A woman with a long skirt and a high bun in Tang Dynasty —— Zhou Fang's Picture of the Flower Lady

Skirts: Most of the daily clothes of women in the Tang Dynasty were clothes, tops and skirts, and the styles and colors were unprecedented. Women's dresses in the early Tang Dynasty were close to those in the Sui Dynasty, mostly long skirts in small sleeve. Usually the skirt is tied outside, and the skirt is tied on the chest or even under the arm. Skirts are often spliced with two colors of silk to form a pleated effect. After the middle Tang Dynasty, the clothes of aristocratic women became more and more exquisite, luxurious and generous. After the prosperous Tang Dynasty, women's dresses were fashionable on their chests, and there were many skirts that could be dragged to the floor, and there were also many beautiful ones. Two-color twill is often used to make pleated effect. Gold and silver silk thread is pressed on the waist of the skirt as decoration, and double embroidery belts are hung on it. The colors of skirts are mostly red, purple, yellow and green, and red skirts are the most popular.

② Half-arm: "Half-arm", also known as half-sleeve, is a kind of short coat with no collar (or lapel) and double lapel (or pullover) developed from coat since Wei and Jin Dynasties. Usually the sleeves are elbow-long, the clothes are waist-long, and the front is tied with a belt. This style of clothes has been popular for a long time in the Tang Dynasty.

(3) Silk weaving: inherited from the Six Dynasties, with light gauze as the material, printed or painted with mud, gold and silver, which was short and wide at first, and then became long and narrow, decorated with the light and elegant state of silk.

④ Hu Mao, power points and curtain cloth hats: Hu Mao is the general name for hats worn by ethnic minorities in the western regions. At first, it was a man's headdress. During the Wu Zetian period, women wore Hu Zhuang and Hu Mao. In the early years of Kaiyuan, even if women rode out, they wore Hu Mao unabashedly. Electric fences and curtain caps are things that women cover their faces when they go out. The electric fence is in front and the curtain cap is behind. ⑤ Makeup: In the nearly 300 years of the Tang Dynasty, women's hair styles and flower arrangements were the most colorful periods. In the early stage, women's bun inherited the Sui Dynasty, and then gradually diversified. ⑥ During the period of Wu Zetian, Hu assembled and became the mainstream at that time. It reflects the enlightened society and the relative freedom of women in the Tang Dynasty. Tangchao men's wear

In the Tang dynasty, men's wear added new styles on the basis of continuing the traditional cross-neck and Chinese-style clothing.

One is a hoe and the other is a round neck and narrow sleeve robe.

In the Tang Dynasty, it was the first dress based on the towel of the Han and Wei Dynasties. After the Tang Dynasty, people added a fixed ornament to the hoe, called "towel". The shape of towels varies from time to time. Besides towels, many changes have taken place in the feet of steamed bread. By the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the original soft foot had become a hard foot with one left and one right.

The official's main clothing in Tang Dynasty was a round neck and narrow sleeve robe.

In addition, the application of horizontal bow under the robe was also a major feature of men's wear at that time.

Judging from many pictures handed down from ancient times, this kind of T-shirt is popular in informal occasions: it is not attached to the chest below the neck, so that the front layer of the robe naturally hangs loosely and forms a lapel. This is also close to Khufu's lapel, which really achieves a similar effect to Khufu's. In today's words, it is probably called looking foreign.

Lapel is not a tradition of Hanfu. The Tang Dynasty was an era of multi-cultures. At that time, women not only led the international fashion trend themselves, but also were good at drawing inspiration from the national costumes of the third world. The once popular lapel and double-breasted cuff half-arm is said to have probably originated from Qiuci, the hometown of western music.

However, the round neck robe is not a common dress for people in the field, nor is it a dress for major sacrifices and major political activities.

