of these clothes are connected together. Some are limited by the width of cloth, so seams and welts are used to decorate the back or sleeves of clothes. Single coats have styles of short front and long back, and sleeveless vests. Unearthed clothes are wrapped or embroidered with decorative patterns at the collar, sleeves, lapels, waist and hem, and decorated with peony, camellia, plum blossom and lily by bronzing, embroidery and painting.
Yuan dynasty clothes
The Yuan Dynasty was an era of ethnic integration in China's history, and costumes also fully reflected this feature. Genghis Khan, the founding emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, founded the capital in 1206. After the destruction of Xixia and Jin, the ethnic composition was mainly Mongolian. In the Yuan Dynasty, the textile industry and handicraft industry were greatly damaged due to the sharp ethnic contradictions. The court dress system has long been extended to the Song Dynasty. It was not until Yuan Yingzong l32 1 that the ancient system was referred to and the system of "quality positive clothing" was formulated, which was called "monochrome clothing" or "quality positive clothing" by the Han people. This is a clothing system that inherits the Han nationality and has Mongolian characteristics.
"High-quality sun clothes" are widely used. Ministers can wear them at banquets in the palace, and musicians and guards can also wear them. The difference between the upper and lower layers of this kind of clothing is reflected in the difference in texture and thickness. The son of heaven has fifteen grades. The raw materials and colors used in each grade are completely unified, and the clothes and hats are consistent, and the overall effect is excellent. For example, if the clothes are cut into velvet, their hats must be warm hats; If the clothes are white leather, the hat must be a platinum warm hat. There are fifteen grades of summer clothes in Tian Zi, which are similar to winter clothes. There are nine grades in winter clothes and fourteen grades in summer clothes, which are also distinguished by texture and color.
Ming dynasty clothes
By the Ming dynasty, many new changes had taken place in clothing. The most prominent feature is that the front button replaces the knot that has existed for thousands of years. But buttons didn't start in the Ming Dynasty, and the form of nailing buttons can be seen from the waistline of knitting coats in the Yuan Dynasty. The use of buttons is also a change, reflecting the progress of the times. In addition, the prevalence of Neo-Confucianism also affected the clothing style to some extent.
Compared with the Tang suit, the Ming suit is obviously inverted in the proportion of dresses, from the short coat to the long hem, the coat is gradually lengthened and the length of the exposed skirt is shortened. The collar has also changed from a pair of lapels in the Song Dynasty to a round neck.
In the Ming Dynasty, blouses were narrow sleeves with three collars, three feet long and two or three inches exposed skirts. At that time, a new style was popular in Yangzhou: blouses were 2' 8 "long, sleeves were 1 2" wide, sleeves were inlaid with splendid flowers, and mink fox skin was inlaid in winter. The skirts in the early Ming Dynasty were light in color. Skirt pleats are very popular, with thin pleats and large pleats. Folding decoration is very particular. There is a striped skirt, each of which is made of satin of the same color. Each piece of colored satin is embroidered with flowers and birds, and the edge of the belt is inlaid with gold thread, which can become an independent strip. When several such colored stripes are spliced on the belt, it becomes a striped skirt, hence the name "phoenix tail skirt". Some even hand-pleated the whole piece of satin and named it "pleated skirt", and there is a 24-pleated one named "Jade skirt". In the Ming Dynasty, there was a special hairpin named "Bi Xia" because its shape was as beautiful as rosy clouds. This scorpion appeared in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and got its name in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In the Song Dynasty, it was included in the formal attire. It was widely used in the Ming Dynasty, and its shape was like a long colorful hanging belt. Each lower bar is 3 inches wide and 5 feet 7 inches long. Take it around your neck and hang it on your chest. Because there is a gold or jade pendant hanging at the lower end, it looks more noble.
Men's wear in Ming Dynasty is represented by square scarf and round neck, and the shirts worn by Confucian scholars are very similar to the costumes of Peking Opera literati on the stage today. It is characterized by wide sleeves, soap (black) edges, blue round neck and soft towel straps.
Paddy field dress is a common women's dress in Ming Dynasty. It is a kind of clothing made of various tapestries, which looks like a monk's cassock. Named after the color of the whole garment fabric interweaves like paddy fields. It has a special effect that other clothes do not have, and it is simple and unique, so it won the universal love of women in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is said that clothes in the Tang Dynasty were made in this way.
Qing dynasty clothes
The Qing Dynasty was a political institution dominated by Manchu rulers, and the customs and habits of Manchu banners influenced the Central Plains. The traditional dress system handed down from generation to generation for thousands of years was destroyed by the entry of the Eight Banners soldiers in Manchu Dynasty. It can be said that this change is another leap in China's traditional clothing system, and it is the third obvious mutation in history after "Khufu riding and shooting" and "opening a Tang suit".
For thousands of years, the long gown with wide robe and big sleeves is full crown, natural and unrestrained, rich and delicate, which is in sharp contrast with the full dress form with slender figure and short sleeves. Flag dress has replaced the complexity of ancient dresses because of its saving materials, simple production and convenient use, which is also the main reason why it is easily accepted by future generations.
Manchu flag dress, rectangular outline, saddle-shaped collar to cover cheeks, no waist up and down, no shirt exposed, two or three fake sleeves on the right side, horseshoe sleeves to cover hands, inlay ornaments, clothes and clothes, a vest or coat. Its shape is complete and rigorous, showing a closed box shape, so its image is solemn, lofty and unique, breaking through the elegance of tower-shaped clothing for thousands of years. Today, it also has a certain influence on modern clothing. Especially with the development of the times, cheongsam, with its slender and graceful curves, has formed the clothing representative of the Han nationality, showing the tenderness and connotation of oriental women, and has eternal value.