After the Tang, China passed through the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE), during which the practice of foot binding increased among Han women. Next, Kublai Khan, the grandson of the famous Mongolian leader Genghis Khan, overtook China and formed the Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368 CE). This brought “barbarian” influence to court including helmet-like caps, close-fitting riding jackets, trousers and boots appropriate to horsemen.
The pendulum swung back to ethnic Chinese rule with the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 CE). The Ming reinforced and extended the Great Wall on China’s northern border to protect China against raids from the nomadic groups of the Eurasian steppes. Wishing to rid the court of the “barbarian” influence of the Yuan, the Ming reinstated Han culture including the loose robes made from lengths of patterned silk cloth. They expressed a distaste for wool because of its association with the felt-makers of the steppes who herded animals, unlike the sedentary people like themselves who lived in houses on the plains and practised agriculture. Hairstyles became very elaborate, necessitating a device to preserve the coiffures for a period of time; hence, the “pillows” (headrests) observed by John were already in wide use by the early Ming period.
The concept of applying fashion to Ming dress has been largely overlooked. Dorothy Ko, a professor of Chinese history, is one who has questioned the “only-Europe-has-fashion” discourse after finding many examples of the rapidity of changes in Chinese dress history. She cited comments by a resident of sixteenth-century Nanjing who noted that width and length of sleeves, height of collar, and hair ornaments changed so quickly that outfits just a few years old were so outdated that “everyone had to cover his mouth” (Ko 1997: 8). Antonia Finnane, citing recent work in Chinese by Wu Renshu, points to three manifestations of fashion during the Ming: fascination with the exotic, a return to styles of antiquity, and pursuit of novelty (2008: 45–47). The Ming experimented with new styles for men such as the Korean horsehair skirts introduced through trade, and various hat styles which served as “a convenient site of fashion experiment” (Finnane 2008: 47). The thirst for novelty even extended to adoption of “barbarian” tunics and hats as well as the flimsy gauze fabrics worn by prostitutes. Observers referred to this as shishizhuang. As noted by Tsui, this word means fashion.
In 1644, Manchu invaders from the north overthrew the Ming. Manchu rulers decreed that all men must adopt Manchu styles. This meant men of Han ethnicity had to shave the front part of their heads and braid the remaining hair in a long queue down the back. Men in government service had to wear Manchu styles (e.g., long robes with surcoats, jackets, or vests). Women, however, were to retain the dress of their native culture, either Han or Manchu, possibly because Han and Manchu were not allowed to intermarry. Han women wore loose calf-length robes over pleated skirts or trousers, and they displayed their “lotus” feet in tiny embroidered silk shoes. Manchu women wore long gowns with short outer jackets or vests, and they did not bind their feet. Differences could be noted in the sleeve and the front closure. The jackets of ethnic Han women had wide sleeves and center front openings while the gowns of the Manchu had sleeves with an elongated horseshoe shaped cuff and a side closure inherited from their nomadic ancestors. Another noticeable difference was hairstyles. While women of both cultures lavished attention on their hair, the Manchu developed elaborate coiffures that allowed for fashionable touches. The hair was wrapped around a horizontal device, like a fillet, allowing the tresses to extend to the back and sides of the head. This structure afforded sites to attach jewels, tassels, feather ornaments, even fresh flowers. Han women, meanwhile, pulled their hair back into buns.
The women in Figure 7.5 illustrate several of these features. The scene is a courtyard with a seated Han Chinese woman facing two Manchu women. The Han, whose “golden lily” bound feet are revealed, wears a loose-sleeved robe over gathered trousers. The Manchu women, positioned to show the front and back of their complicated hairstyles, wear coats and overvests with their long gowns. Yet the sleeves of their robes are wide and the coats and vests have center front closures, revealing the blurring of ethnic identity that was taking place in the late Qing period.