Half-arm, also known as half-sleeve, is a double-breasted jacket developed from Wei and Jin Dynasties. Its characteristics are that the sleeves are elbow-length and waist-length, and they are usually worn outside the shirt.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties in China, the half-arms were double-breasted, pullover, lapel or collarless, and the double-breasted half-arms were tied with a small belt as the chest. Popular in the court of Sui Dynasty, it was first recorded by court officials and women. Half-arms were more popular in the early Tang Dynasty. Not only can men and women wear it, but it has also entered the ranks of court uniforms and spread to the people.

The rise of the half arm is quite interesting. It originated very early. In the Three Kingdoms, Wei Mingdi wore a thin silk half-sleeve coat to appear before the minister, but was questioned by the minister. What is the reason for this strange dress? It can be seen that the style of short sleeves belongs to the non-mainstream fashion when it first appeared. But with the progress of the times, it became popular in the flourishing age of Sui and Tang Dynasties. The Tang Dynasty was an ancient youth in China and an era of dissolute imagination. At this time, the half-arm soared into the sky and became a common practice.

Of course, not all have been forgiven. For example, the prime minister of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty thought that the half-arm was a "frivolous suit", which was specially written in French and was not worn. Maybe there are fashionable men and women in his family who have been spanked for this. However, this is only part of the phenomenon. Another famous minister, Ma Zhou, went to the toilet and asked that no matter how ordinary people are, they can wear half an arm outside their light clothes, thinking that this dress is very appropriate. Being able to put forward different opinions on a dress shows that the imperial court and men at that time were still very confident and did not think that the so-called "obedience to the demon" would lead to national subjugation-that was an excuse that their ancestors and future generations loved to find.

Women's clothing in Tang Dynasty

According to the Tang system, women's clothing can be divided into four types, namely, royal clothing, public clothing, sacrificial clothing and regular clothing. The first three are the size dresses worn by empresses in court meetings, sacrificial ceremonies and other formal occasions, while the latter is daily clothes. Women's uniforms in Tang Dynasty consist of upper body, coat, lower body and skirt, with silk on the shoulders. The shirt is a single coat with wadding inside, which is only waist-short, and the skirt is long and numerous; There are also coats, half arms, shirts and so on. Wear it with shirts, skirts and skirts.

The basic dress of women's wear in Tang Dynasty is a three-piece suit: skirt, blouse and blouse. Fu dress in Tang Dynasty refers to the traditional Chinese dress in which women in Tang Dynasty wear short clothes or shirts, long skirts, silk and half-arms (short sleeves). Under the influence of foreign costumes, Tang Nv's dress retained its original shape, so it became the most exciting and moving accessory costume in the Tang Dynasty and even in the whole history of China. Land, usually only grows to the waist, very short, which is the characteristic of women's wear in Tang Dynasty. Shirts like this one grow to the hips or longer. Tang Nv's coats, shirts, etc. are the uniforms of all classes. Yuan Zhen's poem "Lotus Silk Shirt and Lotus Silk Skirt", Zhang You's poem "Where to Take Yuanyang Embroidery, Who Will Pay for Peacock Sweater", and Ouyang Jiong's poem "Tea Girl Leads Her". Judging from these poems, it is very common for women in the Tang Dynasty to wear clothes and shirts, and they like red, light red or light ochre, light green and other colors, and the appearance is even more beautiful with the gold and silver embroidery of "Luoshan embroidered leaves and Jinfeng embroidered geese". The neckline of a swallow often changes. The neckline types of a swallow shirt include round neck, square collar, straight collar, chicken heart collar and so on.

The characteristic of women's dress in Tang Dynasty is the unity of skirt, blouse and blouse. Among women, there is an image of topless and bare arms. On the east wall of Princess Yongtai's tomb, there is an image of a woman in the Tang Dynasty, with a high bun, shirtless, HongLing shoulders, a yellow short-sleeved blouse, a long green dress sweeping the floor, and a red belt hanging from her waist, which gives a more vivid understanding of "powder chest is half hidden and dark snow is suspected" and "wearing fine grass when sitting, that is, sweeping plum blossoms with a skirt". Dressing slowly and revealing a little is not everyone's job. In the Tang Dynasty, only people with status could wear open-chested shirts, Princess Yongtai could be semi-naked, and singers could be semi-naked to please the ruling class, while women in ordinary families were not allowed to be semi-naked. At that time, the semi-topless dress of the Tang Dynasty was somewhat similar to the evening dress of the modern west except that the shoulders and back were not allowed to be exposed.

