Chen Shiyu, A Scholar Of Costume History, Restores Thousands Of Ancient Role Costumes -- Reappearing The Beauty Of Beautiful Patterns

In more and more films and TV plays, the "ancients" who are dressed in colorful clothes have met us for thousands of years. Among the many workers who facilitated these meetings was Chen Shiyu, a scholar of costume history and deputy director of the Han Tang Costume Research Center of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology. He has been engaged in the research and restoration of ancient costumes for nearly 20 years, and has successively restored thousands of character costumes. These characters finally appeared in picture books, film and television dramas, variety shows and even games, representing the beauty of Chinese patterns, while also bringing the beauty of Chinese costumes to the public.

　　 Multiple proofs are needed to restore clothing

At the "Ancient Chinese Costume Culture Exhibition" in the National Museum, 15 restored figures of ancient costumes were unveiled, which attracted a great deal of visitors.

These portraits were restored by the team led by Chen Shiyu after two years. In the past, some ancient clothing exhibitions, although the exhibits were very valuable, mainly put clothes there, which was difficult to leave a three-dimensional impression on the audience. Sun Ji, the curator of the "Ancient Chinese Costume Culture Exhibition", once said, "We should present the overall appearance of ancient people's clothing, so that every piece of clothing can be well grounded."

How to be well grounded? Chen Shiyu introduced that every portrait, from makeup and hair, modeling to clothing, from shoes and shoes, belts and even underwear, should adopt multiple argumentation methods for textual research and research.

In thousands of years of circulation, clothing and accessories are difficult to preserve in their original state. Most of the clothes of a younger age are incomplete, missing components, or even only fragments.

"Every restoration process of clothing is an exploration of the true image of history." Chen Shiyu said that each restoration needs to first clarify the historical period, identity of characters, wearing occasions and other information, and then use the multiple evidence method to verify the restoration goal through a large number of objects, documents, images and so on, and gradually restore the true appearance of clothing.

Picture ①: Chen Shiyu arranges an exhibition in Luoyang Museum. Courtesy of Chen Shiyu

Figure ②: The female figurines of the Western Han Dynasty provide a reference for the textual research on the folk costumes of the Han Dynasty. Courtesy of Xi'an Museum

Figure ③: The restored portrait of the ancient costume culture exhibition in the National Museum. Courtesy of Chen Shiyu

Figure ④: The Confucian Mansion used to collect the Ming Dynasty imperial coat, providing physical evidence for the research of Ming Dynasty costumes. Courtesy of Shandong Museum

For example, the women's clothing of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, which is the same as the "Beautiful Women with Hairpins", went through the process of argument to recover it. The Painting of Beautiful Women with Hairpins is a famous painting handed down from generation to generation. In the painting, there is a pattern of big round flowers on the ladies' long skirts, which can be completed by brocade or printing and dyeing in ancient times. After careful observation, Chen Shiyu found that there was a large area of white on the clothes, the edges were unknown, and there were halos between the colors, which ruled out the composition of the brocade, because the edges of the brocade were very clear. The flower ink lines on it are like the brush strokes of colored painting. "We therefore speculate that it may be completed by combining Jiavale with color painting." By chance, Chen Shiyu found a piece of silk fabric unearthed from the Liao Tomb in the exhibition, which is consistent with the pattern and technology of the Painting of Beautiful Women with Hairpins, becoming the material evidence of the clothing of the Five Dynasties at the same time.

Fabric restoration is more difficult. The fabric of clothing in different periods is different. Chen Shiyu introduced that the main materials in the Qin and Han dynasties were silk, silk and yarn. The popular materials in the Tang and Song dynasties were damask and silk, and the satin appeared in the Ming Dynasty. Most of the ancient fabrics are now hard to find in the market. So, in more than a year, Chen Shiyu and his team traveled all over Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing and other major producing areas of silk grosses to discuss the restoration plan of fabrics with craftsmen. Through the efforts of the team, a large number of lost processes, including color clip, have been re launched.

　　 Transfer historical beauty with heart

"China's clothing culture has a long history and strong continuity. Over thousands of years, a huge system of ceremonial clothing system has been developed. The clothes and jade pendants in the dress have a history of two or three thousand years." Chen Shiyu introduced that from the solemn and grand spring dresses in the Qin and Han Dynasties, the elegant skirts in the Tang Dynasty, to the slender and elegant backs in the Song Dynasty, all dynasties have their own popular clothing.

