Chapter 18 Changing Notes

If the clothes that have been passed down from generation to generation were not sold to second-hand collectors in large quantities, it would be a splendid and lively event to hang clothes in June every year.You walk between bamboo poles, with silk and satin walls on both sides - that is the tunnel excavated from the ancient palace buried underground.You put the corner of your forehead on the gold embroidery.When the sun was here, it scorched the golden thread, but it was cold now. People in the past have worked hard all their lives, and their actions are gradually covered in dust; when the descendants hang their clothes to dry, they shake off the dust again and dance in the yellow sun.If memory has a scent, it is the scent of camphor, sweet and safe, like the well-remembered happiness, sweet and melancholy, like the forgotten sorrow.

We can hardly imagine the world in the past, so slow, quiet, and tidy—under the 300-year rule of the Qing Dynasty, women had no fashion to speak of!Generations of people wear the same clothes without getting bored.When the country was founded, women's clothing still retains the obvious legacy of the Ming Dynasty because "men and women are not surrendered".From the middle of the seventeenth century to the end of the nineteenth century, extremely loose shirts and trousers were popular, with a calm and calm atmosphere.The collar is so low, something equals nothing.What is worn outside is a "big coat".On informal occasions, the "middle jacket" is exposed when the clothes are loosened. Inside the "middle jacket" there is a "little jacket" that fits tightly, and you don't take it off when you go to bed. Most of it is a seductive peach or water red.On top of the three coats, a "cloud shoulder vest" was added, black forged and wide inlaid, with a big cloud head coiled.

With slashed shoulders, slender waist, and flat chest, the thin and small standard beauty disappeared under the weight of layers of clothes.She herself does not exist, but is just a clothes hanger.The Chinese do not approve of women who are too conspicuous.The sensational virtues recorded in history—for example, the cutting off of an arm by a strange man after pulling it off—although universally admired, the intelligentsia always felt a little regretful because a woman It shouldn't attract too much attention; Ren Tie Zhengzheng's name, hanging on the lips of thousands of people, has also rusted in the steam of breathing.If a woman wants to stand out, there are people who object to such an ostentatious approach, not to mention outlandish attire, which is naturally even more offensive.

The skirt that is put on the trousers when going out is more thoroughly regularized.Usually they are black, but during festivals, wives wear red and aunts wear pink.A widow wears a black dress, but many years after her husband passed away, she can wear lake or snow blue if her parents-in-law are present.The pintucks in a skirt are the strictest test of a woman's manners.The well-educated girl walks slowly, and although the pleated skirt does not move at all, it is only limited to the slightest trembling.Xiao Jiabiyu, who is not used to wearing skirts, gives the impression of being turbulent when she walks.Even more demanding is the bride's red dress, with streamers about half an inch wide hanging from the waist of the skirt, with bells tied at the end of the skirt.There is only a faint jingle when you move, like wind chimes on a pagoda on a distant mountain.It was not until around 1920, when the looser and more free-spirited wide pleated skirts came into fashion, that this type of skirt was completely abolished.

Wearing leather, he couldn't bear some comings and goings, so he was regarded as an upstart.Leather clothing has a certain season, and it is classified into categories, which is extremely detailed.If it is extremely cold in October, it is okay to wear three layers of leather. As for what kind of leather to wear, it depends on the season and not the weather.Wear "small hair" in early winter, such as blue-bred sheep, purple lamb, and pearl lamb; then wear "medium hair", such as ermine, squirrel, gray spine, fox leg, sweet shoulder, and Japanese sword; in mid-winter wear "big hair",— — White Fox, Green Fox, West Fox, Black Fox, Sable. Only people with "reputation" can wear mink.People of the middle and lower classes used to be much richer than they are now, and most of them had a gown with gold and silver inlays or sheepskin.

The girls' "Zhaojun suit" adds some color to the gloomy winter moon.According to the pictures of past dynasties, the windbag worn by Zhaojun when he went out of the fortress was from the Eskimo family. It is simple and elegant, and many Hollywood stars imitated it.The "Zhaojun suit" in China in the 19th century was crazy and gorgeous. It was a melon skin hat with a leather circle around the brim, a huge red pompom on the top of the hat, and two pink ribbons hanging from the back of the head. , with a pair of gold seals adorning the end of the belt, which often strike each other.

Excessive attention to detail is key to clothing of the period.In modern Western fashion, there are many kinds of unnecessary embellishments, but they all have a purpose - to carry forward the blue of the eyes, to subsidize the underdeveloped chest, to make people look taller or shorter, and to focus on the On the waist, eliminate the excessive curves of the buttocks... The embellishments on ancient Chinese clothes are completely meaningless. If it is purely decorative, why are the soles of the shoes covered with complicated patterns?The shoes themselves rarely have the opportunity to show their faces in front of people, let alone the soles.The edge of the high bottom is also filled with dense patterns.

There are "three inlays and three rolls", "five inlays and five rolls", "seven inlays and seven rolls". The silk lace called "Langan" is about seven inches wide, and the words "Fushou" are hollowed out. There are countless small interesting points gathered here, and this kind of non-stop extravagance, unrestrained, unreasonable, and wasting energy on irrelevant things is the consistent attitude of the Chinese idlers.Only the idlest people in the idlest country in the world can appreciate the beauty of these details.It certainly takes art and time to create a hundred patterns that are similar and not repeatable; appreciating it is equally troublesome.