In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, there was a kind of naked collar, that is, the neckline was very low, which was popular only among court concubines and kabuki actors in the early days, and later even rich girls were favored. Judging from the stone carvings at the tomb entrance in the Tang Dynasty and a large number of ceramic female figurines, bare collars became popular and probably spread all over Lebanon, so there were quite a few bare-collar female images in the artistic images at that time. Skirts, women in the Tang Dynasty all wore skirts. This was a form of petticoat that women attached great importance to at that time. Skirt fabrics are mostly silk fabrics, but there are many differences in materials, usually one more piece is better. The waist of the skirt can be raised, and part of it can cover the chest. The lower body only wears a tube top and a gauze shirt, so that the skin of the upper body is faintly exposed. For example, Zhou Fang's Picture of a Lady, Zhou Juan's poem and painting "A Dress with a Half-revealing Chest" all depict this kind of dress, which is the boldest among the ancient women's dresses in China, enough to imagine the degree of openness at that time. The material, color and style of skirts in the Tang Dynasty are much higher than the previous generation, which can be described as gorgeous and colorful. For example, there are many skirt styles involved in Tang poetry, such as "Fairy first wears a blue skirt", "Lotus leaf skirt with the same color", "Two-person hidden flower skirt", "Bamboo leaf skirt", "Blue gauze skirt" and "New neon moonlit skirt".

The "Tang suit" of this dress is the inheritance, development and perfection of the previous generation of clothing. From the overall effect, the coat is short, the skirt is long, and it looks slim and slender.

Clothing of the Tang Dynasty 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, it was popular to wear "water belts" with gold ornaments and short belts for tying things. 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"

Skirts-basic overview

Skirt dress is a very basic style of Han women's dress, that is, women wear short skirts and long skirts (commonly known as tops and skirts). Under the influence of the prosperous times, Tang Nv's Yan costume has been fully developed, with half arm and silk, so Yan costume has become the most exciting supporting costume in the Tang Dynasty and even in the whole history of China costume.

① strict:

That is, the coat usually only grows to the waist, which is very short, and the waist is usually tied under the skirt line. You can add a set of "half arm", "vest" or even a longer "raccoon" outside.

Tang Nv's coats, such as overcoats and overcoats, are the uniforms of all classes. Yuan Zhen's poem "Lotus Silk Shirt and Lotus Silk Skirt", Zhang You's poem "Where to Take Yuanyang Embroidery, Who Will Pay for Peacock Sweater", and Ouyang Jiong's poem "Tea Girl Leads Her". Judging from these poems, it is very common for women in the Tang Dynasty to wear clothes and shirts, and they like red, light red or light ochre, light green and other colors, and the appearance is even more beautiful with the gold and silver embroidery of "Luoshan embroidered leaves and Jinfeng embroidered geese".

The neckline is divided into "cross collar" and "double lapel". The neckline of the cross lapel is Y-shaped, with the right lapel inside, the left lapel outside and the left lapel tightened at the right waist. On the other hand, double-breasted clothes are symmetrical left and right, tucked in the middle of the waist, and collar underwear or terminalia chebula (that is, tube top) is exposed in the middle gap. The half-arm neckline and lapel of the coat are mostly double-breasted

The cuffs of shovel are divided into "narrow sleeves" and "wide sleeves". Most of the lower-class women in the folk have narrow sleeves, which is no different from modern times; The upper class aristocrats have convenient narrow sleeves and gorgeous and elegant wide sleeves.

