The horse-faced skirt, which combines tradition and fashion, is undoubtedly the top Chinese style at the moment! According to the "2024 Douyin E-commerce Women's Consumption Trend Data Report", in the past year, the platform's orders for new Chinese clothing increased by 195% year-on-year, Hanfu orders increased by 336% year-on-year, and the order volume of horse-faced skirts increased by 841% year-on-year.
On May 17, the "China's Most Beautiful Costume Series - Five-color Colorful Horse Face Skirt" published by Donghua University Press was released in Shanghai. The book is the first academic monograph on horse-faced skirts in China, using literature, images and physical objects, from the name to the shape of the rheology, a comprehensive exploration of this classic clothing.
On the occasion of the "5.18" International Museum Day, on the same day as the release of the new book, the exhibition "Clothes Born of All Things, Traditional Reconstruction - Five-color Colorful Horse Face Skirt" jointly organized by the Shanghai Textile Museum, Tsinghua University Art Museum, Tsinghua Heilan Chinese Traditional Costume and Color Research Center, and Donghua University Press opened in the special hall on the third floor of the Shanghai Textile Museum and will be on display until July 18.
Exhibition view of "Clothes Born of All Things, Tradition Reconstructed - Five-color Colorful Horse Face Skirt".
I reproduce the gorgeous beauty of the horse-faced skirt
"China's Most Beautiful Costume Series - Five-color Colorful Horse Face Skirt" for the first time carried out systematic research from the perspective of traditional Chinese colors, summarized 198 traditional Chinese color classifications, and made the first edition of the "Huacai National Color" color card; Systematically sort out the types of horse-faced skirts unearthed from the tombs of the Ming Dynasty to form a list of cultural relics. Through the physical details of 106 pieces of horse-faced skirts and 200 high-definition pattern structure details, the beauty of horse-faced skirts is truly reproduced.
"The horse-faced skirt is a very classic and representative style in traditional Chinese clothing, with a long history, unique appearance, exquisite craftsmanship and reasonable function, which embodies the humanistic ideas of Chinese traditional clothing culture and beauty."
Jia Xizeng, the author of the book and a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University, introduced, "The horse face is not the face of the horse, but refers to the enemy platform, pier platform, and wall platform. It is a T-shaped structure that sticks out of the city wall, which can form an angle with the city wall in order to eliminate the dead angle under the city and attack the enemy from three sides from top to bottom. ”
This work is the first to study traditional Chinese colors as the cutting angle, extract and analyze more than 100 traditional colors presented by horse face skirts, and express the aesthetics of traditional Chinese colors.
For example, the "multi-color dark satin plate gold seeded embroidered figure courtyard pattern dry moon flower horse face skirt" is very rich in color, including pink, light blue, red, purple, moon white, water red, dark blue, yellow, etc., and bright flowers on the silk ground, floral decoration means auspicious.
The two sides of the skirt are inlaid with 30 dark blue trunk edges, which can not only play a role in covering the seams, but also strengthen the seams.
Multi-color dark satin plate, gold seeded embroidery, character courtyard pattern, dry moon flower, horse face skirt
The gorgeous colors on the horse-faced skirt can also be reflected in the pattern decoration through embroidery, patchwork and other processes. For example, the "red dark flower silk embroidered with eight immortals pattern phoenix tail skirt" is a red dark flower satin, and the dragon and phoenix are embroidered with auspicious and eight immortals crossing the sea by embroidering methods such as nano yarn, and each side is cut into 8 strips.
The front and rear horse face parts are decorated with the same pattern, and the flying dragon that travels in the sea of clouds is embroidered with silk of various colors, and the dragon's head and tail are embroidered with peacock feather thread. The pattern of the eight immortals is located on the color strips on both sides of the skirt, the shape is vivid and interesting, the embroidery method is neat, and the color matching is rich.
Red dark flower silk embroidered with eight immortal pattern phoenix tail skirt
The different shades of the same color can also reflect the charm, such as the "hollow ground three blue seed embroidery 'Eight Immortals across the sea' horse face embroidery" is the case. "Three blue embroidery" is the embroidery needle method produced by the influence of blue and white porcelain, embroidered with a variety of different shades and hue of embroidery thread, its main pattern is hydrangea, this flower was called "hydrangea" in ancient times. Backed by a branch of begonia, a metaphor for "eight immortals across the sea".
Hollow ground three blue seed embroidery "eight immortals across the sea" horse face embroidery
From museums to the public's daily life and fashion
The horse-faced skirt has been renewed over the past 100 years, and still exudes a unique charm, which is not only loved by lovers of traditional clothing and Hanfu, but also valued and sought after by global fashion brands and designers on the international fashion stage.
Bao Mingxin, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Fashion and Art Design of Donghua University, is one of the earliest scholars in China to carry out research on horse face skirts. He said: "The ancient Chinese skirt was composed of a combination of cut pieces, some parts of which needed to be patched, some parts that were stacked without stitching, some parts that needed to be folded or pleated, and the exposed parts were decorated with various ornaments, or jacquard or embroidered or dyed or golden. The horse-faced skirt combines the above characteristics, which is the result and product of the long-term development of ancient Chinese skirts, and it is deservedly called "one of the most beautiful costumes in China". ”
Exhibition view of "Clothes Born of All Things, Tradition Reconstructed - Five-color Colorful Horse Face Skirt".
"In recent years, the horse face skirt has been loved by people at home and abroad, and it is also a classic representative style of Chinese traditional clothing from tradition to contemporary, from museums and books to the public's daily life and fashion, showing the most Chinese characteristics of the new fashion trend, so we choose the horse face skirt as the first book of the "China's Most Beautiful Clothing Series", and its publication is a useful attempt for us to actively promote the innovation, transformation and development of China's excellent traditional culture."
Chen Ke, president of Donghua University Press, said that in the future, "China's Most Beautiful Clothing Series" will continue to cultivate in the direction of traditional Chinese clothing aesthetics, starting from specific traditional clothing shapes and accessories, such as cloud shoulders, sleeves, skirts, skirts, etc., leading readers to experience the oriental aesthetics hidden in traditional Chinese clothing step by step.
(Yangcheng Evening News, Yangcheng Pai Comprehensive Surging News, China News Network, etc.)
Editor: Zhou Xinyi Intern Xu Shunjin