The ancient charm of Chinese clothing has become a new trend, and the Chinese style has "blown" to Generation Z
2024-08-16
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
"China has great etiquette, so it is called Xia; it has beautiful clothes, so it is called Hua." Traditional costumes are an important carrier of China's excellent traditional culture, showing a unique aesthetic charm. From exhibitions in museums to the presentation of stage art, to the integration of contemporary life... Today, more and more young people understand and love traditional costumes, giving traditional costumes a strong vitality and enriching and expanding the contemporary expression of national style and national tide.
Traditional clothing designer Cai Xiaotong——
Inspiring creative design with classic imagery
"I uploaded a design of traditional clothing on the short video platform, and many netizens commented on it, saying 'I like it' and 'I like to collect it'." After a day's work, the first thing Cai Xiaotong did when she got home was to look through the comments from netizens.
Cai Xiaotong, born in 1999, majored in fashion design in college and is currently a Hanfu designer who runs an online store in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. "I started to learn about traditional costumes in high school, and as I learned more about them, I had the idea of working in this industry," said Cai Xiaotong.
"The ruqun and open-collared clothes of the Tang Dynasty, the double-breasted and jacket-backed clothes of the Song Dynasty, the horse-faced skirt of the Ming Dynasty...the shapes of different clothing can reflect the characteristics of different historical periods." When talking about traditional clothing, Cai Xiaotong knows them all.
Walking into the company's model room, she showed reporters a set of traditional clothing, in which the skirt is connected by a zipper. Cai Xiaotong explained, "We try to integrate the design of modern fashion so that more people can enjoy the 'new Hanfu' in their daily lives."
In Cai Xiaotong's view, cultural connotation is an important competitive advantage of traditional clothing and a rich source of inspiration for design creativity. "We will explore classic images in traditional culture and flexibly apply them to design," said Cai Xiaotong. "For example, we designed a horse-faced skirt based on the Dunhuang murals, and the market response was very good." At present, this horse-faced skirt has sold more than 1 million pieces.
Cai Xiaotong often goes to museums and ancient houses to find design inspiration. "When I was visiting the Kaifeng Museum, the pattern of an exhibit in the museum inspired me to create a second work." Cai Xiaotong recalled, "Kaifeng was the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, so we chose clothing that conforms to the Song Dynasty style and added some elements of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" to launch a set of 'new Hanfu' co-branded with the Kaifeng Museum."
Sometimes, a design drawing posted online can attract tens of thousands of orders. How to increase production capacity has become another problem faced by Cai Xiaotong. "We have transformed the traditional jacquard machine to achieve industrialized production, solving the problem of slow speed and low production capacity of manual weaving, and bringing exquisite traditional clothing into thousands of households," said Cai Xiaotong.
Developing and utilizing, and embracing the market, is also a way to make traditional skills "live". In traditional jewelry making, there is a technique called "inlaying kingfisher feathers". "Nowadays, we use the weaving technique of imitation zhuanghua to simulate inlaying kingfisher feathers, and apply it to the design of horse-faced skirts, exploring a richer level of Chinese aesthetics." Cai Xiaotong said.
In less than three years of working in the industry, Cai Xiaotong has witnessed the development of traditional clothing from a niche hobby to a growing popularity. "The industry is still developing. As far as our brand is concerned, more than half of our customers are over 30 years old," said Cai Xiaotong. "China's excellent traditional culture has infinite charm. By inheriting tradition and actively innovating, I believe the charm of traditional clothing can be spread further."
Visual packaging designer Wang Feihong——
Presenting the beauty of traditional costumes with digital technology
"Can the stage costumes be more vivid and three-dimensional?" In the special effects production of the 2024 Henan Spring Festival Gala, a dance that depicts the rebirth of the phoenix - "Phoenix Singing in the Morning Sun" has a great visual impact. However, the program's chief director Lu Hongli still feels that "the stage performance is not strong enough."
"Through computer post-production, we can add a larger and more dynamic phoenix tail to the actor's costume." When the main creative staff felt it was difficult, Wang Feihong, a visual packaging designer from the Visual Design Group of Henan TV's Visual Production Center, took the initiative to volunteer. Under his skillful hands, the "Phoenix" was given gorgeous feathers and shone brightly on the stage. The picture of the "Fire Phoenix" playing in the river with its gorgeous tail feathers dancing in the wind was also used as the cover poster, which received many likes from netizens.
"The innovative approach of 'technology + traditional costumes' can greatly enhance the stage performance of traditional costumes." Wang Feihong said that in the thousands of years of artistic inheritance, the costumes, dances, and shapes that show the image of the phoenix have gradually become fixed. "To better present the visual tension of traditional costumes, modern image and visual processing technology is indispensable, and this is also my main job."