(2) skirt:

Women wear skirts. Skirt fabrics are mostly silk fabrics, but there are many differences in materials, usually one more piece is better. The material, color and style of skirts in the Tang Dynasty are much higher than the previous generation, which can be described as gorgeous and colorful. For example, there are many skirt styles involved in Tang poetry, such as "Fairy first wears a blue skirt", "Lotus leaf skirt with the same color", "Two-person hidden flower skirt", "Bamboo leaf skirt", "Blue gauze skirt" and "New neon moonlit skirt". The skirts in the Tang Dynasty are colorful and can be compared with people, mostly crimson, apricot, crimson, moon green and turquoise. Among them, pomegranate color has the longest popularity. Li Baiyou "deceives willow leaves with eyebrows and envies pomegranate flowers with skirts." Wan Chu has "Mei Dai wins the color of day lily, and the red skirt envies pomegranate flowers." Its popularity can be seen from the "Yanjing May Song", "Pomegranate flowers are burned all over the street, and the branches are all falling, and thousands of households can't buy them, leaving their daughters in red skirts." The biggest feature of pomegranate skirt is its high skirt and short coat, which is in sharp contrast with the width and length of the two. "Luoshan leaves are heavily embroidered, and Jinfeng Yinyan has its own traces." Mei Dai wins the color of day lily, and the red skirt envies pomegranate flowers.

The skirts in the Tang Dynasty are colorful, with red, purple, yellow and green competing for each other, especially the red skirt. The popularity of red skirts in the streets is not the patent of modern people. As early as the prosperous Tang Dynasty, dance skirts were dyed red by pomegranate flowers everywhere.

Perhaps influenced by the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, Yang Guifei likes the yellow skirt best, which is a symbol of status.

The style of this coat and skirt is the inheritance, development and perfection of the previous generation of clothing. From the overall effect, the coat is short, the skirt is long, and it looks slim and slender.

Attachment-Half Arm

Half arm:

Half-arms were quite popular in the early Tang Dynasty, which was also related to the narrow clothing in the early Tang Dynasty. On the mural of Princess Yongtai's tomb in Tang Dynasty, a maid-in-waiting of honor guard wore an arm and a half on her dress.

Decorative beam-shoes and hats decoration

In the Tang Dynasty, women wore shoes, boots and shoes. Shoes are made of fabrics such as nylon, hemp, silk and twill. And straw sandals made of cattail. Embroidery is often added to shoes, which have various head shapes, such as round head, high head, cloud shape, flower shape, etc. For example, as the Tang poetry says, "Cloudy heads step on temple shoes", "golden wrinkles weigh heavily on platform shoes" and "cluster shoes are red and thin". Boots are mostly made of brocade, which is successfully woven and beautifully decorated. Used barefoot in summer, it is deeply loved by folk women. For example, Li Bai's poem says, "My feet are like frost, and I don't need crow's head socks".

Women in the Tang Dynasty pursued beauty and accessories, and their makeup and accessories were rich in content, including hairstyles, headdresses, faces and accessories. Women's hair styles are mainly comb-bun, or tied on the top of the head or behind the head, with very rich shapes. There are dozens of names, such as Banzhuan bun, Yunji bun, Wandering bun, Jing Gu bun, Japanese pendant bun, Double Ring Wang Xian bun, Uman bun, Uighur bun, etc. The bun in the early Tang Dynasty was simple and flat. After the prosperous Tang Dynasty, high bun became popular, with various styles. Hair accessories include hair clips, hair sticks, walking, victory, uranium, flowers and so on. Most of them are made of jade, gold, silver, tortoiseshell and other materials, with exquisite craftsmanship. Hairpins are often used in pairs. They are inserted horizontally, obliquely or backward. Walking and shaking is one of the best products. The hair stick head is made into a bird-beak-shaped bead string, which swings with the walk and doubles the charm. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, women also popularized comb insertion and decorated their hair with delicate and beautiful flowers.