Different from the western clothes that pay attention to three-dimensional fit, Chinese traditional clothes tend to avoid excessive tailoring of materials. Even if they want to show body lines, they are mostly embodied by wearing, such as overlapping skirts, stacked sleeves, and do not excessively pursue the effect of tight fitting.

The classic Chinese ancient costumes are the right lapel, wide robe and large sleeves. The costumes are integrated with people. After wearing the ancient costumes, it is natural to stand with hands folded and walk with dignity.

Although ancient Chinese clothing did not pay much attention to tailoring, it was very particular about fabrics. For thousands of years, brilliant weaving varieties have been developed, from brocade, silk, to makeup flowers, tapestry, and so on, to make colorful clothing. Take yarn as an example, there are "field yarn", "sesame ground yarn", "diameter ground yarn" and "Ge yarn" with different air permeability. "Field yarn" is only partially hollowed out with patterns, which is suitable for the transition between spring and summer; "Sesame ground yarn" has sesame granular dark holes, which is thinner than "field yarn" and can be used in early summer; "Diameter ground yarn" is light and hollow, suitable for midsummer; "Ge yarn" can resist the heat.

"The picture must be intentional, and the meaning must be auspicious". Ancient Chinese clothing also paid special attention to the symbolic meaning of clothing patterns. It had very detailed regulations on the patterns used in various occasions, and formed auspicious patterns through various techniques such as homophonic, symbolic, and allegorical. For example, during the Spring Festival, the pattern of "lucky gourd" is used, and the gourd is homophonic to "fortune".

Compared with the rich and colorful ancient Chinese costumes, the academic research in this field started late. In the 1960s, Mr. Shen Congwen devoted himself to the study of cultural relics. After several twists and turns, it was not until the publication of Research on Chinese Ancient Costumes in 1981 that the first general history of Chinese costume history came into being. Up to now, there are still few researchers on the history of ancient Chinese clothing, and the public awareness is not high.

There is a misunderstanding about the restoration of ancient images: restoration is very simple, just follow the image literature. At this time, Changti is now in the ancient costume play. Because the designer does not understand the style and wearing regulations of ancient costumes, he can only copy or imagine to complete the costume design.

"With the increase of cultural confidence, the audience's acceptance of traditional culture is getting higher and higher, which also requires film and television production to pay more attention to historical truth." Chen Shiyu said that he was invited to serve as the history and clothing image research consultant for programs such as National Treasure, China in Ancient Books, and clothing design guide and dress guide for film and television dramas such as Qingping Music. After the TV play was broadcasted, netizens left messages one after another: "Learn about watching drama".

In recent years, wearing Han style clothes has gradually become fashionable. In this regard, Chen Shiyu said that "Hanfu craze" reflects young people's love of traditional culture, which is a gratifying phenomenon. This also urges us to explore more excellent works, refine the aesthetic core of ancient Chinese clothing, and let this love pass on.

　　 Some popular costumes in ancient times

Western Han Qu Train Clothes

The skirt of a long, winding train style garment extends to the right to form a triangle, and wraps around the back to form the effect of wrapping the skirt, which has the characteristics of the Qin and Han Dynasties. Embroidery processes such as flower silk, brocade and lock embroidery are commonly used.

Futou round neck robe of Tang Dynasty

The daily dress styles of the Tang Dynasty were diverse, and many Western clothing elements were integrated. The men's clothes usually use the matching of narrow sleeve round neck robe, boots and leather belt. The basic characteristics of the narrow sleeve round neck gown are round neck, long sleeve and right lapel. The robe is lined with half arms. The brocade with the style of Western Regions became the characteristic clothing material at this time.

Outfit Futou Public Clothes of Song Dynasty

The public clothes of the Song Dynasty inherited the style of the round neck robe of the Tang Dynasty, and developed into a large sleeve robe with a sleeve width of three feet. Its basic style is large sleeve, curved collar and right lapel, with a horizontal skirt at the bottom and no slits on both sides.

Ming Dynasty Square Scarf and Crane Cloak Taoist Robe

Taoist robe is a kind of casual clothes commonly used by scholars in the late Ming Dynasty. Most of them are worn daily, and can be used as both a coat and a lining robe. Turn in the collar, right lapel, large sleeves and close the cuffs. The collar is extremely wide and is decorated with a white collar. In addition to the Taoist robe, you can also wear a cloak with opposite front, a cloak or a crane cloak. (Reporter Shi Fang)

(Source: People's Daily)