Designing, drawing, buying materials, embroidery, ironing, cutting, nailing... It takes nearly 20 steps to produce a Cantonese costume. A costume represents the story of a character, "it is better to wear it than to wear it wrong.".
Before the production of almost every Cantonese costume, it is necessary to communicate with the director and screenwriter and other people many times to understand the character story. Sometimes it takes 7 days or even a month to draw a design and a needle drawing, and it takes 6 months to a year to complete it when it comes to hand embroidery.
He Fengting, the inheritor of Guangzhou costume production skills after the 90s.
"I knew then that it was hard to make costumes and take a lot of time and effort." At the beginning, in the eyes of He Fengting, the inheritor of Guangzhou costume production skills after 90, Cantonese opera was for Grandpa and Grandma to see, and there was no prospect. The turning point occurred at the Canton Temple Fair in 2014, just in the interval between au pairs, the costume factory was understaffed, and her aunt Dong Huilan, a provincial non-hereditary heir of Guangzhou costume production skills, asked He Fengting to help, and she began to slowly understand the connotation and taste of Cantonese opera costumes.
With the wish of "doing a good job in the Zhuangyuanfang Costume Factory", He Fengting brought Cantonese opera costumes into the comic exhibition and completed a Cantonese cultural version of cosplay; at the Guangfu Temple Fair, she launched drama-themed doll cultural and creative products such as "Shrimp Dumpling Xishi", "Egg Tart Sable Cicada", "Sugar Does Not Dump Yang Guifei", "Char Siu Bao Wang Zhaojun" and so on. Affected by the epidemic, offline performances have been frequently postponed and cancelled, and she has also opened up the product line of doll costumes, allowing Zhuangyuanfang Costume Factory to enter more life after 80, 90 or even 00.
Keep the old brand
It is inseparable from the activation and inheritance of generations
Strolling through The Yuanfang, from time to time you can hear the harsh "creaking" sound of trolleys passing on the cobblestone road. Once a hub for costume productions that became famous overseas, it was home to more than 50 costume shops at its peak, and has now become a fashion clothing shipping destination.
Zhuangyuanfang Garment Factory is the only remaining long-established costume factory. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, cultural and entertainment activities such as Cantonese opera flourished with the reform and opening up, and the costume business flourished. Dong Huilan, who grew up in Zhuangyuanfang, watched every household make costumes, and gradually came up with the idea of making costumes for a living.
In 1979, just after graduating from high school, she carried a small bench into the Zhuangyuanfang Costume Factory under the introduction of relatives and friends, sat and watched for a year, and a master saw that she had spirituality before taking her into the industry.
At the beginning, Dong Huilan was assigned to the design department, and she would always use her rest time to wander around different departments. Gradually, she became familiar with every step of costume production such as design, drawing, lofting, cutting, cutting, and sewing. In 1995, she was finally able to independently produce costumes and became the deputy director.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, and gradually with the introduction of foreign cultural and entertainment methods, the costume industry declined. In 1995, when the Zhuangyuanfang Costume Factory was facing the crisis of dissolution, Dong Huilan, who had worked and studied in the store for ten years, resolutely proposed to contract a costume factory, "At that time, I had been in this industry for more than ten years, and I was young and vigorous, thinking that it would be better to fight than to lose my job." ”
Dong Huilan, a provincial-level non-hereditary inheritor of Guangzhou costume making skills.
Dong Huilan, who contracted a costume factory, made a bold move and innovated, operated horizontally on the basis of inheriting and carrying forward the costume craft, and undertook all kinds of folk performance costumes and props. With the guangzhou costume making technology selected for the intangible cultural heritage list, this craft has attracted people's attention, and the business has slowly improved. Zhuangyuanfang Costume Factory has become a place designated by many famous artists to do costume processing, and is also responsible for the costume production of the over 100 million yuan dance drama project "Long Hate Song".
From learning to the cardamom years to starting a family, Dong Huilan has studied under Tan Quan, Tan Nuan, Zhu Kai, Ou Pei, Yang Liqiong, Mai Deng, huang Qingqiu, and has been working for 40 years. However, if you want to continue to pass on the costume factory and keep this old brand, it is inseparable from the activation and inheritance of generations.
Traditional improvements
"We are the originators of cosplay a thousand years ago"
Growing up in the environment of the costume factory, He Fengting often followed her mother to the Zhuangyuanfang Costume Factory, and was particularly sensitive to colorful and diverse costumes. After graduating from the international trade major, He Fengting did foreign trade work for a period of time. Until one day, aunt Dong Huilan said to her, "Ah Ting, if you don't come to take over the shift again, this craft will be broken in my hands." In the process of understanding the story behind cantonese costume skills, He Fengting found that Cantonese costumes are not as old and dull as imagined, and it can also be very fashionable and beautiful.