The Manchu decrees of 1644 instituted one of the most regulated dress systems in sartorial history with its system of badges and color symbolism to signify the rank of government officials. Yet the Chinese followed their fashion impulses in other ways, specifically through cosmetics, hairstyles, embellishments, and trims. Finnane (2008) tells of the rise of the salt merchants in the city of Yangzhou during the nineteenth century who displayed their wealth by wearing fur coats and carrying pocket watches. Yangzhou’s courtesans and prostitutes introduced new styles emulated by respectable ladies. Likewise, the silk-producing city of Suzhou inspired trends in embroidered accessories, patterned ribbons, scented purses, and appliqués to trim collars and sleeves. It was not just the elite who pursued these trends, but commoners too (Silberstein 2016).
The rise of consumerism inspired interest in fashion. As China opened up to trade, foreign goods appeared in the market. New and different fabrics received approval, even European wools and Mongolian furs, which had once been anathema to ethnic Chinese. A craze for pocket watches and clocks commenced. One Westerner, upon entering empress dowager Cixi’s palace to paint her portrait, counted “eighty-five clocks ticking and chiming” in the hall (Chang 2103: 318).
Figure 7.5 “Manchu Ladies Peking,” 1868–72. Photograph by John Thomson. Wellcome Library, London. Licensed by Creative Commons. License available online: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The seated woman, who is of Han ethnicity, shows her bound feet shod in embroidered silk shoes. The two standing ladies illustrate Manchu hairdressing. Thomson wrote, “I confess myself unable to explain the mysterious mode in which the tresses have been twisted, but careful study of the illustrations will, I doubt not, reward any lady who may desire to dress her hair ‘à la Manchu.’”
The photograph in Figure 7.6 shows a commoner in a velvet snood. Velvet had only recently become available in the Chinese market. In fact, affordable velvet was new in Western markets too as this soft pile textile was one of the last fabrics to be produced mechanically (Redaelli 1994). When John Thomson photographed her in Shanghai, black velvet snoods were the rage, perceived as foreign, modern, and superior.
As the Qing dynasty approached its conclusion, empress dowager Cixi lifted the ban on Han-Manchu marriage and forbade foot binding for all women (Chang 2013: 371). Soon thereafter, the Nationalist Revolution brought China into the modern era. China’s post-1911 dress history is a fascinating story of fashion and anti-fashion with its modern body-hugging qi-pao dress for women, gender-neutral Mao suit, and post-Cultural Revolution entry into the global fashion system.
Figure 7.6 “Amoy Woman,” 1869, Shanghai. Photograph by John Thomson. Wellcome Library, London. Licensed by Creative Commons. License available online: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Black velvet snoods became fashionable in China shortly after machine-woven velvet fabric appeared in the marketplace.
Korean Hanbok reconsidered
Korean traditional dress demonstrates elements of a fashion system despite its recognition by scholars as “essentially unchanged” since the first century BCE (Lee 2010: 315). Korean traditional dress is termed hanbok, which translates as “Korean clothing.” The basic garments consist of pants (baji) and jacket (jeogori) for men, and skirt (chima) and jacket (jeogori) for women. Women’s dress and appearance was especially subject to changes in taste.
Korea is located on a peninsula separated from China, Russia, and Japan by rivers and/or seas. These cultures influenced Korea over the course of its history. The basic garments listed above are believed to have been introduced from the steppe nomadic cultures of northern Asia (Lee 2010). China had kept sericulture a secret for millennia, but finally knowledge of silk production reached Korea by 200 BCE, quickly becoming the fiber of choice for court wear.
During the United Silla period (668–935 CE), Korean culture was
influenced by China’s Tang dynasty. The court adopted Chinese dress, including love of elaborate ornamentation and decorative hairpieces (Magliaro 1988). Women braided their hair and decorated it with natural pearls. During the Goryeo dynasty, which lasted until 1392, crane and dragon motifs became popular along with contrasting bands on the edges of jackets. While the same basic garment forms continued to be used, it was the cut, trims, and decoration that changed, just as in China. In 1231, a Mongol princess married into the Korean monarchy, which introduced Mongol styles to court. Jacket sleeves, which formerly had been wide thanks to Tang influence, changed to the narrow sleeves preferred by the Mongols. But not all Mongol fashions were adopted: a male hairstyle that was cut short in front, characteristic of nomadic cultures, was rejected in favor of long hair knotted on the top of the head, a sartorial trait representative of sedentary cultures. This act of resistance illustrates the selective adaptation of foreign styles in fashion systems.
