Where would be a good place to find information on the fashion of different social classes?
Hi, thanks for the ask. It's different for each time period, so I'll use the Qing Dynasty and republican era as examples. Each dynasty had different sumptuary laws stating what people of different classes were allowed to wear, such as specific colors or items of clothing. Formal clothing worn by the aristocracy and royalty were heavily regulated, so those rules could be consulted for formal upper class dress. These existed even in the republican and communist eras, but were much more relaxed. For the Qing Dynasty these rules were recorded in the 大清会典, whereas for the republican era the 服制条例. In the republican era, Western formal dress code was more or less adopted and wealthy people would wear different clothes for morning, day, evening, dinner or reception etc.. Since there was no monarchy or aristocracy in the republican era anymore, the formal dress code applied to everyone, though poorer people generally could not afford to have special outfits for each occasion.
As to visual representation, most portraits from the Ming, Qing and republican era where the person is sitting in a stiff pose depicted formal dress. These are a good place to learn about formal aristocratic dress but the rules weren't always enforced 100%, for example non aristocratic people in the late Ming Dynasty (16th and early 17th centuries) stopped caring about sumptuary laws and frequently imitated aristocratic fashion. In such cases, if the person could afford it the rules could be bent to a certain extent.
Qing Dynasty portrait of 朝服 formal ensemble for Manchu court people.
Illustration for the republican era formal dress code, 1942 version.
Most "mainstream" Chinese historical fashion trends were informal and not regulated, meaning they were able to evolve organically. These were worn by people of all social classes who could afford it but mostly the middle and upper classes. When I talk about "historical Chinese fashion" this type of clothing is what I mean, because other types of clothing (formal dress, peasant's folk clothing) tended to not change over time and were ultimately influenced by popular fashion. For the Qing Dynasty specifically, popular fashion could easily be found in export paintings, 年画 nianhua or illustrations for novels. For the republican era, advertisements, calendar paintings and pinup posters usually depicted these as well.
Xianfeng/Tongzhi era export painting depicting popular Han women's fashion.
Kangxi era illustration for novel 肉蒲团 showing popular fashion.
1930s advertisement showing popular informal fashion. Since there was no monarchy and aristocracy anymore, bourgeois fashion flourished.
Most of the times in Chinese history the poor just wore more practical and plainer versions of what the rich and fashionable were wearing. Oftentimes in Ming and Qing portraiture you could see not only the rich patrons but also some of their servants, who generally wore less glamorous fashions (although if you worked at a wealthy household you would still be more privileged fashion wise than actual poor people). Popular novels and accounts are good places to look for descriptions of poor people's clothing. Since most resources for Chinese fashion history are centered on rich people, I'm not as knowledgeable about poor people's clothing so I'm not really qualified to talk about that... In the Qing Dynasty and republican era, poor working people also usually wore pants instead of skirts, and were often without bound feet/wore flats instead of high heels. There are lots of photographs and paintings for the late Qing Dynasty and republican eras, and poor people are generally quite easy to identify.
Daoguang era portrait showing wealthy lady in formal dress and her maid in pants and without bound feet.
1890s wealthy lady and her maid. The maid's outfit is significantly plainer.
1940s print by Paul Jacoulet showing a wealthy Manchu lady and her Han maid in aoku (robe and pants).
Interestingly, a lot of republican era (mostly 1930s and 40s) poor people's clothing could be backtracked using communist era propaganda posters, since their clothing didn't change so much over the decades.
1964 propaganda poster showing rural women; working class women in the 1930s and 40s would have worn something similar (though I think the sneakers were a 1950s contraption).
This is not a comprehensive guide to all social classes so if anyone has anything to add please do :3