There are many methods of facial makeup, such as painting aluminum powder, rouge, black eyebrows, applique cymbals, face cymbals, oblique red, lip grease and so on. Make-up people pick two or three, and make full use of them. Lead powder is white in color and delicate in texture. It is "white and bright" when applied to face, neck and chest. Rouge is a paste pigment made from the extracted red and blue flower juice, pig fat and bovine bone marrow. Due to the preference of emperors and literati, women's eyebrows are varied. Xuanzong once ordered painters to draw ten eyebrow paintings in Sichuan, including Yuanyang eyebrow, mountain eyebrow and inverted eyebrow. Eyebrows are mainly wide eyebrows, which were generally drawn longer in the early Tang Dynasty, and short eyebrows became popular after the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Flower bud is a kind of forehead decoration, which is cut into various flower shapes with gold foil, black paper, mica, fish cheekbones and other materials, especially plum blossom, which is the most common and attached to the brow. Noodles are painted with rouge on the dimples of cheeks, or with gold foil like flowers. Oblique red is a fashion for women in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, with two red crescent patterns painted on cheeks and temples. Neat shapes are like strings and the moon, and complicated ones look like scars.

Necklaces, collars and garlands are decorated with necklaces, armbands and bracelets, while Yu Pei and sachets are decorated with waist ornaments. The garland was originally a decoration between the necks of Buddha statues, which was introduced to China from India with Buddhism and was loved by maids and maidens in the Tang Dynasty. Its upper part is a semi-circular metal collar, and the lower part is a necklace made of jade. Some still hang a big lock-shaped ornament on their chests, which is luxurious and glittering as a whole. Armband, also known as jump, is an ornament made of metal wire wound in many turns, shaped like a spring, or combined with several bracelets. It is worn on the arm and is deeply loved by ladies and gentlemen. The sachets are mostly made of gold and silver, hollowed out, and the upper and lower hemispheres are locked by the mouths of children and mothers. There are two concentric rings inside, and there is a small incense burner in the ring. The concentric ring and the small gold burner are connected by symmetrical movable shafts. No matter how it is rotated, the ashes in the incense burner will not overflow.

Women's hair mainly wears all kinds of hats and combs. Wearing a cap, the first row went on stage, the second row of curtain caps, and then Hu Mao. In the early Tang Dynasty, women had the custom of "covering their faces". When going out, women wear power, which is a big square towel. Generally, it is made of thin and transparent gauze, which covers the body and the whole body. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, with the opening of social atmosphere, he changed to wear a "skirt-to-neck" curtain hat. In the prosperous new century, women simply took off their hats and went out in a bun, or followed the example of men and conference semifinals, wrapped in hoes and dressed in colorful Hu Mao. Hu Mao originated from the Western Regions and Tubo, and its shape is novel and changeable. Some have rolled eaves with empty tops, some are equipped with upturned hat ears, and some are decorated with fur along the brim. In addition, if you go out for a long trip, you should also wear a hood to avoid dust.

A waist/chest-length skirt;

In the Tang Dynasty, there was a popular style among ladies: high waist skirt.

It ties the skirt very high above the waist line, such as under the chest, or even above the chest line. To be precise, it should be called a high-cut skirt. This style can achieve different elegant effects regardless of fat or thin, especially in the popular fat and thin circles.

Chest-length skirts are generally divided into two types, namely "double-breasted" chest-length skirts and "cross-collared" chest-length skirts. Generally speaking, the use of chest-length skirts is wider.

Chest-length skirts are very popular among ladies in the Tang Dynasty, and they are found in many ancient paintings and unearthed cultural relics. Unfortunately, due to people's forgetfulness of history, many people think that women wearing chest-length skirts are Hanbok, which is really sad.

Special-Women's Short Sleeve Shirt:

Speaking of the representative of women's clothing in Tang Dynasty, "women's big sleeve shirt" can be described as one of them. The word "big sleeve shirt" originally refers to the style of big sleeve with coat removed. For example, men in Wei and Jin dynasties generally wore long sleeve shirts, which were charming and moving. Until the Southern Dynasties, this kind of shirt was still loved by men from all walks of life and became a fashion. But what we are talking about here is the super-wide sleeve dress of women in the Tang Dynasty. It is wider than the usual wide-sleeved coat, and it is elegant to wear or tie outside the ordinary medium coat. It fully embodies the prosperous, magnificent and atmospheric cultural characteristics of the Tang Dynasty, and presents a gorgeous and open aesthetic fashion at that time. Now many people imagine that the "super-wide and super-large fairy skirt" basically comes from this kind of big sleeve shirt.

