Book Review of A Rainbow in the Mountains:Dress of the Yao—A Guide to Traditional Yao Costumes and Ornaments

A Rainbow in the Mountains:Dress of the Yao,an album of pictures and texts on Yao clothing,the most comprehensive and systematic record of the dazzling costumes of the Yao ethnic minority which has been inscribed on the national intangible cultural heritage list of China since 2006,is of great academic value and practical significance to study the profound connotation of the Yao traditional culture.The various styles,colorful dress customs,and exquisite craftsmanship constitute the beautiful cultural landscape within the Yao ethnic minority,as well as the way to explore all the social aspects of the Yao ethnic minority.This book review aims to arouse the attention of all sectors of the community to the clothing of the Yao ethnic minority,which has met the greatest challenge of the collection and protection of the Yao costumes and ornaments.Thus it is expected to sort out and retain those precious records that have been drifting away via pictures and texts,which we have already started and will continue to do in accord with the national cultural development strategy.

Chinese Costumes and the Spirit of Chinese Aesthetics

The aesthetics of Chinese costume is the crystallization of traditional Chinese artistry and at the same time is not without dregs, such as the suppression of its subjectivity, restraint of human body and segregation of different social classes. In contemporary China, Chinese costume keeps changing with the aesthetic needs of the time. Under such circumstances, filtration, screening and sublation have become the basic methods to inherit and carry forward the essence of traditional Chinese costume. It is contemporary Chinese people's due responsibility to demonstrate the spirit of Chinese aesthetics via dressing, take the initiative to spread such a spirit, and showcase the unique charm of Chinese aesthetics by the light of nature.

Application of Patchwork Art Form in Traditional Costumes:A Case Study of Baijia Clothes

Patchwork art culture has a long history and is also a kind of aestheticism fashion popular in the internet.Patchwork art of Baijia clothes is taken as the research object,and various application of patchwork art in Chinese traditional costumes in past thousand years is explained.As cultural identity of the Chinese nation,patchwork continuously nourishes and enriches world cultural relics.Its application research not only could bring rich inspiration for modern costume art but also has important actual significance and higher historical value.

The Structural Characteristics of Side-Opening Costumes during the Republic Period of China

The structural characteristics of Chinese side-opening costumes during the Republic Period of China were investigated.By measuring and recovering the physical structures of side-opening costume objects from the Folk Costumes Biography Museum of Jiangnan University,three structural characteristics were analyzed.These structural characteristics show that most of the side-opening costumes during the Republic Period of China remain traditional Chinese costume structures.The general structural characteristics of side-opening costumes are concluded and the structural cutting methods can inspire current designs as well as provide useful references for contemporary fashion designers.

A Preliminary Study of Mongol Costumes in the Ming Dynasty

The Yuan dynasty was the first great unified empire founded by an ethnic minority in Chinese history. A great number of ancient sources have proven that under the Yuan, the Mongols＇ distinctive costumes, expressive of their nomadic identity, exerted an influence upon Chinese fashions of the time. Even after the collapse of the Yuan, Mongol dress did not disappear but became even more popular in various forms throughout the following Ming dynasty. On the basis of examination of a large number of historical written materials, this paper makes an in-depth study of the various styles and uses of Mongol-style clothing in the Ming dynasty. It provides a panoramic survey in an attempt to outline the use and evolution of Mongol styles in the Ming and to examine some representative case studies in detail. Thus, besides discussing traditional issues in the history of clothing, such as the use, design changes and abandonment of Mongol clothing in the Ming dynasty, it initiates a series of studies from a sociological perspective, offering a preliminary study of the groups who wore Mongol-style clothing in the Ming dynasty, including their occupations, their reasons for using these costumes, and how this mode of dress influenced the social psychology of the period. It also attempts, via clothing, to discuss the changes in transitional Chinese society arising from the movement of nomadic ethnic groups in northern China to the hinterland （another question to be addressed）.

