SCA
Society for Creative Anachronisms. Lauren has infected me with her enthusiasm. Since she's working on a Heian period persona, I thought I'd work with the same time period, specifically Tang Dynasty (or Five Dynasties, Ten Kingdoms) China.
30-40 hours of web research later, I've come to the conclusion that the English language forums suck, and I only know enough Chinese to insert search terms and just barely comb through the results. I've come to some conclusions about the construction of Tang-era garments (specifically, female) from the combination of extant artwork, vague descriptions of the evolution of hanfu, and some semi-accurate historical drama costuming.
Also, searching in Chinese just now made me feel like I was back in China, spending far too much time in my dorm room on the internet, and understanding barely enough of the miles of simplified text around me to get by. And its quiet. And most likely a little bit dusty, accounting for the sensory association I'm getting.
Dammit, I miss China all over again.
copy/paste from a running notepad document, some bits copied from forums
silk, wool, etc
song: jacquard, kesi
In the Tang Dynasty, there were five or six methods for creating
silk design on clothes. The first was colored brocade. Colorful
brocade was used to weave decorative patterns. The most popular
one was called ChengDu Ke brocade in small patterns. It was
mostly used for the border of the collar or for decorating the
half-sleeve blouses. The second was special imperial brocade.
There were different patterns such as a pair of birds, goats, flying
phoenixes, and scales. They were brightly colored and were very
pretty. The third style was embroidery: five color embroidery or
gold thread embroidery. The fourth was gold or silver powder
painting. Gold and silver powder was used for decorating the
materials of clothes. The fifth was printing and dying. There were
two kinds: multi-colored chromatic dying and single color dying.
Right, the book is in my hands so here are the relevant
information.
Colour was an important factor in Tang clothing because it was a
mark of status and distinction. The Bureau of Weaving and Dyeing
recognised ten hues namely p purple, blue, red, yellow, black and
white. vegetable dyes were used to produce the colours while
bleaches produced white.
In 630 AD Emperor Taizong (Li Shimin) issued a decree that fixed
the order of hues.
Mandarins
3rd grade & above : purple
4th and 5th grade : red
6th and 7th grade : green
8th and 9th grade : blue
Their wives would follow suit
Exceptional men were conferred purples robes like priest and
monks.
White was the prescribed colour of commoners. The fabric had to
be white hemp cloth. The commoners were unhappy so took to
wearing coloured underclothes. Since the topmost robes were
shorter than the underrobes or undergarments the coloured
showed through. White was also worn by scholars who were
candidates for civil service examinations. By the Tang it was
already the colour of mourning clothes.
Some interesting information:
In the Sui, butchers and merchants were required to wear black. It
is not clear if this law carried over to the Tang
Stamping dye onto cloth (among other matters of adding
dyes/colours) reached its maturity in Tang when dyers began
imprinting clothes with multi-coloured designs. This technology
was an important precursor to the invention of printing in the
Tang.
Heian 794-1185/1192
Tang 618-907 (and second zhou w/ empress wu, 690-705)
5/10 907-960
Song 960-1279
as far as i can tell:
Tang dynasty: configurations
1. skirt, tied under arms; waist tie; long-sleeve overrobe
2. skirt, tied under arms; long-sleeve overrobe; waist tie
3. skirt, tied under arms; long-sleeve overrobe; short-sleeve overrobe; waist tie
4. skirt, tied under arms; skirt, tied at waist; etc.
5. wrap robe; waist skirt; wrap robe; waist tie
6. narrow robe; skirt, tied under arms;
贞观之治 (2006)
夜宴
dress sometimes pleated to look fuller, see saved pic
sheer big sleeve type outfit: 大袖衫
otherwise (in tang, narrow sleeve plus high skirt) [gaoyao]ruqun
BASED ON EXTANT DESIGNS
over robe (daxiushan) often tied with little ties at knee level
guesswork? the robe may be tied closed at bust level, accounting for the skirt OVER the robe, with the robe not visibly crossed over itself
Edit: Another three hours of searching on baidu and google images, finally found this: http://qianruo.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!7F14975258510A34!193/
Helps a bit!
