My Little Lost Legacies

The Novel Series

[faun-grove]

a dead girl walking

[hanfugallery]

art for chinese hanfu and references by 小榭的烟

[audreydoeskaren]

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.

Keep reading

[hanfu-mermay]

旗袍 Qipao 1910-1940

🎨小榭的煙

[ziseviolet]

Chinese fashion during the Republican era (minguo):

Pic 1: 1910s minguo aoqun

Pic 2: 1920s minguo aoqun

Pics 3-5: 1920s qipao

Pic 6: 1930s qipao

Pic 7: 1940s qipao

[audreydoeskaren]

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.

Source (shoutout to @d-m-a-c for finding some of these photographs)

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

[ryanmaniulit]

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[audreydoeskaren]

hi, i don’t know if something like this has been asked already. I’m not very familiar with cheongsam and I was curious, from pictures I’ve seen, cheongsam dont seem very warm to me, did there exist a style of cheongsam to wear for colder temperatures during the time period it originated? thank you

Hi, that's because people could wear jackets and coats over cheongsam to keep warm. I have a post about winterwear in the Republican era. More fashionable women would sometimes wear short sleeves even in winter. Working women or those less concerned with trends can wear a cheongsam with longer sleeves made in thicker fabrics as well; they would have the same cut as fashionable cheongsam so they're not a separate style per se.

Fashion illustration by Ye Qianyu showing coats for long cheongsam, from Ling Long magazine, 1932.

Long sleeved cheongsam in thicker fabric, from the 1948 movie Spring in a Small Town.

[audreydoeskaren]

@d-m-a-c found this picture from 1936 showing three young graduates and a missionary, where the girls are wearing thick winter cheongsam.

[audreydoeskaren]

Why do you think so many dramas are obsessed with the Qianlong era?

Very very good question, thank you for asking. This turned into sort of a rant but I’ve been wanting to say these things for a long time. I don't know how well known this trope is outside China but there is the idea of 康雍乾盛世, or the "Golden Age of Kangxi-Yongzheng-Qianlong" in Chinese history discourse, which glorifies the second half of the 17th and the whole of the 18th century as this super powerful and amazing time period within the Qing. Emperor Qianlong himself has somewhat of a cult of personality and is a popular figure in historical fiction, especially the bogus and disreputable kind involving romances (野史). His status as the monarch made it easy to write dramas set in the court, which is a perfect fit for the 清宫剧 or Qing court/harem drama genre popularized in the late 1940s. Actually, thinking about it Marvelous Women is one of the only famous Qianlong era dramas that are set outside of court, that's commendable (but then its inaccuracy makes it a lamentable missed opportunity). Actually maybe there are more out there but the inaccurate costuming makes it very difficult to address them as Qianlong era. In the 2000s and early 2010s there were multiple Qing court dramas set in the 17th and 18th centuries, so they have developed into a familiar television cliche and even a cinematic universe of sorts. It’s kind of similar to how a lot of European period dramas are obsessed with Marie Antoinette? Once you make a couple dramas about the same person/group it just keeps going.

On the contrary, the 19th century is known as the "century of humiliation" in China because of Western imperialism, and the Qing court in the 19th century has always been depicted as barbaric and backward in the colonial, Orientalist narratives touted by both actual Western imperialists and Chinese nationalists who internalized their views, so most people don't feel comfortable romanticizing the 19th century court. Personally I am not burdened with this whole shame baggage because I think the Qing was not at fault for being colonized at all, it was the colonizers’ fault, if anything. We do not victim blame in this house. Also, there is plenty of photographic evidence for 19th century China, so in a way it doesn't feel distant enough to sustain a fantasy. Most dramas set in the 19th century court are so called 正剧 or "serious dramas" about political intrigues and grand nationalist undertakings, which are supposed to be more realistic (though I feel like they’re only considered serious because they have a male target audience...)

Sorry got a bit carried away here. Going back to the popularity of the Qianlong era, "Golden Age of Kangxi-Yongzheng-Qianlong" is a concept that irritates me to no end. The assignment of golden ages arbitrarily creates some periods that become overrepresented and some underappreciated, and marginalizes transitional periods where potentially important changes take place. Oftentimes when I see people’s reactions to beautiful artifacts or art from conventionally “weak” time periods, how they act all surprised and say something like “wow I did not expect such nice things to come from this time period” I can’t help but roll my eyes. Life will always be difficult for some people and enjoyable for others regardless of time period, in order to write a story the perspective has to be cherrypicked anyway, so why bother shying away from conventionally “weak” or “unstable” periods. This is not to mention how the criteria for choosing a golden age often reinforce structures of power and bigotry; “golden ages” in Chinese history were usually times when the military was strong and society was conservative, when China was invading other countries left and right and subjugating other peoples. It’s so uncomfortably male centered and overly nationalistic, and plain immature... 