Cantonese costumes integrate the techniques of velvet embroidery, thread embroidery, coiled gold and silver thread, bead embroidery and other techniques of Cantonese embroidery, plus artistic characteristics such as nailing gold and nailing beads, and the stage expression of the costume is very strong. In the past, stage lighting was not as developed as it is now, and actors usually chose to customize costumes embroidered with dense beads, and even light bulb costumes.
Cantonese costumes can also be very fashionable.
In modern times, Cantonese costumes are no longer limited to theater, but more combined with animation and national tide. Once when visiting the China International Animation Festival, He Fengting found that the cosplay on the comic exhibition came from Japanese, European and American animations, and there were less authentic Chinese elements. With a playful mentality, He Fengting called the two good friends and summoned them to wear traditional Cantonese opera makeup and cos into the appearances of Huang Feihu and Mink Cicada.
The comic exhibition is full of people, stopping from time to time to ask the east and west: Why are the patterns and embroideries on the costumes so beautiful? How? Can we try this outfit too? The request for a group photo came and went, and in the end, Huang Feihu and the mink cicada were too busy to come.
Of course, some people questioned: "This is not a comic or a game character, what are you doing here?" He Fengting came back with a carbine: "Sun Wukong, Yang Zhongbao, and Mu Guiying in Cantonese opera are all characters in the cosplay story, and we are one of the originators of cosplay a thousand years ago." ”
"It's not that young people don't like Cantonese opera costumes, they just lack a window." With this idea, He Fengting began a series of new attempts: she put improved modern costumes and cultural and creative products between the Chaopai stores in the mall; launched "Shrimp Dumpling Xishi", "Egg Tart Sable Cicada", "Sugar Does Not Dump Yang Guifei", "Char Siu Bao Wang Zhaojun" Drama Theme Doll Cultural and Creative Products; Design keychains, refrigerator stickers, decorative necklaces and so on containing costume elements.
A doll dressed in Cantonese costumes.
With the advent of the Internet era, she expanded her channels to Xiaohongshu. Opening He Fengting's little red book, the doll was wearing a delicate Cantonese costume.
This inspiration came last October. A good friend got married, and she made two dolls in wedding robes as gifts, and sent a little red book by the way. Many people left messages at the bottom asking where to buy, and some people first looked at the clothes and then went to buy dolls.
This is where the new product line is born. The doll has only one size, unlike adult clothes, which are also scored large, medium, and small, and are easy to press. A card will also be attached to each set of clothes issued, introducing that the clothes were made using a provincial intangible cultural heritage technique - Cantonese costumes. Embroidery and small fans made of Chinese knots all reveal unique cultural implications.
"This is not only a channel to increase additional income, but also a good promotion of intangible cultural heritage." He Fengting said, "In the present, it is not only to inherit, but also to go out, not to frame yourself in a circle." ”
Craftsmanship
Promoting intangible cultural heritage should be a social act
In recent years, as people have paid more attention to intangible cultural heritage, the business of costume factories has maintained a good level. 20%-30% of the orders came from large-scale performance projects recommended by the government, 40% of the orders came from Hong Kong, China, and the rest came from folk activities such as temple fairs and dragon boat festivals. Many Cantonese opera celebrities watched He Fengting grow up from small to large, including Guo Fengnu, Cao Xiuqin and so on.
However, in recent years, due to the impact of the epidemic, various performances and folk festivals have been cancelled, and the Cantonese costume industry in the lower reaches of the industrial chain has ushered in new challenges.
Every year, Hong Kong Ballet will have a series of orders for performance skirts, and children's drama costumes such as "Nightingale", "Snow White", "Pinocchio", "Aladdin's Lamp" will be updated. However, after the epidemic, many small troupes were disbanded, and the repertoire on the stage was mostly reinterpreted, and the demand for new costumes fell sharply. Occasionally make up one or two sets of costumes, and there is only two or three thousand yuan of operating income.
Cantonese costume cultural and creative derivatives.
Dragon boat activities often during the Dragon Boat Festival have also been stopped, and generally in April and May every year, it is necessary to prepare decorations such as Dragon Boat Boats and Luo Umbrellas. Events were cancelled and orders were affected. Basically, it is difficult for the traditional market to have more than one more order.