Rank Badges of Official Costumes ofMing and Qing Dynasties from the Perspective of Social Semiotics

The official dress systems of Ming and Qing Dynasties were formulated by the rulers of those feudal societies to maintain their ruling status.As well as being a functional indication of the type and power of officials,the rank badge,Buzi or Bufu(补子,补服),on official clothes indirectly declared the elegant and brave characteristics of civil and military officers,and also reflected the philosophy of the unity and harmony between human and nature.Informed by social semiotics theory,the Buzi patterns embody the culture and arts of ancient Chinese clothing,producing novel meaning within corresponding social contexts,which can be inherited and developed in today's society.Moreover,the wearing of official unified clothes and rank badges by officials and civil servants should be encouraged since those persons often serve as a role model and are subject to public's scrutiny.Thus ancient Chinese culture and arts can flourish,a good social order and law be maintained,and a harmonious and civilized society built.

Costumes of Ethnic Nationalities

In China, whose population consists of 56 different nationalities, there are a great variety of native costumes. Shown is the native dress of some ethnic groups.

The Art of Peking Opera Costumes

THE splendidly colourful costumes and accessories of Peking Opera are an important part of the artistic aesthetic of this national treasure. As the quintessence of Chinese culture, Peking opera occupies the top place among 360 other traditional operas. Peking opera, with a history of 200 years, covers all the important events of the nation's long history and has absorbed the essence of other traditional operas. The leaps in the development of Peking opera costumes

Inspiration and Innovative Approach in Creating Textile Designs and Prints from Sekondi-Takoradi’s Masquerade Costume Designs

Masquerade culture is an essential part of Sekondi-Takoradi cultural embodiment. The masquerade festival titled Ankos displays interesting costumes that have artistic elements of potent colour display and performances. The masquerade costumes manifest intricate fabric decoration techniques for example pleating, folding, gathering, smocking, hand and machine stitching and the use of varied colour schemes. These decorative techniques make costume production laborious, tedious and downtime constraints. In contributing to the innovative approaches to creating textile designs and prints, the study explored the inspirational possibilities of surface designs of the masquerade costume for textile designs and prints. The art-based research design and direct observation as research instrumentation were employed in the artistic creation for the study. Adobe Photoshop was used in the simulation design processes. The study revealed that the simulation design processes produced an innovative imitated visual appearance of the masquerade costume and production processes from a machine-stitched work to a hand-printed fabric. It is recommended that costume makers adopt the contemporary possibility of using hand screen to print hitherto the traditional laborious and tedious process of producing masquerade costumes.

Expression of National Cultural Elements in Ancient Costume Animation Movie Scene

In Chinese ancient costume animation movies, there are problems of unreasonable cultural expression in many architectural scenes, such as not meticulous scene design and weak understanding of the relationship between artistic design and image cultural expression. This is greatly different from the spirit of passing on national ethnic culture. In order to transform such situation, it is recommended to set up the concept of passing on the ethnic culture, follow the principle of creation of national art and practice of story creation, improve the style of domestic animation movies, and raise the concept of cultural creation.

Reflections on Differences of Sino-US Culture in the Perspective of Costume

What makes clothing important? Clothing and accessories is an important tool for studying popular culture and so- cial history. The history of human costume can be seen, in a certain degree, as the development history of sensible human culture. These artifacts help tell the story of status differences and class aspirations through the materials used and the cut of a garment. Clothing reflects cultural historical differences and social mores that have changed over time. Clothing reflects behavior standards, ...

Collar of Lady's Wear in Qing Dynasty

The research is started with a query that whether the width of collar in Qing Dynasty is too small. The paper bases on the statistics which come from the collection of the Costume Museum of Denghua University. compares the results with the national standard specification, then analyzes the structure and shape of collars in Qing Dynasty, and tells the relationship between collar and the garment. Furthermore, the paper discusses the function of lady＇s collar in Qing Dynasty and gives a suggestion that collar being an indicator to distinguish women＇s wear from children＇s wear.

