The Evolution of Ladies' Fashion in Tang Dynasty

During the early and the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, women's clothing was mainly under the influence of the Western Regions, embodying long skirts with narrow clothes and small sleeves, high waist and low-cut, and straight flaring skirts. The skirt was usually red and green striped pleats, and the upper body was a short shirt with half sleeve length. A poem said: "I still wear small-toed shoes and narrow clothe. My blue-black thrush is thin and long." In the early Tang Dynasty, Chinese clothes were often paired with Hufu hats. Hufu(胡服) often comes with Chinese ornaments. Shen Kuo (沈括)said in "Mengxi Bi Tan"《夢溪筆談》： "Since the Northern Qi Dynasty(北齊), all Chinese clothing has adopted Hufu. Narrow sleeves, long leather boots, and belts with scorpions are all Hufu attire.” Until Tang Wude(武德) and Zhenguan(貞觀) it still did not change." During Kaiyuan (開元), "Nobles and ordinary people like to wear Hufu with leopard skin hats, and women like to wear shaken hairpins, and the clothes have narrow sleeves."This was the "An Lushan Stories"（安祿山史) showing the popularity of Hufu at that time.

The rise and fall of women's Hufu (胡服)has something to do with the geopolitics of the Tang Dynasty. After the Anshi Rebellion(安史之亂, the influence of Hu (胡)and Jiang (姜) culture and customs were weakened. However, it was replaced by the influence of Tubo (吐番) and Huiwen (回訖). During the period, there were many wars with Tubo, and then the border was only several hundred miles away from the capital of the Tang Dynasty. Huiwen contributed to helping Tang pacify the Anshi Rebellion. Tang hoped that through Huiwen, Tubo could be restrained. Therefore, Tang became friends with Huiwen and had frequent exchanges. Huiwen clothing was popular in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. Lapel robes, loose top, narrow sleeves, and hem that drags the floor characterized it. Liked to wear big red brocade... This kind of big tailoring influenced the "bell shape" silhouette of the late Tang Dynasty to a certain extent.

In the early Tang Dynasty, wearing Hufu (胡服) and cross-dressing as a man prevailed, all due to the relative improvement of women's status, and the mind-opening of Tang culture to the outside world. Its politics, economy, culture, and military were all in the "take-off "period, which made Tang people felt confident and having a superior position. When the Anshi Rebellion broke through the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the self-confidence of the early Tang Dynasty was running out, and a revival followed. The Anshi Rebellion was an internal worry, and An Lushan（安祿山)was a barbarian. Tang was bound to guard against hu (胡)culture, so it had the idea of xenophobia. After the mid-Tang Dynasty, the national power declined, the imperial court faced internal and external troubles, and the awareness of Tang and hu differences strengthened. The scholars turned to Confucianism one after another. Therefore, it paid more attention to traditional Chinese culture, which was also reflected in clothing, such as Lianzhu dragon and phoenix printing patterns, using traditional graphics like drangon and phoenix instead of hu’s figures like dog and deer. At the same time, “hu makeup” was rejected. Bai Juyi's(白居易) "Makeup of the Times" (時世妝)mentioned that women at that time painted "cocoon eyebrows", with black eyebrows, ocher faces and red lips. This makeup was incompatible with Confucianism. The poem more or less reflected the literati's dissatisfaction with Hu influence. They all came to resist. After the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, Cross-dress as a man almost disappeared.

By experiencing the rules of Zhenguan (貞觀之治,and Yonghui (永徽之治)in the early Tang Dynasty, the country became more and more prosperous, the people's life was stable, the country rose again and again, and the life of Tang people began to be extravagant and corrupt. During the Shangyuan Festival (上元節)in the second year of Emperor Xuanzong(玄宗先天二年), thousands of court ladies were granted the emperor's permission to go out to the palace to appreciate the lanterns. They were very brightly dressed, "Dressed in floor-length silk embroidered skirt, put up sparkling pearls and emeralds, and applied fragrance powder!" The skirts were made of gold thread, embroidery, printing, jacquard brocade, and two-color strips and other crafts etc…

According to the "Old Tang Book·Gaozong Benji"（舊唐書·高宗本紀, "Its different-color silk brocade, and flowery skirts, etc., are both wasteful in money and harmful to female workers." As early as Tang Gaozong (唐高宗), a ban was issued, requiring returning to the basics and prohibiting this extravagant styles. Moreover, said the Queen was often wearing seven panel skirts. This meant that the other people could not exceed this number of cutting panels to make the skirt. However, the women's attire in the first year of Emperor Ruizong's Yongchang( 唐睿宗永昌元年 AD 689) was still extravagant, and it even intensified.