When the long-lasting Joseon dynasty (1392–1910 CE) was established, the monarchy looked to Ming China for cultural inspiration. Ming styles were worn by the upper classes and at court, but with a twis t to make them distinctively Korean. This is when the women’s hanbok style features formed, which have continued into the twenty-first century. The woman’s jeogori had been a hip-length jacket that tied around the waist in the sixteenth century. From the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, it shortened considerably, moving up from the hips, and developed distinctive contrasting borders at the collar and cuffs, patches under the armpits, and ties at the breast. The skirt was made from rectangular fabric panels gathered or pleated to an elevated waistband; the waistband extended into ties that were artfully arranged in the front. The skirt, held up by shoulder straps, was worn over petticoats, and consequently was very full. Elaborate hairstyles completed women’s dress.
During the Joseon period, state-sponsored workshops produced new and interesting fabrics for use by high-ranking officials at court. Korean dress scholar Kyung Ja Lee wrote that “accumulation of wealth produced extravagant trends in dress among the upper classes, which the lower classes tended to imitate” (Lee 2010: 315). By the eighteenth century, the jeogori had become very short, which showed the waistband of the chima. This was a style first seen on female entertainers at court; it soon became the fashion for women of all ranks.
The woman depicted in Figure 7.7 was not of high rank, but she had a talent for dancing, singing, and playing traditional Korean musical instruments. In the picture, she is wearing a full outer skirt (chima) and an underskirt. The wide waistband of the underskirt shows above the tie at the waist. The jeogori, described as organza, had become so short that it barely covered the breasts. Red ribbons, intended to secure the undergarment, hang from under her arm. The ties at the elevated waistline cover the mid-section in keeping with Confucian ideals of modesty. At this time, elaborate wigs for women signified wealth and power. The limited supply of human hair caused prices to spiral upwards as demand increased (Lee 2010: 317). The figure here is placing a large wig on her head. Long decorative hairpins that secured the wigs along with colorful ribbons became a focus of fashion. All these features of Korean female dress resonate with the features of a courtly fashion system according to Schneider: artisan workshops, fashion trends, and fashion leadership.
Figure 7.7 “Mindo.” Joseon Dynasty. Scroll painting on silk, probably mid-nineteenth century. Attributed to Young Yun. Gosan Yunseondo Artifact Museum, Haenam City, Jeolla Province, Korea. By permission of Hyungsik Yun. “Mindo” means “portrait of a beauty.” She is donning an elaborate wig, a fashion that became popular in the eighteenth century.
Sumptuary laws attempted to prevent commoners from wearing the trappings of the elite. Commoners continued to wear the older styles on a daily basis, but were allowed to wear court styles for weddings. By the nineteenth century, however, restrictions eroded and ordinary women wore silk shoes and used decorative hairpins (Lee 2010).
When the Japanese invaded Korea in 1905, they attempted to exercise cultural dominance by insisting that men cut their hair. For Korean men, long hair was a badge of national identity. They resisted, thus retaining their Korean hairstyles knotted on top of their heads. In the modern era, Korea transitioned to Western dress. This happened in stages: first with the arrival of Christian missionaries after 1919, and then during the Korean War of 1950–53 (Magliaro 1988). Hanbok continues to be worn today for ceremonial occasions such as first birthdays, weddings, and New Year’s celebrations. Hanbok responds to innovations in textiles and embellishments, as observed by Ruhlen (2003). She wrote about new styles of women’s hanbok that emerged in the late 1990s designed to be worn on a daily basis.
The art of fashion in Japan
Japan is an archipelago of four islands in the Pacific Ocean. China and Korea lay to the West. From China Japan inherited the kernels of its distinctive culture, including a preference for dress styles consisting of loose robes. Japan, on the tail end of the Silk Road, probably learned the secret of sericulture from Chinese settlers in the fourth or fifth century (Slade 2009).