Not only that, but due to logistics interruptions in some places, raw materials such as cloth have also been affected. "Many of the silk fabrics originate in Jiangsu, because some transportation hubs are running slowly during the epidemic, some express shipments have stayed for more than a month and cannot be sent out, and our goods for Shanghai customers cannot be sent for the time being." He Fengting said.
Some non-hereditary heirs choose to enter the field of live streaming, but there are always a few who sell goods after four or five hours of a live broadcast. Even a live broadcast only sold a few hundred pieces of things, and then deducted the cost, the profit was not as expected.
"Intangible cultural creation is not a necessity of life, like Cantonese costumes are more like a luxury, for the quality requirements are very high, a set of tens of thousands of yuan, the public consumption is insufficient." He Fengting said that unlike the rigidity of mass-produced costumes, Cantonese costumes are exquisitely tailored, and the customized customer groups are mostly corporate groups, and there are fewer personal customizations.
The direct impact of the shrinking market is the loss of talent. On the second floor of the costume factory, there are only two garment workers rushing to produce goods to be sent to Hong Kong, they are all gray-haired skilled workers, and only one young man is still learning costume making.
"Costume production is different from other industries, newcomers often do not produce in the first one or two years, but learn the type of costumes, names and other knowledge, costume factories basically pay to train new people, I hope the government can consider providing financial subsidies for the training of heirs, reduce the cost of inheritance." Dong Huilan once said in an interview with the media that the efficiency of training only one factory is very low, and if it can support the costume production skills to learn into the school, it can also expand the scope of Guangzhou costume successors. Guangzhou costumes should be inherited, and the most important thing is to have the injection of fresh blood, but the development of craftsmanship cannot rely only on craftsmen, but should be social behavior.
Love and persistence
It takes ten years for a process to be learned
For a long time, the inheritance of Cantonese costumes has been a difficult task.
Making a costume is not simple, including measurement, design, drawing, needle drawing, printing drawing, embroidery, pulping, cutting, sewing, nailing and other more than ten processes, it is difficult for a person to complete independently, and the construction period is even longer. Dong Huilan is "ten years of grinding a sword", only basically familiar with all the processes, even today is still learning.
In addition to the complexity of the technique, the production of Cantonese costumes requires close to the characters, plot settings, but also matching the background, and it is necessary to understand the similarities and differences of different types such as haiqing, big han costume, big leaning, shuaifeng, python robe, small costume and so on. There was a time when it was a crown that encompassed a dozen different materials.
Based on this, the teaching of Cantonese costume skills takes longer. Sometimes we go to school to teach students to help dolls make a dress, which is very difficult, and we have to teach tailoring, sewing, and nailing. "Don't say elementary school students, many college students come to experience the class is difficult to learn completely, 90% need to be taught by hand." He Fengting said that after learning from the experience of teaching, she will reduce the content of the practical exercises of the inheritance class, and start more from the theoretical science, plus the costume trial experience.
Making a costume is not simple, it takes at least more than a dozen steps.
Many people have a hard time settling down to study, and if they have a job with a higher salary and better pay, they leave. But the intangible cultural heritage project is precisely to precipitate time and practice continuously. Dong Huilan has also accepted many apprentices, many of whom have been doing it for three or four years and then left. There was also a boy who had studied for a few years and went out to set up his own portal.
Imagination is beautiful, reality is cruel. Apprentices with unsound basic skills can easily lose customers because the technology cannot keep up. "Many people look at Dong Huilan, and they recognize more of the quality of the handmade itself, but they don't necessarily know our brand." He Fengting sighed that once the handicrafts are not satisfied with them, no matter how cheap the price is, people who pursue quality will still find back.
"You can change your job for two or three years, and you can change it if you are not happy." But when you want to be an inheritor, you need to be passionate and persistent about this traditional skill. He Fengting said that Guangzhou costumes involve more than a dozen processes, a process takes ten years to learn fine, to use more energy than others to learn each process. Whether the weather is hot or cold in winter, you must personally run to the cloth market everywhere to find the most satisfactory cloth or material, so that the most beautiful state of the play is presented to the audience.
"My aunt started at the age of 18, and from the time she was an apprentice, she insisted on doing it for nearly forty years. She has only done one thing in her life, and I am also persevering in this road, and you are willing to do only one thing in your life? "This is something that every heir needs to think about.
Written by: Nandu reporter Wang Meisu intern Li Xukui
Video: Nandu reporter Peng Yuxin intern Huang Junlin
Editor: Nandu reporter Li Simeng
Images courtesy of respondents