And as we can see in the miserable level of accuracy in dramas set in the Qianlong era (or any other popular era to be honest), this obsession is nothing more than 叶公好龙, an obsession with the idea of something and not its content. Most producers don't actually give two hot fucks about real fashion in the Qianlong era, just ways in which they can use it as a backdrop for a fantasy. Despite the wealth of dramas and other media set in the Qianlong era, I have never seen a single Han women’s costume that is actually based on real sources from the Qianlong era (though I have seen some in Song of Youth, which is... set in the Ming Dynasty). 

The second half of the 18th century is a non era in Chinese fashion history, a void with next to zero recognition and a public ready to either deny its complete existence or appropriate it as the late Ming. Personal anecdote: I was once visiting the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna with a friend and there was this wallpaper from the Qianlong era with human figures in realistic fashion on display. This friend was quite interested in historical fashion so I pointed out to her that those clothes were Qianlong era (it also said that in the description of the artwork), and she straight out fucking refused to believe that and insisted they were from the “very early Qing”. This is not at all her personal opinion but a very widespread mindset in Chinese history discourse. I guess this goes back to the misconception of “late Ming fashion continuing into the early Qing” and all Qing fashion that do not look like stereotypical 19th century clothing getting mislabelled as Ming instead. It is incredibly frustrating. This is what I mean when I say 18th century erasure. It is so normalized in the Chinese period costuming industry that it doesn’t even sound weird or wrong to a lot of people, even though it should. 

I know many readers of my blog are interested in Western historical fashion as well, so to illustrate how absolutely bonkers 18th century erasure is let me make up some examples. Imagine, there is this new drama set in Georgian Britain, and they use exclusively costumes like this:

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Or like this:

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Or even like this!!!

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(A lot of Manchu fashion featured in period dramas are legit from the 1940s)

And then you show someone an 18th century fashion plate you found

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and they say, “oh this looks kind of Tudor, it must be 17th century! In the 18th century people actually wore what is shown in the drama, which is very accurate.” Wouldn’t you want to metaphorically yeet yourself out of the window?? How is this widespread and acceptable?? 

[audreydoeskaren]

Original posts masterpost 2/2

Apparently the old masterpost hit the maximum number of links so I’m starting a sequel :3

Asks by topic

18th century erasure

18th century erasure and why dramas are obsessed with the Qianlong era

A Republican era example

Cheongsam

Is the cheongsam representative of Chinese women from all regions

Why do some 1950s/60s cheongsam have round corners

Why did people stop wearing cheongsam in the 1960s and 70s

Did actresses still wear cheongsam after the 1960s

Excerpt on 1960s cheongsam from Daughters of Shanghai, the autobiography of Tsai Chin, 1, 2, 3, 4

Modern “split front” cheongsam

Foot binding

Thread on foot binding (tw misogyny, gendered violence)

Foot bound women could still work

Foot binding and Orientalism

Foot binding origin myths

Orientalism (cw racism)

Cultural appropriation vs. appreciation, extra on cosplay

Listen to poc when they tell you to stop cultural appropriation, extra

Is it appropriation to borrow historical Chinese pieces for fashion

How to balance between national pride and toxic nationalism

Being uncomfortable with white people wearing cheongsam to Halloween is not overreacting

Average duration of fashion trends in Chinese history plus why “ancient China” bugs me

Why “ancient China” is problematic, in more depth

“Un veritable manteau japonais” by Les Modes de la Femme de France, 1921

Why is there no “official” clothing for Chinese people

Queer history

Historical Chinese queer culture masterpost, extra on Orientalism and why “x through the dynasties” is bogus

What are some Chinese symbolisms for lesbians, addition 1, 2

Writing Chinese lesbians

Queer flowers other than lilies

Cut sleeve symbol

Cut sleeve in other cultures?

Chinese symbolism for homosexuality, homophobia in historical China

Golden Orchid Societies by the podcast Queer as Fact

Dating or identifying photographs/paintings etc.