The evolution of women's clothing in the Tang Dynasty can be viewed from the silhouette, which is the outline of fashion design. Tang Zhangjue's 張鷟 "Youxian Cave"(遊仙窟)said: "Slender waist, suspected to be strangled soon" It can be seen that in the early Tang Dynasty, the view of female figure and beauty required a thin waist, and it was exaggerated to the point of being strangled.

In Wu Zetian's (武則天)era, tall figures were also advocated, like models with western nine-headed proportions. Tang Dynasty not only had the bold legacy of the Northern Dynasties(北朝), but also had the graceful charm of Jiangnan(江南) women. At the beginning of Emperor Xuanzong(玄宗) of the Tang Dynasty, women still tended to have a slender figure. In the early years of Kaiyuan(開元), it could be seen from the selection of the princess concubine that "Ordered Gao Lishi (高力士)to go to Beijing Zhaoyin, and urgently seek five tall, thin and white women from the ordinary girls, and gave them to the prince... Three of them were obtained, so they were given to the prince." "Old News of the Ciliu Family" 《次柳氏舊聞》The ones selected were all "tall and white", which meant that the skin should be fair. The waist should be small and the figure should be slim and tall. In the early Tang , it prevailed “Slender Silhouette”. This preference gradually changed in the late Kaiyuan (開元)period, and female figures gradually became fuller. During Emperor Xuanzong(玄宗), the design basically gradually tended to the "Long Pear" shape, and the waist seemed disappeared.

During the period of Concubine Yang(楊貴妃), it was more fashionable for women to regard fat as beauty. The design outline of the women's skirt was that the top was tight and the cleavage was showed off, and the bottom skirt was wider and looser than before, especially the high waist with many pleats, which has enough space and fullness to hide the plump figure. The high waist adjusted the proportion of the Top and bottom visually pleasing. The overall body shape was more flare out. The sleeves width of clothing in the mid-Tang Dynasty were twice wider than before. Bai Juyi's (白居易)poem "Liao Ling"(繚綾) wrote "Cut wide shirt sleeves, make long skirts, cut pieces with round knives, and press with golden irons" exactly reflects this change. After the An Shi Rebellion, the influence of Hufu(胡服) was purposely reduced. Xuanzong (玄宗) once required women's clothing to have wide sleeves. Therefore, wide sleeves gradually became popular. The upper class nobles wore luxurious costumes on big festivals or outings. In the mid-Tang Dynasty, as the society became more economically developed and wealthy, these luxurious costumes became popular amongst ordinary people. Driven by the upper-class nobles, the designs became more and more complicated and detailed. Wealthy people used plain, twill, satin, and jacquard fabrics in silk, while the ordinary people used cotton and linen instead. However, the trend of fashion designs remained the same. In the late Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties Ten Kingdoms period ( 五代十國), women's clothing became more and more exaggerated. The design of skirts was even wider and longer, and the sleeves width was as long as the skirts. They dressed up like a "big hanging bell."

People might say how fat and plump Concubine Yang(楊貴妃) was ! It was due to the unearthed figurines and shapes in murals were indeed fuller and plump. Some historians discovered when restoring the costumes of the Tang Dynasty that if they want to support the wide and high hair bun at that time, the woman must weigh about 200 pounds. In the early Tang Dynasty, women's social status improved. In Wu Zetian's (武則天)era, both women and men often went out to play, hunt and play polo, etc. Because they participated in many outdoor activities, they could not gain weight. During Tang Xuanzong's (玄宗) time, the status of women was far inferior to that of Wu Zhao(武周). Tang Xuanzong (唐玄宗) liked the singing and dancing and music in the palace. There is an old saying that the upper class likes something, the lower class will like them even more. There were fewer opportunities for women to go out, and they would naturally gain weight easily. Clothing’s function is to highlight its beauty and hide its ugliness. Another old saying is that women dressing up in beautify is for their loved ones! Therefore, low-cut to draw attention while high-waist to add fullness to cover have been born because of this.

The evolution of women's fashion, from the perspective of design in the early Tang Dynasty, was from simple, slenderness and narrowness to splendid, fullness and plump in the late Tang Dynasty. The sleeve width could reach four or five feet, while the skirt dragged on the ground as much as four or five feet in late Dynasty. The evolution of Tang fashion silhouette was from slim cut, to long pear shape to the hanging bell shape.