Wang Feihong, who was born in Shangqiu, Henan in 2001, has loved painting since he was a child. "I studied computer art design in technical secondary school, advertising design and production in college, and visual communication design in undergraduate studies." Wang Feihong said that learning in different fields has gradually shifted his professional field from graphic design to three-dimensional design. In 2023, after graduating from undergraduate studies, Wang Feihong joined Henan Satellite TV and participated in the post-production of the Chinese Festival series.
"Stage design is a major reason for the success of the Chinese Festival series of programs. Behind it is the innovative use of digital technology and the re-understanding and re-presentation of China's excellent traditional culture." Wang Feihong said that how to better display traditional costumes with specific shapes and marks of the times on the screen and conform to current aesthetic tastes is a systematic project from costume design, performance to post-production.
Taking the programs "Into the Dream of Fenghua" and "Shenma Xiangyun" in the 2024 Henan Spring Festival Gala as examples, "In "Into the Dream of Fenghua", each set of costumes on the stage corresponds to a different scene. We also modified the color and stripes of the costumes, and added diffuse smoke to create a shape dancing in the wind, which makes the audience feel close and tangible." Wang Feihong said, "In "Shenma Xiangyun", we used AI technology to perform post-modification and production on the difficult-to-restore modeling movements such as the red ribbon wrapped around the body."
In Wang Feihong's view, the use of AI technology is one of the driving forces of "technology + traditional clothing". "Using AI technology to generate concept drawings of characters, clothing and scenes in the early stage, and then modify them according to the script, can save nearly half of the production time." Wang Feihong said that now he can focus more on creativity, "I believe that through new technological means, the aesthetics of traditional clothing can be seen by more people."
Traditional clothing enthusiast Liu Jingru——
Falling in love with Hanfu starts with its appearance and ends with its connotation
"Dong Dong Da..." With the beat of the music, a girl with a high ponytail, white short-sleeved shirt and jeans appeared in the video. Suddenly, she changed her appearance - she tied her hair into a bun, put on makeup, and wore a Tang skirt. The sleeves of her clothes swayed with her steps, and her every frown and smile was bright and moving.
In Cao County, Shandong, the reporter met the cross-dressing girl in the video. Her name is Liu Jingru, born in 2006, and she is a student at Cao County Vocational Education Secondary School.
In recent years, the Hanfu industry in Cao County has developed rapidly, and the national trend has also blown into the campus. When Liu Jingru first saw the senior students wearing Hanfu, her eyes lit up: "When the club was recruiting new members, they walked around the campus wearing Hanfu of different styles, which deeply attracted me."
Liu Jingru's love for traditional costumes began with "appearance" and ended with connotation. At first, she was only attracted by the color and shape of the costumes, but after joining the Hanfu Club, she gradually began to understand the cultural beauty behind traditional costumes. "Clothes from different dynasties have different characteristics. I like Tang costumes, which are elegant and gorgeous." Liu Jingru said, "Understanding the evolution of traditional costumes in different historical periods and learning the historical and cultural knowledge behind them, I understand that the style characteristics of Tang costumes are closely related to the prosperous economy and open and inclusive social trends of the Tang Dynasty."
Clothing is the carrier of cultural etiquette. After becoming attached to traditional clothing, Liu Jingru not only imitated the makeup of people from different periods based on the clothing, but also learned the corresponding etiquette rules, forms and behaviors. "For example, the 'cross-hand salute' is a common etiquette in the Tang Dynasty, used to express respect and reverence." She crossed her hands in front of her chest and leaned forward slightly, "The left hand should hold the right hand, and the right thumb should be raised."
The more she knows, the more she loves it. Gradually, Liu Jingru came up with an idea: to spread the beauty of traditional costumes. Organizing "Hanfu Tours" in scenic spots, choreographing a series of dance programs... During holidays, Liu Jingru and members of the Hanfu Society go to nearby scenic spots for performances. "When I'm free, I like to think about every detail of the movements, hoping to attract more people to pay attention to Hanfu." Liu Jingru said.
With the rise of short videos, traditional costumes have entered the vision of more people. "In the past year, I have seen many online bloggers shoot videos of cross-dressing, outings, and travel in traditional costumes. I am also learning to make such videos." Liu Jingru swiped the screen of her mobile phone to show the videos she had shot. "Look, the horse-faced skirt has been very popular recently, so I shot a cross-dressing video. I am a beginner and my level needs to be improved."
"I hope more people can see that traditional costumes are not just beautiful clothes, but also contain profound culture," said Liu Jingru.