1900s photo of father and son

Photograph from the 1910s

A Manchu gown worn by Empress Wanrong

Dunhuang feitian costume from a hanfu Tiktok

Portrait of the Mother and Son of Sy Jao by Ignacio Boncan

Fashion history tips and methods

Where to find info about historical fashion of different social classes

Resources to start learning Chinese fashion history

Tips for people new to Chinese fashion history

General fashion history

How would wedding outfits differ depending on social class

Plus size historical clothing

Chinese pants construction

Ming women and puffed skirts

Have fashion trends been created or popularized by sex workers

Burial clothes

Double bun hairstyle worn by Chinese characters in Japanese anime and games

Guzhuang and Chinese opera teaser

Were cornrows worn in Chinese history

My favorite fashion trends from the past

Chinese words for foot and breast binding

Chinese words for cheongsam binding and trim

Dressmaking in the Ming and Qing

Relationship between Korean and Chinese fashion in the Ming

Sleepwear

Singaporean samfoo and Chinese aoku

Modern usage of the word hanfu

Opera and period drama costuming in the West

Republican era swimwear

Chaofu hat of Qing emperors

18th century outerwear genealogy, follow up

18th century brazier for making tea

Difference between noble and commoner hanfu

Qing Dynasty ear muffs

How breastbinding was done

Late Ming long aoqun

Legend of Haolan headpieces

Beauty standards for women during the Qing

Would xiapei be used on formal occasions

Western menswear in China

Did any Qing period dramas portray ethnic minorities’ fashion accurately

Guides for determining historical accuracy

Jiajing era-Ming Dynasty, via 锦心似玉 The Sword and the Brocade/Brocade Heart Like Jade (2021)

1930s-Republican era

People/blog/book/resource recommendation

The ultimate blog rec

Old films with cheongsam

Two useful books

Jo Farrell’s videos of foot bound women

Some great books and articles

What are my favorite books on Chinese fashion history

mochihanfu on Tiktok

queerioes on Twitter

xiranjayzhao on Tumblr and YouTube

Period dramas and films with accurate costuming, my personal recommendations

Artist Pan Yuliang

Book about artist Pan Yuliang

“Fashioned from Nature in China: An Interview with Edith Cheung” by the podcast Dressed

Chinese queer history and gender studies book rec

Personal/random

I’m lesbian

Who is Karen

I only do 1368-1968

I don’t review guzhuang dramas

Would I rather live in the Ming or Qing

Why I’m interested in the periods I’m interested in

[audreydoeskaren]

Thank you for answering my last question, for this one, with all the knowledge you have. I would love to hear your own insights and analysis on the clothes, hairstyles, and accessories in this YouTube video. It is called "China Fashion Show in Shanghai, 1929, 90 years ago"

Link to the video (enhanced version)

I looove this video! More than obliged to analyze the fashion here.

Right off the bat I’m immediately captivated by their perfectly plucked eyebrows and satisfying hair. So you have three ladies in very representative styles of the 1929-32 Deco period, as I like to call it. You have two cheongsam (left and right) and a aoqun with vest, whose skirt seems to be constructed in a gathered style that resembles a contemporary Western robe de style evening dress.

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French robe de style designs.

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Deco period cheongsam.

In 1929, the sleeves were beginning to become tighter and less flared compared to previous years while the collar rose in height, eventually becoming a buttonless style that would be known as 筒子领 tongziling or "tube collar". This aoqun seems to have a tube collar that fastens at the side. You can see the side fastening in this shot, as well as the dense Marcel waves on her short bob (emphasis on short).

It's always lovely to see the back of hairstyles, nonetheless one so neatly coiffed. In my recent post about the 100 years of fashion video I mentioned a faux-butch look created by long hair brushed back, this is what I meant. I really appreciate how the narrating lady (the one in the robe de style) described their different hairstyles as "we have each solved the problem in a different way", acknowledging both long hair and short bobs. This is very refreshing compared to the narrative pushed by a lot of period dramas that short hair=good and modern and long hair=conservative and backwards. Both long and short hair were considered valid modern hairstyles!!

As to their earrings, yess these long, dangly earrings were very popular in the Deco period (I'm coining this term today). I think they look so cool.

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Deco period cheongsam and earrings.

The lady to the left mentions how her buttons are embellished with diamonds (or rhinestones? she rich if they're real diamonds oh my gosh), which is really fun since I've never paid much attention to buttons in this period. Love the giant flower, wearing flowers in one's hair regardless of occasion is truly Chinese heritage ahahaha.

The lady to the right has this bob that is curled at the bottom, which was another massively popular hairstyle in this time. They really summoned the holy trinity of Deco period hairstyles somehow.

Aoqun lady confirms that this is an evening dress so my robe de style hypothesis is correct!! Skirts and dresses of the Deco period were knee length with a dropped waist that rested at hip level. She probably has stockings on seeing how shiny her legs are, and she has the perfect evening shoes. In the late 1920s, Western shoes with a pointed toe, curved Louis heel and buckle at the front were very popular. This shiny/beaded texture was likely to differentiate them from day shoes.

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Late 20s evening shoes by Fenton Footwear.

This brocaded wrap coat is *chef’s kiss* perfection. Paul Poiret is proud. 

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1929 Marshall & Snelgrove evening coats advert (I’d love to find actual Parisian images but I don’t speak French😭)

Then we reached the end of the video. This video is so informative and beautifully made, 10/10 would recommend to anyone interested in 1929-32 fashion.