Fashion Illustrator: Ye Qianyu for Ling Long Magazine 1931-33 (part 1)
In my research for early 1930s Chinese fashion, I’ve come across a lot of fashion illustrations by artist 叶浅予 Ye Qianyu. While Ye is more well known for his depictions of ethnic minority women, I think his fashion illustrations are much more interesting and valuable resources for the study of the period. His fashion illustrations were published in the magazine 玲珑 Ling Long (spelled Lin Loon at the time), a highly popular weekly lifestyle magazine for society women. His art style at this time shows influences from contemporary Western fashion illustration, and is particularly endearing to me as someone who is accustomed to seeing fashions of the period depicted in this style. It’s a shame that the Wikipedia article about Ye doesn’t even bother to mention his work for Ling Long, as if it’s too insignificant to be included. The time frame of 1931-32 in which he operated was an extremely interesting transitional period for Chinese women’s fashion, and we can catch a glimpse of many unusual and avant-garde designs in his illustrations.
Without further ado, here is a (not the most thorough) collection of fashion illustrations by Ye Qianyu, extracted from digital copies of Ling Long. With commentary from yours truly. The original physical copies are, I believe, held at the University of Columbia library, I purchased the digital copies from Etsy.
1931, vol 17. Summer loungewear. A collarless Chinese construction top with a pointed hem, and a pair of wide legged pants with side slits.
1931, vol 18. A cheongsam of mid calf length, more convenient than an ankle length one. Should be made in diagonally plaid fabric to suit the season. For the afternoon or going out.
I’m curious about women’s winter wear during the Republican era.
It really depends on the decade and year, let me give you a brief run down. For some reason I have a lot of images for winterwear, so this post will be a lot of pictures and not a lot of text, hope that is ok!
Republican Era Winterwear Masterpost
1910s-early 20s
Chinese women haven't yet commonly adopted Western outerwear, so in winter they would just wear aoqun in thicker fabrics. The robes could be trimmed in fur or tufted with cotton filler for extra warmth. A 坎肩 kanjian vest could be worn outside the robe. In the ensuing decades vest like garments were commonly referred to as 马甲 majia (not to be confused with 马褂 magua), though I don’t know why.
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1900s winter clothes and muffs. The child is wearing a majia.
Late 20s-early 30s
In the second half of the 1920s, it became the norm for Chinese women to wear Western coats and jackets that could be removed indoors, unlike the previous practice of wearing thicker robes and skirts which were not outerwear and could not be taken off to reveal the outfit underneath. This was maybe due to the proliferation of air conditioning and Western style buildings where all the interiors were enclosed and insulated with what technology people had at the time. Typical Chinese buildings had many open courtyards, meaning it was more sensible to wear clothes that were warm and thick overall rather than warm outerwear that needed to be constantly put on or taken off.
I have no images of early 1920s outerwear at the moment so I can't really show you anything, though in the late 1920s, sleeveless fur trimmed wrap coats became very popular. These coats were usually very loose and shapeless, made of warm woollen materials like cashmere or tweed, the length falling anywhere between the ankles and knees, and the collar area trimmed with a massive strip of fur. It did not have sleeves and were held closed with the wearer’s hands. This coat style was largely in fashion between 1929-32, which, if you have read my older posts, you would know was its own continuity. Fur would become a staple in winterwear of later decades.
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Artwork by Hang Zhiying from the early 30s.
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In addition to the fur collars, standalone fur stoles and muffs were also used. Other warm accessories like gloves, berets and scarves were occasionally worn as well, as you will see in some of the images.
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Ca. 1930 artwork.
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Some accessories:
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Giant fur muff. This seems like the early 20s.
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Hu Die with a fluffy scarf.
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Fur stole ca. 1927.
Other styles of loosely cut Western coats were also popular. The gist of this time period was that the coat had to have a loose, boxy shape (but still tailored and fitted at the shoulders and hips), length that reached the knees, wide rollover shawl collars that ran down to waist or hip level, and optional fur trim. These coats could be closed by buttons, belts, concealed closures like hooks and bars or also held closed by the wearer’s hands. A distinctive feature of coats in these couple years was the rollover collar which “stood up” at the back of the neck and plunged dramatically downward at the front.
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Chinese woman in a Western coat, ca. 1930.
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Late 20s/early 30s coat with flared lower part of sleeves.
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Another coat.
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1929 B. Altman coats advertisement.
As the 30s progressed, these coats became more tailored and slightly longer, with more fitted sleeves. Fur trim was frequently applied to the collar and cuffs as the wrap style coat went out of fashion; the two styles had merged into one.