The popularity of women's clothing in the Tang Dynasty originated from the preferences of the royal family and court ladies. During festivals or parades, they dressed up in fancy and gorgeous clothing. The ordinary people saw it and rushed to inquire about it and imitate it. In addition, poets and painters often described the fashionable life of the imperial court and the nobility. The silk merchants, by the way, added fuel to the flame, so it became a fashion trend! The vigor of textile weaving, printing and dyeing industries, sewing and embroidery technique, were all due to the people's pursuit of fashionable clothing in the Tang Dynasty. Moreover, the increasing frequency of foreign trade along the Silk Road brought forth a lot of new thinking and challenges. In order to meet the needs of the market, it was necessary to develop new products and improve the old styles. Kept improving product content and continued to do research and development established momentum. It could therefore constantly stimulated the internal markets and promoted foreign trade on return. It increased Tang people’s income, thus driving the development of the entire apparel industry and surrounding industries.

The textile industry in the Tang Dynasty was very well developed. There were government-run and private textile workshops. At the time of Concubine Yang (楊貴妃), there were 700 weaving and embroidery workers in the courtyard, and the government set up the Weaving and Dyeing Department, Neibazuo(內八作), and Yeting Bureau ( 掖庭局). According to the "Ministry of the Court and Field"《朝野僉載》: "He Ming yuan (何明遠, in Dingzhou (定州) is very rich...he has a huge fortune, with 500 silk looms weaving machines." It revealed that the textile industry was developing vigorously. The Tang Dynasty could produce high-quality silk in different pattern like plain, damask, brocade, twill, organza, and satin. Fabric materials were mostly silk, cotton, and flax. Silk fabrics were the most important. Weft looms technology was very mature at that time. It could produce more beautiful and more complex textiles. Fabric colors were mostly red, purple, yellow, and green while crimson, white and emerald were also boldly used, because the techniques of using plant and mineral dyeing agents had been breakthrough, and able to dye different degrees of red and yellow for examples, by using such as madder, pomegranate, safflower, rehmannia, pagoda tree, and turmeric . Thus, the colors were richer than before. They were eye-catching and glorious. The printed and dyed fabrics of the Tang Dynasty were very colorful, like the patterns of Beaded crouching deer pattern, Beaded dragon in pair, Baoxiang pattern(寶相花紋), variant pattern, peacock pattern, etc. There are also three excellent craftsmanship-dyeing treasures of the Tang Dynasty. They are "Clip-dye", "Batik", and "Tie-dye" .

In the early Tang Dynasty, the clothing and ornaments followed the Sui Dynasty(隋朝), which was relatively simple and plain, with relatively dull patterns or those pattern influenced by the Persian Bead pattern, with a strong Hu (胡人)flavor. In the early Tang Dynasty, the patterns were not usually visible on the entire garment, only appeared on the center front facings, cuffs, and neckline trimming. After the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the patterns became more exaggerated, gradually becoming more detailed and rich in styles. It could be seen more on the front and back bodices, and even sleeve panels. At this time, the superb and complex printing and dyeing techniques could achieve more unique and fine effects like fading-out colors, contrasting colors, and outline colors! In fact, the skills were higher and more refined than the early. Actually, the artistic value is higher in the late Tang Dynasty. In order to make the theme of the patterns more prominent, almost the entire garment was full of patterns in different kinds and colors in the late Tang.

Have you ever thought that women's fashion started from the social activities of the court nobles, just like the evening dresses worn by celebrities at banquets nowadays, with off-shoulder tight-sleeved shirts and V-cut skirts? Those “showing off” cleavage, see-through, two-color illusions... can be straight skirts, loose trailing skirts and... It turned out that there were more than one avant-garde designs a thousand years ago. Tang had these avant-garde designs, which already included Visual geometry, ergonomics and color psychology. This is a master-level work, and it is an era of uncanny workmanship!

Korean women's traditional high-waist straight flared dresses have the shadow of women's skirts in the early Tang Dynasty.

The weaving, dyeing, embroidery and hand painting in Japanese kimonos have preserved the fashion and workmanship of the Tang Dynasty at that time, and have influence today fashion.

Hufu and Huiwen clothing influenced Tang fashion a lot. They were very popular, with lapel collar, double-breasted, narrow waist and sleeves, brocade boots and beard hat. Lapels and boots are also very popular today!

Many of the world's first-class fashion designers now have collections with the theme of "Dress as a man", showing women's unique purity and beauty of her cool, firm, tough and opinionated. This theme has a lot of room for development in the fashion industry! Only the people of Tang Dynasty developed it, and let future generations make full use of it!