After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, in accordance with the Han tradition, formulated a series of rules and regulations, and shaped a new costume culture according to the concept of "inheriting the Zhou Han for a long time and taking the Tang and Song Dynasties" for the costumes worn on the body.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, people have just been liberated from the rule of the Mongolian Yuan, the way of life and the costumes worn on the body can still see the shadow of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to change this phenomenon, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the abolition of the original Mongolian Yuan costumes, re-enabled the wearing habits of the Han people in the Tang and Song Dynasties, for which a strict system was formulated, which was reflected in the Ming Dynasty costumes, and now unearthed in some Ming Dynasty tomb groups, the costumes worn by the tomb owners are distinctive and can be recognized at a glance.
The Ming Dynasty changed the clothing habits far-reaching, even in the midst of internal and external troubles, the Ming Dynasty officials and nobles are also innovating, a significant performance is the emergence of "standing collar", in addition to the many buttons on the clothes, for a time became a fashion, but in the Qing Dynasty was deposed, but there are many people who retain this style of clothing, this custom spread overseas, South Korea, North Korea and so on can be seen.
In modern times, a tomb has been unearthed - Wuxi Zhou's tomb, which provides important support for modern research, Zhou's cemetery is located next to Taihu Lake, the history of the tomb owner is not small, is the descendants of Wuyue King Qianmu during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, with the development of the times, Wuyue Qian's reputation is getting louder and louder, but the tree is big, after a storm, the family declined, and when the Song Dynasty, the patriarch decided to move his family to Wuxi, not to mention that this move really achieved results, and when the Qian clan developed again in the Yuan Dynasty.
From some cultural relics excavated from the tomb, it seems that the owner of the tomb died roughly in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, there are not many funerary items in it, and there are no rich things, the best of which is the textile worn by the tomb owner, and the embroidery sewn with gold thread on the collar of the clothes is very bright in that era.
Experts took out the clothes in the burial chamber, checked the relevant information and found that there was a short top in the clothes of the tomb owner, which was inferred to be a very popular clothing at that time, after careful inspection, there were four such clothes in the tomb, but most of them were damaged, only one piece of preservation was relatively intact, and the original appearance could still be seen.
This costume has a ribbon with a pattern on it, embroidered with many patterns, most women's clothes during the Ming Dynasty will be embroidered with flowers such as peonies, and some people will embroider lotus patterns, customarily speaking, the pattern on the clothes usually changes with the change of seasons.
The material of the clothes is silk, to know that the silk satin is a symbol of the rich family, so the owner of the tomb is not an ordinary person, from which a piece of "short sleeves" was unearthed, at that time, short sleeves are also known as "back", the material is light and breathable, because the neckline is narrow, it can be directly put on the long-sleeved coat.
On the whole, several pieces of clothing unearthed have the same characteristics, mainly manifested in the placket of the clothes, located on the left side of the clothes, consulting the data can be found that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, women's clothing has gradually formed a custom on the right side after development, like the clothes unearthed in the tomb are rare on the left side, except for the local Taihu Lake, the rest of the place almost still maintains the characteristics of the right side of the placket.
In addition, the Ming Dynasty handicraft products have made great progress, there have been looms that can show patterns on silk items, this machine was first used only for silk production processes, but in the burial chamber excavated clothing, the pattern on the top is very delicate, for machine manufacturing requires high skills, so from these data can be deduced, the Ming Dynasty Taihu loom has been very developed.
In addition to these few pieces of clothing in the burial chamber, there are several dresses that are eye-catching, one of which is very thin, this skirt has three pieces on the front and back, composed of several landscape paintings, and the rest of the skirts are almost the same in material and shape, according to the custom, these should be a set of costumes.
With the costume naturally there are the rest of the shoes, shrouds, etc., the material of the shoes is also satin support, there are also embroidered patterns on it, the size of the shoes, the full "three inches of golden lotus" style, small and beautiful, next to the shroud and today found the same, but the size is much larger than the rest of the dynasty.
Many people think that whether it is a flat-headed people or a female member of the royal family to wrap their feet, but the High Status women in the Ming Dynasty period have the qualifications to wrap their feet, ordinary people's girls can not wrap their feet, the society at that time to small feet for beauty, so some people who love beauty will also secretly wrap their feet, make some small shoes, and embroider a lot of beautiful flower decorations on it, of which the lotus is the most common, many historical materials can see the record of "lotus foot".
During the Reign of the Mongol Yuan, women in the dress in line with the characteristics of the Mongolian horseback people, generally a very narrow short jacket with a tube skirt, noble women's clothing is more loose, so that whether riding or walking will not have much interference, and some civilian women's skirts are mostly black, and some of the costumes unearthed in the tomb are roughly the same.
These dressing habits were all changed after Zhu Yuanzhang came to power, Zhu Yuanzhang promoted simplicity throughout the country, and even the princes and ministers were not allowed to wear ornate embroidered costumes, but during the Yongle years, these rules and regulations were gradually relaxed, which can also explain why so many gorgeous costumes were unearthed in tombs.
These treasures left over from history provided research evidence for the development of silk products in the Taihu Lake area, and finally there was a point that most of the textiles at that time were silk, and after the cotton was widely planted, the use of cotton cloth became more and more extensive, and more and more patterns of clothing appeared.
Resources:
["The Development of Ming Dynasty Costumes", "Yuan Shi Baiguan Zhi", "Yuan Shi Yu Zhi"]