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Coats from Ling Long magazine, 1932 vol. 42.
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Early 30s artwork.
Maybe 1933 or 34.
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Artwork ca. 1934.
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Xu Lai in a double breasted tailored coat.
Whereas the fashionable sleeves from roughly 1921 to 1928 were flared and quarter length even in winter, around 1929 it became acceptable to wear aoqun or cheongsam with fitted long sleeves for winter. This probably provided some extra warmth, though the skirt would still be knee length in winter. To counter coldness in the legs, women wore stockings which could be in a warmer material. I’m not very knowledgeable on stockings and other underwear so I can’t tell you much, sorry.
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1929-32 long sleeved cheongsam.
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Early 30s long sleeved cheongsam.
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Another one.
Mid to late 1930s
As the 30s progressed, coats became less fitted and more full. Although plain fitted sleeves existed and were also very common, mid to late 30s coat sleeves were often one of two variations of the puffy leg of mutton sleeve: 1) voluminous at the top and fitted at the bottom, inserted to an armhole 2) fitted at the top and voluminous at the bottom and gathered to a cuff. Some coats retained the tall collar which stood up at the back of the neck of previous years either trimmed with fur or not. Lapels instead of continuous shawl collars were popularized as well; instead of being tall and towering at the back, the collar and lapel are wide and pointed at the front.
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Coat with sleeve style 1, late 30s.
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Short jacket with sleeve style 1, from 1939.
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30s coat ad.
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Ca. 1937 coat with sleeve style 2.
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Ca. 1938 coat with sleeve style 2.
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Display of sleeve style 2.
1940s
Knit cardigans began appearing in the 1930s but their popularity continued into the 40s, 50s and beyond.
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Artwork ca. 1934 or 35.
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1940s portrait by photographer Sam Sanzetti.
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Bai Yang on the cover of 人民画报, 1957.
Coats with a rectangular, broad shoulder silhouette became popular, either tailored or loose. It should be noted that this broad shoulder style of outerwear was already common in 1930s Western fashion, though I don’t think it was as common in 30s China.
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Early 40s fur coats, also muffs and gloves.
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Screenshots from the 1947 movie Long Live the MIssus, showing a broad shoulder jacket tailored at the waist. The vertical embroidery down the shoulder was quite common in the 40s. Once again I am urging everyone interested in 40s Chinese fashion to watch this movie; I’m not the biggest fan of the ending but their costumes are amazing.
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Coats with a similar cut from The Spring River Flows East.
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In fashion illustrations.
These are all that I could think of at the moment, if I find more I will add to this post :D
9 Thermidor. I have collabed with @lemoncholy_ (aka forced her) to make a video where we will be exploring three designs based on Robespierre’s complex legacy. Please go give it a watch and we would like to hear your thoughts on the format, if we made any mistakes, and of course, our portrayal of Robespierre.
just working on portraits, haven't drawn in a while #wip #freetocriticize #digitalart #adviceplease #portrait #medibangpaintpro https://www.instagram.com/p/CDj1lVuDJ5-/?igshid=1sguez6lryyxh
A quick sketch of my friend. #myart #sketches #backfromhiatus #funtimes😎 https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn2Jg9LhP7z/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=onjdrp6vi7yn
You sit at the restaurant with your young son, he says he is hungry. You agree to get him dinner. You open up to the kids menu, your child is far to young for adult food. Chicken nugger stares at you from the page. You don’t understand. Your palms get sweaty and your son complains. He says he is hungry. Your mind strains, searching for an answer in a world of sweer potato and french fried. You try to order the chicken nugger, but you cannot. The words cannot escape your lips. Your son is hungry, he complains. The waitress stares at you, her head a spinning chicken nugger, her arms swinging french fried. Your son cries the tears of a chicken nugger-less child. In your mind you scream. It is raining sweer potato now, you have french fried engraved on your left temple and you do not understand. Your son weeps in the corner, he is starving. Starving for the chicken nugger.
Ｌｏｌ❣ Just rediscovered my old Megasketcher from 2005/6. I think it'll be great for training my drawing efficiency, since I can't erase without clearing the entire picture. How'd I do? #myart #art #messingaround #original #architecture #nostalgia #megasketcher #tomymegasketcher
バレリアヌードル・と・しょゆ Same character as yesterday. Different pose. Whilst I tried to draw steam from the pot noodles, but i ended up smudging the fingers holding the pot :/ . But I think it turned out good. Hope you like it! :3 #practice #ProjectNOHEN #myart #original #noodlehead #nerdingatm #valeriacarlanoodles #sketch #sketchbook #soy