Interestingly, there is a saying that the rise of this kind of take off your coat is related to paying attention to narrow Hu clothing. The national strength of the Tang Dynasty was at its peak, and foreign exchanges were prosperous. At this time, Khufu also entered the Central Plains. However, if Khufu is allowed to flourish, he is in danger of being soaked in culture and losing himself. Although the national strength of the Tang Dynasty was in full swing and it was quite confident in its cultural influence, some people were worried about some negative effects brought by imitating Hu Feng. So on Dinghai Day in May of the second year of Daiwa, Tang Wenzong sent eunuchs to announce an imperial edict to the princesses: In the future, women's combs should not be widely inserted in Japan, and they should not wear short and narrow clothes.

It seems that Tang Wenzong can't stand the trend that Hu Feng spreads all over the world. He thinks that the great China should have Hanfu with China characteristics. How can it blindly pursue the costumes of Hu people? Moreover, short and narrow clothes have no distinction between men and women, which makes many people unhappy. Therefore, he ordered the princesses to wear clothes that can represent China people's tolerance on the day of their audience, so as to set an example in the world. After Wenzong, more generous women's styles began to rise. The ladies felt the beautiful atmosphere of taking off their coats and began to use many good fabrics on their sleeves and skirts. Their length and width increased by about 1 times compared with the early Tang Dynasty. First of all, coats and overcoats pursue generosity and splendor, and clothing is developing in a looser direction. Some aristocratic women wear gorgeous long skirts, tie them on their chests with ribbons, and support them on the ground with wide hems. Instead of wearing thick underwear, they wear thin tulle dresses, which are full of romantic amorous feelings and break the traditional closure with the unique charm of women.

When it comes to women's Tang Feng's big sleeve shirt, we can't help but mention the picture of Zanhua ladies, in which the big sleeve shirt is quite open and exaggerated: the beautiful woman wears a long skirt, revealing her shoulders, and her upper body is covered with a big sleeve gauze shirt, which lightly covers her breasts, resulting in the upper body skin looming. Because the painter's technique is realistic, he not only faithfully depicts the delicate and transparent materials of the Tang Dynasty, but also vividly depicts the soft shoulders and arms of women. Zhou Lian's poems and paintings, such as "I am used to wearing a half-naked shirt", describe this kind of clothing.

The Picture of Hairpin and Phoenix was painted on silk by Zhou Fang, a painter in the Tang Dynasty, with a simple pen. Charm is quaint. Now in the Liaoning Provincial Museum, it describes the scene of aristocratic women enjoying flowers and visiting the garden at the turn of spring and summer, and the picture depicts the leisure life of the ladies. They play luxuriously in the yard, taking leisurely actions, picking flowers, shooting butterflies, teasing dogs, watching cranes, walking slowly, sitting around doing nothing, and the maids follow the fans. Its coloring skills, distinct layers, dizzy face and clothes decoration are all extremely ingenious. The lightness and softness of the tulle and the moist luster of the skin are vividly painted, which shows that the author has a high degree of artistic skills and generalization ability.

Maid-in-waiting's gauze skirt and flower steamed stuffed bun were the costumes at that time. Big peonies and jasmine flowers are popular in the tall bun, which looks elegant and beautiful against the background of black hair. This painting depicts aristocratic women picking flowers and catching butterflies in the court. The costumes of the characters in the picture are different from other "clever" portraits, such as wearing extra-large flowers and transparent gauze clothes, which are rare and novel costumes.

Because even in modern times, the openness of the costumes in the picture of a lady with flowers is very bold, far exceeding that of medieval western Europe, which was wrapped in layers at the same time, resulting in its social authenticity has been controversial. Judging from a large number of pottery figurines unearthed in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the costumes of the ladies in the paintings reflected the most open female fashion culture at that time. According to documents, this kind of dress spread to the Five Dynasties in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.

