“西化”与“化西”:近代中国女性婚礼头饰变迁

Westernization and assimilation of Western culture: Woman’s wedding headdresschanges in modern China

在西化思潮影响下,中国近代女性婚礼头饰经历了凤冠盖头的落幕、花冠披巾的演变、西式头纱的流行三个阶段。本文通过对近代报刊杂志上刊登的结婚照与史料进行互证,重点探讨了中国近代女性婚礼头饰时尚化变迁过程中的“被动化西”和“主动化西”现象,进而探究变迁过程中所具有的开放性、简洁性和自由性,并挖掘其对近代女性婚恋自由思想的影响。

Under the influence of Westernization,Chinese woman’s wedding headdress has been changed dramatically in modern times,including the fall and flash of the phoenix crown and Gaitou,the birth and evolution of shawls with a flower crown,the acceptance and popularity of Western-style veils.From the Southern Song Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty,influenced by traditional rituals,ancient women used the phoenix crown when they got married to conceal disgrace and avoid evil.In the 1910s,with the active advocacy of“civilized wedding”,woman’s wedding headdress with Western-style elements became the improved headdress,that is the ordinary type,the silk ball type and the crownless type.In the 1930s,Western-style veils were widely popular,and according to their shape,they can be divided into three types:veils with a pearl crown,veils with a flower crown and crownless veils.In the 1910s and 1920s,it was necessary to take some compromise means to solve the contradiction between national and foreign goods because of Westernization and the impact of foreign goods on the national economy.In terms of wedding headdress in the modern times,the Chinese borrowed the shape of Western-style veils and used traditional Chinese silk instead of transparent gauze as the fabric,thus forming shawls with a flower crown that combined Chinese and Western-styles.This marked a passive choice in the Westernization of modern women’s wedding dresses.In the 1930s,people wore the Western-style clothing and began to identify with the slim style clothing culture and humanism in the Western costume concept.Therefore,modern wedding headdress,with aesthetic drive as the inner driving force,completed the Westernization process from“passive Westernization”to“active Westernization”under the joint action of celebrity effect and policy advocacy.Since the beginning of the 20 th century,modern woman’s wedding headdress began to be open,simple and free under the Westernization.Firstly,with the popularization of advanced scientific knowledge and physiological knowledge,the Chinese people gradually realized that there was no difference between men and women in terms of body,intelligence and ability,and denied the view that“women in feudal society were filth”,so Gaitou,which served to isolate and avoid evil,was abandoned,and the bride no longer needed to cover the face.Secondly,the rise of the woman’s hair-cutting movement brought about by the May Fourth Movement had a direct impact on the simplification of woman’s headgear.The simple Western-style veil had less requirement on the hair and was easier to wear for short hair,so woman’s wedding headdress ornament began to shift from being heavy to being simple.Furthermore,the Westernalization in the Republic of China was an imitation of“civilized wedding dress”and“civilized marriage ceremony”,but it was essentially the progress of modern woman’s marriage concept,which completed the transformation from“no self”to“discovery of self”.Women began to demonstrate their subjective consciousness and control ability in their marriage,and they were not satisfied with the rules of Chinese traditional and Western wedding dresses.So they boldly led the modern wedding dress fashion.