The form of dress that became the kimono arrived during the Heian Period (794–1185 CE). It developed into a single garment worn by young and old, male and female, for all occasions and during all seasons. Like the Chinese robes of the Tang era, the kimono consisted of lengths of cloth sewn together without cutting into the fabric to shape it. A kimono required one bolt of fabric, about 13 ½ yards long by 15 ¾ inches wide (van Assche 2010). It was made from any of the different fibers available to Japanese, namely silk and cotton, but also hemp, ramie, linen, and banana fiber. Fabrics could be plain, elaborately patterned through weaving, resist dyeing, embroidery, gold-leaf appliqué, even painting directly on the fabric surface (Gluckman and Takeda 1992). Highly trained textile artisans thus became the essential conduits for new fashions. Popular designs for women’s kimono included cranes and other birds, flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, animals, calligraphy, scenes from well-known poems and stories, and landscapes celebrating nature’s beauty (“Kimono” 2016). Men preferred kimono made of resist-dyed ikat or other textiles with small patterns.
Kimono was, and still is, worn wrapped left over right and closed with an obi sash. Its length was manipulated by folding excess fabric under the obi, which worked well in a culture where many activities took place seated on the floor. Kimono was suited to Japan’s climate: cool in winter but very hot and humid in the summer. Lining and padding a kimono rendered it warm enough for winter. For summer, unlined breathable fabrics such as gauze were popular. A related garment is the haori, which is similarly shaped to, and worn over, the kimono.
Since its introduction, the kimono’s form changed little. The only alteration was in the sleeve opening: a kosode (literally “small sleeve”) had a narrow opening while osode had a large opening (Gluckman and Takeda 1992). The potential for fashion was in the fabrics, the length of the sleeves, the width of the obi, and the manner in which the kimono was worn. Artful selections and combinations received admiration. Layering, collars, color combinations, and the design and tying of the obi offered sites for fashionable display. For example, during the Heian Period, the 5000-member aristocracy took to expressing luxury through fine clothing, including the so-called twelve-layer garment, which in actuality might have anywhere from ten to twenty-five layers reflecting variations on the seasons, nature, and earth’s colors (Slade 2009).
During the Edo period (1603–1868) Japan closed itself off to outside influence, resulting in a long period of stability and prosperity. The old capital of Kyoto retained its reputation for culture and luxury production, while the new city of Edo (Tokyo) grew rapidly. The newly wealthy merchant class gave rise to a sophisticated urban culture. In contrast to the Heian Period, fashionable behavior did not restrict itself to aristocrats. Luxury consumption spread far beyond the court to all who could afford it (Dalby 1993). Writing in 1688, Ihara Siakaku noted, “Fashions have changed from the simplicity of the
past to great ostentation. People today crave finery above their station and their purse in everything they say and do” (quoted in Dalby 1993: 271).
Entertainment districts were instituted in walled-off sections of large cities where visitors could enjoy teahouses and restaurants, view kabuki theater, and patronize courtesans and geisha (Gluckman and Takeda 1992). Both “pleasure women” and actors were eyed for their clothing. They functioned as style leaders, subtly altering their appearance and creating new fashions. The oiran (courtesan) depicted in Figure 7.8 wears a low-cut summer kimono with long sleeves, holds a fan and sports an elaborate hairstyle. Behind her is a rack on which to display kimono when not worn. The kabuki actors, men who played both male and female parts, endorsed fashion products as seen in popular woodblocks of the period (Slade 2009).
A regulated class system developed in the Edo period, which consisted of samurai warriors at the top, followed by farmers, artisans, and merchants. Sumptuary laws, which were enacted after commoners embraced fashion (much to the chagrin of the ruling class), restricted what artisans and merchants could wear, with samurai being the primary consumers of fashion. But those merchants and artisans who had grown wealthy followed fashion as best they could while trying to dress to their station. As Toby Slade notes, the “pleasure of consumption” and “styling oneself” led to a blossoming fashion system (2009: 34). Flagrant violations sometimes led to arrest, as with the beautifully dressed wife of a merchant whom the visiting Tokugawa shogun thought was the wife of a samurai (Slade 2009). Incorporating the notion of “hidden beauty,” rich merchants got around the laws by commissioning paintings from artists as one-of-a-kind linings for their haori jackets. The jackets’ exterior was a subdued black, but the linings revealed brush paintings in black ink (van Assche 2010).
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