30-40 hours of web research later, I've come to the conclusion that the English language forums suck, and I only know enough Chinese to insert search terms and just barely comb through the results. I've come to some conclusions about the construction of Tang-era garments (specifically, female) from the combination of extant artwork, vague descriptions of the evolution of hanfu, and some semi-accurate historical drama costuming.
Also, searching in Chinese just now made me feel like I was back in China, spending far too much time in my dorm room on the internet, and understanding barely enough of the miles of simplified text around me to get by. And its quiet. And most likely a little bit dusty, accounting for the sensory association I'm getting.
Dammit, I miss China all over again.
copy/paste from a running notepad document, some bits copied from forums
silk, wool, etc
song: jacquard, kesi
In the Tang Dynasty, there were five or six methods for creating
silk design on clothes. The first was colored brocade. Colorful
brocade was used to weave decorative patterns. The most popular
one was called ChengDu Ke brocade in small patterns. It was
mostly used for the border of the collar or for decorating the
half-sleeve blouses. The second was special imperial brocade.
There were different patterns such as a pair of birds, goats, flying
phoenixes, and scales. They were brightly colored and were very
pretty. The third style was embroidery: five color embroidery or
gold thread embroidery. The fourth was gold or silver powder
painting. Gold and silver powder was used for decorating the
materials of clothes. The fifth was printing and dying. There were
two kinds: multi-colored chromatic dying and single color dying.
Right, the book is in my hands so here are the relevant
information.
Colour was an important factor in Tang clothing because it was a
mark of status and distinction. The Bureau of Weaving and Dyeing
recognised ten hues namely p purple, blue, red, yellow, black and
white. vegetable dyes were used to produce the colours while
bleaches produced white.
In 630 AD Emperor Taizong (Li Shimin) issued a decree that fixed
the order of hues.
Mandarins
3rd grade & above : purple
4th and 5th grade : red
6th and 7th grade : green
8th and 9th grade : blue
Their wives would follow suit
Exceptional men were conferred purples robes like priest and
monks.
White was the prescribed colour of commoners. The fabric had to
be white hemp cloth. The commoners were unhappy so took to
wearing coloured underclothes. Since the topmost robes were
shorter than the underrobes or undergarments the coloured
showed through. White was also worn by scholars who were
candidates for civil service examinations. By the Tang it was
already the colour of mourning clothes.
Some interesting information:
In the Sui, butchers and merchants were required to wear black. It
is not clear if this law carried over to the Tang
Stamping dye onto cloth (among other matters of adding
dyes/colours) reached its maturity in Tang when dyers began
imprinting clothes with multi-coloured designs. This technology
was an important precursor to the invention of printing in the
Tang.
Heian 794-1185/1192
Tang 618-907 (and second zhou w/ empress wu, 690-705)
5/10 907-960
Song 960-1279
as far as i can tell:
Tang dynasty: configurations
1. skirt, tied under arms; waist tie; long-sleeve overrobe
2. skirt, tied under arms; long-sleeve overrobe; waist tie
3. skirt, tied under arms; long-sleeve overrobe; short-sleeve overrobe; waist tie
4. skirt, tied under arms; skirt, tied at waist; etc.
5. wrap robe; waist skirt; wrap robe; waist tie
6. narrow robe; skirt, tied under arms;
贞观之治 (2006)
夜宴
dress sometimes pleated to look fuller, see saved pic
sheer big sleeve type outfit: 大袖衫
otherwise (in tang, narrow sleeve plus high skirt) [gaoyao]ruqun
BASED ON EXTANT DESIGNS
over robe (daxiushan) often tied with little ties at knee level
guesswork? the robe may be tied closed at bust level, accounting for the skirt OVER the robe, with the robe not visibly crossed over itself
Edit: Another three hours of searching on baidu and google images, finally found this: http://qianruo.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!7F14975258510A34!193/
Helps a bit!