The earliest "private custom clothing" in China is estimated to be the emperor's dragon robe. The old saying is that the dragon is one of the four spirits, and the dragon is used as a metaphor for the emperor. Guangya Yun: "Dragon, Junye." "The dragon robe, that is, the emperor's imperial dress, the color of the dragon robe of different dynasties is different. The Qin Dynasty admired water virtue, so the dragon robe was black. Liu Bang claimed to be the son of the Red Emperor and was a fireman, so the dragon robe was red. Since the time of Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court has stipulated that subjects are not allowed to trespass yellow, and since then bright yellow has become the special color of the emperor.
The emperor is the 95th, so the dragon robe usually corresponds to the numbers 9 and 5. The dragon robes of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty were embroidered with nine golden dragons; there was a golden dragon on the front chest and back, two golden dragons in front of and behind the lower skirt, a golden dragon on the left and right shoulders, and a golden dragon in the right inner placket. In this case, whether viewed from the front or back alone, it is five dragons, which corresponds to the number of nine and five.
There are also many waves of rolling water on the dragon robe, and the water waves are embroidered with realistic mountain stone objects, commonly known as "seawater river end", which means that the river is continuous, unifying the rivers, and rising to the peace, which shows that the ruler's worship of the dragon is very deep.
The dragon robe is the peak of ancient costumes, the production is very elaborate, in addition to highlighting the dignity of the emperor in the shape, there are strict rules on the selection of materials, printing and dyeing and painting modeling, which is the essence of all the collection. The Ming Dynasty's Tiangong Kaiwu has a record of the production process of the dragon robe:
"Wherever the dragon robe is offered, I am in Suzhou and Hangzhou." Its flower building is five feet high, and it is possible to pull a jacquard book with two hands, and weave a few inches to change the shape of a dragon. Each room fights together, not a hand. Ochre yellow also dyes silk first, and the tool is originally no different, but the artificial prudence and capital are dozens of times, in order to be loyal to the friendship of respect. Among them, the program is subtle, unobtainable and detailed. It can be seen from this that the dragon robe is extremely delicately made.
And the Qing Dynasty dragon robe production area is Jiangnan, friends familiar with the history of the Qing Dynasty should know, the Qing Dynasty has an exclusive agency called "Weaving Bureau", this institution is specifically responsible for the manufacture of royal dragon robes, at that time in Jiangning (Nanjing), Hangzhou, Suzhou, these three places have set up a special factory, with the best quality materials of local specialties, the most advanced court painters, the most skilled embroiderers, goldworkers to create a dragon robe.
Dragon robe production materials are very expensive, basically use gold thread embroidery, rice beads, weaving gold, makeup flowers, peacock feathers, silk these most expensive and precious materials and techniques, of which the silk process is relatively complex, the process is called "even warp and weft", some dragon robes are even embellished with hundreds of thousands of rice beads, coral beads, with peacock feathers, gold thread full embroidery. According to history, the manufacture of such a dragon robe takes hundreds of people to complete for several years, and the cost is exaggerated.
The consequence of these gorgeous, golden materials is that the dragon robe cannot be washed at all! The gold wire, rice beads, peacock feathers, etc. on the dragon robe are more brittle and cannot be pulled at any time, otherwise it is easy to misplace, or even break, affecting the overall beauty, and will be considered unlucky by the ruler. Therefore, judging from its own characteristics, the dragon robe cannot be washed. However, what if the dragon robe is not cleaned, and the emperor wears it stinky every day?
First of all, the emperor did not often wear dragon robes. For example, the clothing of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty was divided into: jifu, dress, regular, walking, rain and casual clothes. The common dragon robe in television is a kimono, which is worn on a specific occasion, equivalent to today's dress, and the occasion that appears is also a major national event, figuratively comparing the emperor's ascension to the throne, national sacrifices, etc. At the end of the event, it will be replaced by daily wear, walking clothes, casual clothes, etc., which are more comfortable.
Secondly, the emperor lived in the palace, and everywhere he went was cleaned spotlessly by the palace maids and eunuchs, the emperor often bathed and changed clothes, and the dragon robe was rarely soiled by the upper court or attending the ceremony. The changed dragon robes are usually stored in a camphor wood box until the next time they are worn. The camphor wood box will remove the smell and avoid contact with the outside world. When the emperor did not want to wear this dragon robe, he directly sealed it, and there was more than one dragon robe anyway.
There was a news before: 35,000 yuan CHANEL tops faded after washing, and the buyer called to ask customer service. The customer service answer was very good:
Sorry, our products never consider washing
。 Rich people's clothes are like this, let alone the emperor? In general, the dragon robe is delicate and fragile, not easy to get dirty, worn less often, and is about a handicraft that supports the façade, not to be "worn", but to "dress".
(References: "Tiangong Kaiwu", "Qing History Draft")