Custom-women wear men's clothes

It is rare for women to wear men's clothes in the Tang Dynasty in the long feudal society of China. The Book of Rites once stipulated that "men and women can't wear clothes." Although it is impossible to be so absolute in fact, it is often considered immoral for women to wear men's clothes. Before the Tang Dynasty, although there was a slight difference between men and women in clothing styles during the Han and Wei Dynasties, it did not belong to women wearing men's clothing. Only in the Tang Dynasty, when the atmosphere was very relaxed, could women wear men's clothes. Even so, part of the reason is due to the influence of nomadic people. At that time, most of the foreign costumes that influenced the Central Plains were the costumes of direct ethnic groups. Those rugged body frames, heroic costumes and vigorous war horses have had a penetrating influence on Tang Nv's dress consciousness, and at the same time created an atmosphere suitable for women to wear men's clothes. According to the Records of the Old Tang Dynasty, "I may have my husband's clothes, boots and shirts, but I always respect the inside and the outside", which has clearly recorded the scene of women wearing men's clothes. "New Tang Book Five Elements" records that "Emperor Gaozong tasted the banquet, Princess Taiping wore a purple shirt and jade belt, and the soap was folded with a towel, holding seven objects and singing and dancing in front of the emperor.

According to the Records of the Old Tang Dynasty, "I may have my husband's clothes, boots and shirts, but I always respect the inside and the outside", which has clearly recorded the scene of women wearing men's clothes. "New Tang Book Five Elements" records that "Emperor Gaozong tasted the banquet, Princess Taiping wore a purple shirt and jade belt, and the soap was folded with a towel, holding seven objects and singing and dancing in front of the emperor. The emperor and queen smiled and said,' Women can't be military officers. "Why are you dressed like this?" "I can see that the emperor is also tolerant and appreciative, and did not scold his daughter for not keeping etiquette. Although Princess Taiping's behavior was a bit coquettish this time, it also showed that women had been wearing men's clothes in the early Tang Dynasty.

Especially in the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years of the Tang Dynasty, the fashion of women wearing men's clothes was popular. "China's Notes on Ancient and Modern Times" records that "by the middle of Tianbao, the scholar's wife wore her husband's boots, shirt and whip cap, which were integrated inside and outside." "New Tang Book Li Shichuan" Note: "I heard that there are golden birds in the forbidden area, and Xuanzong is fortunate in hot springs and Yang Guifei's clothes." It can be seen that it was quite common for women to imitate men's wear at that time.

Customs-openness and restraint

On the east wall of Princess Yongtai's tomb, there is an image of a woman in the Tang Dynasty, with a high bun, shirtless, HongLing shoulders, a yellow short-sleeved blouse, a long green dress sweeping the floor, and a red belt hanging from her waist, which gives a more vivid understanding of "powder chest is half hidden and dark snow is suspected" and "wearing fine grass when sitting, that is, sweeping plum blossoms with a skirt".

Not everyone is like this. In fact, women in the Tang Dynasty were still under the restriction of feudal ethics, and only those with special status wore open-chested shirts. In ancient paintings, people can be half naked, which is also kept in the back room; Singers are half naked, but they please the ruling class with their bodies. Besides, ordinary women are not half naked. At that time, the semi-topless dress of the Tang Dynasty was somewhat similar to the evening dress of the modern west except that the shoulders and back were not allowed to be exposed.

The "half-exposed" paintings and the case of "women wearing men's clothes" seem to reflect the openness of society at that time. So many people think that women in the Tang Dynasty are open and free. But this is actually only a one-sided understanding. In fact, after Wu Zetian, the society in the Tang Dynasty became more and more disgusted with women's boasting. "Keeping one's duty and keeping a woman's morality" was the usual requirement of aristocratic families for female members. Looking at the rules and regulations of ancient feudal culture on women, many dogmatic books are from the Tang Dynasty.

Although women's pursuit of social status appeared in the Tang Dynasty, it was only a flash in the pan in the long history. The only way to "go out" is to indulge the body to please the power class dominated by men, and another call for social status rights is quickly lost in the traditional custom that men are superior to women.

Gongting clothing