Reading about court life always proves very inspirational from a fashion point of view, no matter if the court in question is the Elizabethan, the Tudor or the Medici court.
A new exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, provides interesting insights into the world of Chinese emperors during the Qing dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of China (1644-1911).
Entitled “Imperial Chinese Robes from the Forbidden City”, this small but very well organised exhibition on the ground floor of the museum showcases garments and accessories from the wardrobes of emperors, empresses and concubines from Beijing’s Palace Museum.
The 268-year Qing dynasty was regulated by very strict rules applied to the attires of the emperor and empress, but also to the members of the court gravitating around them, from ministers and noblemen to military officials and concubines.
All of them had to change their attires according to the ceremonial occasion.
The exhibition looks at five different categories of clothes for the emperor – official, festive, regular, travelling and military, each divided into summer and winter.
While the bright yellow ceremonial armours featured for example embroidered patterns, copper elements and a metal plate, informal attire was less elaborate, though at times it included inserts of sable.
The empress had fewer official duties to perform than her husband, so she mainly wore informal dresses. The empress’s clothes actually show greater variety, especially when it comes to the cut and the fastenings, cuff shape, choice of fabrics and decorations featuring rich embroideries of flowers, butterflies, grapes and birds.
Decorations and colours represented the main opportunity court ladies had to express their personality.
One of the garments exhibited - a bright yellow satin robe with an embroidered pattern from the Guangxu reign - is a perfect example, but so are the accessories such as the empress’ festive headdress or dianzi covered in pearls, gold and semi-precious stones.
Different colours and patterns were also very important since they indicated distinctions of class and rank.
Red was the colour designated for sacrifices at the Altar of the Sun; bright yellow could only be worn by the emperor and high-ranking members of the imperial family and was for the Altar of the Earth; blue for the Altar of Heaven and pale blue for the Altar of the Moon.
Bright yellow remained the prerogative of the empress and the empress dowager: she wore a bright yellow robe matched with a sleeveless coat, hat diadem headband, collar ornament, three necklaces, three pairs of earrings and a silk pendant and boots when she offered sacrifices at the Altar of Silkworms (since spinning and weaving were traditionally considered as tasks for women), on New Year’s Day and on the emperor’s birthday.
Travelling robes are also interesting from a construction point of view since they are rather ample with an asymmetrical cut, purposefully designed to allow movement on horseback, while ceremonial armours included also interesting elements such as sleeves with strips of gold thread meant to resemble shining metal.
The exhibition also shows the craftsmanship of China’s textile production: clothing for the Imperial family was managed by the Imperial Household Department, with fabrics produced in weaving mills in Southern China.
All the garments included in the exhibition are characterised by colourful fabrics and textiles and the intricate embroideries, often including woven patterns in gold thread and showing dragons, flowers, swastika roundels and rainbows, are the results of the work of skilled artisans.
The twelve symbols that appear in some of the robes – sun, moon, constellation, mountain, dragon, flowery creature, axe head, back-to-back ji, sacrificial vessels, waterweed, flame and grain – represented the emperor's utmost authority and were worn by him alone.
When in 1862 China came under the rule of a woman, the 26-year-old fashionable Empress Dowager Cixi who assumed power on behalf of her son, fashion started changing. The empress favoured indeed more informal styles and was fond of the changyi, a loose-fitting outer gown.
The exhibition also marks the reopening of the refurbished TT Tsui Gallery of Chinese Art that - fashion fans will be happy to know - also includes new exhibits such as a case on the Chinese republican period with Shanghai’s glamorous garments from the '20s and '30s.
You can discover more about the "Imperial Chinese Robe" exhibition on the curator’s blog.
“Imperial Chinese Robes from the Forbidden City”, is at the V&A, London, until 27th February.
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For mental health service users. Make garments for day wear, special occasions and entertaining inspired by the clothes of the Chinese imperial court.Further information on A Head for Arts, the V&A's programme of events for mental health service users.
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