Origin of Qipao Fashion in Early Republic Period

The goal of this research is to analyze and discuss the origin of Qipao as women's fashionable wear in the early Republic Period (1911-1949).The origin of Qipao fashion will be discussed in three aspects:1) discussion of the original time,place and consumer group of Qipao fashion;2) analysis of initial style and wear combination of Qipao,3) deduction of the origin of the name Qipao.Besides,the analysis will also be given about Qipao's aesthetic characters,its production,consumption guarantee as well as its social backgrounds.The research will be made on the basis of the principles and methods of history,social psychology of clothing and design,and will use many materials especially historical writings and publications to give a more detailed discussion.Here are some tentative conclusions. Firstly, Qipao as a kind of one-piece dress was not inherited directly from the robe of Banner Style. It was a new fashion in the 1920s, which combined the elements of long vest called Qipao Majia, Wenming Xin Zhuang and the Western dress. Secondly, the Shanghai female students were the pioneering group wearing Qipao in 1925. Thirdly, the gradual acceptance of Qipao was mainly due to its aesthetic characters, production, consumption as well as social backgrounds at that time. And it was the kind of daily wear of many Chinese women after 1927. Fourthly, since Qipao represents the special clothing which integrated Chinese traditional style and the Western fashion in the early Republic Period, Qipao is advised to be taken as a special term to take the place of the previous ones like Mandarin Dress, Chipau and Cheongsam and so on.

Establishment of Costume Design Database Based on Image Resources in Daur Nationality

Through collecting, summarizing and effectively classifying the image resources in Daur nationality,and applying the theories and methods of costume design,ethnology and computer science,it investigates into the retrieval method and indicator system of images resources in Daur nationality in the context of digitalization. The preliminarily established application model of Daur costume design database can search out all qualified image resources from the database quickly according to the prerequisites given by users so that they can obtain information promptly. In particular,costume designers can get inspirations of creation and enlightenment on their creative thinking. Therefore,the effective integration of art and scientific researches can be realized.

Redrawing Frescoes of Dunhuang Grottoes and Their Application in Costume History Research

This paper explores the relationship between costume history research and the redrawing of frescoes of Dunhnang Grottoes. Redrawing frescoes could provide evidences for costume history research, and the research can correspondingly help the rodrawing. Redrawing frescoes, for the purpose of costume history study, must comply with some specific rules, which are different from those of other studies. The present study also discusses the methods to distinguish, the original fresco colors that have faded or changed after more than one thousand years.

The Contemporary Enlightenment of Shaw Brothers’ Historical and Swordsman Films’ Communication

Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Limited and its films have a wide range of influence around the world. In the contemporary era, the communication of the Shaw costume films, emphasises the humanity’s classical appeal and invisible revival motivation. Also, it puts great emphasis on the trend from heroic monologue to discourse equality. The essay focuses on the aesthetic style and cultural connotation of the costume swordsman martial arts films directed by Zhang Che and Chu Yuan, revealing how the combination of the cultural psychology and Shaw’s management model have jointly accomplished Shaw’s films’ glorious time for decades in Hong Kong. Furthermore, it proves that how the cultural mentality of the martial arts “King of the Forerunner” has affected the transformation and development of Shaw Brothers, and how the status of costume martial arts films were changed in contemporary communication.

Enter a City Gallant-Clowns in the Jacobean Theater

Economic growth and social stability in the late sixteenth century brought unprecedented prosperity to the city of London. As Thomas Platter observed in 1599, most of the inhabitants were employed in commerce, and merchants accumulated their wealth. After his accession to the throne, King James generously distributed honors to wealthy merchants and others. Titles became a salable commodity. The sale of honors impaired respect for the titles and aroused bitter feelings and contempt for knighthood and baronetage among citizens. Gentlemen and ladies who suddenly rose to dignity tried to act suitably in their new status and dressed themselves up; yet they often became the subject for laughter. These upstarts were represented in contemporary dramas as ridiculous, contemptuous, and ill-mannered. The fancifully-dressed “city clowns” who came into being in the first decades of the seventeenth century, were found not only on stage but also in and outside of theaters.