On February 7, Mai Wulan Turak selected the right fabric in the cloth shop. Courtesy of Mai Wulan Tulaq
Reporter Guo Qian
Taking off her hoodie and jeans, Shanghai visitor Ye Zining changed into a gorgeous and atmospheric traditional Uighur costume, paired with a small flower hat and handmade accessories. Taking photos in the kashgar ancient city scenic spot with such a shape brought her a great sense of experience. "When I walked through the streets of the ancient city in a long dress, I felt like a resident living in the ancient city." Ye Zining said that her clothing and jewelry were from the hands of Mai Wulan Tulak.
On February 8, in a small shop called "Fascinated by Cultural Creation" in the ancient city of Kashgar, tourists entered the store from time to time and lingered in front of the exquisite costumes displayed in the store, while Mai Wulan sat in front of the operation table, immersed in a braided ornament.
Mai Wulan Turak, 28 years old, has a young body with the heart of a craftsman. This small shop was opened by a love of traditional ethnic costumes who returned home after graduating from university in 2018. In the 30-square-meter shop, he continues to be passionate about collecting traditional clothing and jewelry from all over Xinjiang, a task he has been doing since he was in college, while devoting himself to restoring and innovating the production of traditional costumes.
Braided ornament made by Mai Wulan Turak. Courtesy of Mai Wulan Tulaq
Braids are made of gold, silver or copper to create different patterns of ornaments, bells, chains, supplemented by gemstone embellishments, and then connected by traditional craftsmanship. Even for Mai Wulan, who has been exposed to handmade since childhood, it takes half a day to make a braid. "I don't feel tired if I love it, and if I'm too busy during the day, I'll take time out at night to do some small crafts." Mai Wulan said.
Mai Wulan's love of traditional costumes dates back to his childhood. "My mother is a seamstress, and every day I watch her step on the sewing machine, I will work on some small things on the side, or try to draw them when I see beautiful patterns on my clothes, and as I get older, my interest in the ornamentation and color scheme of traditional clothing has become more and more intense." Mai Wulan said.
Collect old photos, watch old movies, visit museums, look for traditional clothing styles in the video, ask old tailors and jewelers with rich experience in clothing, and from the beginning of college, Mai Wulan restored traditional costumes according to historical materials, ancient books, and old photos. "My mom has always encouraged me and worked with me to turn the design prototype into a finished product." Mai Wulan said.
A video titled "The Beauty of Uyghur Costumes for a Hundred Years" on the Internet shows the centuries-old changes in Uyghur women's clothing culture from 1910 to 2010, and one of the main creators of the video is Mai Wulan, who and his mother spent 5 months to restore and design most of the costumes in the film.
Today, in Mai Wulan's small shop, there are more than 200 sets of traditional clothing on display, as well as handmade jewelry to match them, which is only part of the cooperation he and his mother have worked to restore traditional clothing. From 2018 to the present, more and more people have been exposed to and like traditional costumes through "fascination with cultural creation", and some clothes will soon be sold after they are made.
In addition to handmade traditional costumes, Mai Wulan also designed various cultural and creative products with Xinjiang elements such as pen bags and cultural shirts according to the ornaments.
At the end of 2021, Mai Wulan's solo exhibition "Aesthetics of Life in Southern Xinjiang" was launched at the Shanghai Theater Academy. Some commentators have commented on the costumes he designed, saying that Mai Wulan drew inspiration from the colors and patterns handed down from the jewelry and clothing handed down in the past, and created secondary creations to create a costume art that is both in line with history and more in line with the aesthetics of modern people.
"Clothing is a medium for visual expression of national culture, with the diversified development of world culture, people's pursuit of aesthetics is constantly updated, I will use my perseverance and excellence, so that traditional clothing has more exuberant vitality." Mai Wulan said.