Ancient Chinese fashion designers seem to have no idea that a woman is not a grand view garden after all.Too much stuffing distracts interest.The history of our fashions, in a word, is the gradual subtraction of these embellishments. Of course things are not that simple.There are also alternating gains and losses in waist size.The first serious change occurred in the 32nd year of Guangxu.Railways are no longer so rare, and trains have begun to play an important role in the lives of Chinese people.The latest styles of various major commercial ports were quickly introduced to the mainland.The clothes and pants gradually shrunk, and when the "railway" and the wide rolling strip passed, there was only one extremely narrow strip left.The flat one is "leek side", and the round one is "dengguo side", also known as "xianxiang roll".In periods of political turmoil and social unrest—such as the Renaissance in Europe—fashionable clothes are always tight around the body, light and neat, and vigorous activities are allowed. In Italy in the fifteenth century, because the pants were too tight Small, with elbows bent and knees, joints must be slit.Chinese clothes nearly swelled and burst while the revolution was brewing. When the "little emperor" came to the throne, the jacket was like a scabbard on the person.The function of Chinese women's tight vests is really wonderful-no matter how tight the clothes are, the flesh under the clothes will still not be realistic, and it will not look like a woman but like a wisp of poetic spirit.The straight line of the long jacket extended to the knees, and there were two narrow trouser legs hanging down under it. Jin Lian, who seemed to have feet but not feet, stepped lightly on the ground regretfully.The pencil-thin trousers are wonderful in giving people a feeling of loneliness.In Chinese poetry, "poor" is synonymous with "cute".Men tend to have the habit of protecting the opposite sex, and in the transitional age of lean and yellow, the ups and downs and hardships of life stimulated this tendency even more.The women with wide robes and long sleeves and tight necks now find that being too lucky is not enough, and it is in their advantage to be a poor person.

It was another era of extremes.The shortcomings of the political and family institutions were suddenly exposed.The young intellectuals hate everything traditional, even everything Chinese.The conservative aspect also heightens the pressure for fear's sake.Nervous controversies go on every day, in the family, in the newspapers, in the entertainment places.Even a smeared civilized play actor, the ideal lover of his aunts and wives, also borrowed topics from his fiancée on the stage, discussed current affairs, and burst into tears. The ancient country, which has always been peaceful, has never been so turbulent.In that hysterical atmosphere, the "Yuanbao collar" was born - a stiff collar that was as high as the tip of the nose, like Burmese metal collars stacked up to a foot high, forcing women to stretch their necks.The frightening garment was completely out of proportion to the twisted willow waist underneath, and its top-heavy, unbalanced nature was emblematic of the era.At the beginning of the Republic of China, there seemed to be a superficial Qingming atmosphere in all aspects for a period of time.Everyone took seriously Rousseau's idealized humanism.The students enthusiastically support the voting system, non-filial piety, and free love.Even purely spiritual love has been experimented with, but it doesn't seem to work.

The fashion also shows unprecedented innocence, lightness and joy. The "trumpet sleeve" flutters like a celestial being, revealing a large section of jade wrist.The waist of the short jacket is extremely tight.Women of the upper class wear skirts when they go out, but at home they only wear a pair of knee-length shorts and silk stockings that only reach the knees. Occasionally, the junction of the pants and socks boldly exposes the knees. The long and wide light-colored silk trouser belt, with tassels floating at the end of the belt. Most of the fashions in the early years of the Republic of China were inspired by the West.It doesn't count if the collar is lowered, even when it is removed.The neckline is dug into round, square, chicken heart-shaped, diamond-shaped.White silk scarf can be used in all seasons.The black embroidery on the heels of the white stockings, the procession of weevils crawling up the calf.Courtesans and prostitutes often wear plain glasses for beauty.Imported products are accepted indiscriminately, which is evident. Warlords come and go, flying sand and rocks behind their horseshoes, following their own officials, governments, laws, stumbling and catching up, and the fashions are also ever-changing.The hem of the short jacket is sometimes round, sometimes pointed, and sometimes hexagonal.Women's clothes are usually like jewelry, ageless, and can be sold at any time, but they are no longer popular in pawnshops in the Republic of China, because they are worthless after passing the time. The ever-changing fashion does not necessarily reflect a lively spirit and novel ideas.Just the opposite.It can represent sluggishness; all creativity flows into the area of ​​clothing due to failure in other spheres of activity.During periods of political chaos, people are powerless to improve their living conditions.They can only create the environment that surrounds them - and that is the clothes.We each live in our own garments. In 1921, women wore robes.The flag costumes that originated in Manchuria have been in parallel with the costumes of the Middle Earth since the bannermen entered the customs. The women under the banner thought their cheongsam lacked femininity and wanted to change to more charming jackets and trousers. However, the emperor An edict was issued and it was strictly prohibited.After the republic of the five ethnic groups, women all over the country suddenly adopted cheongsam unanimously, not because they were loyal to the Qing Dynasty and advocating the restoration movement, but because women deliberately imitated men.In China, since ancient times, women have been synonymous with "three strands of hair, two strands of clothing." There is a very subtle difference between one strand of clothing and two strands of clothing, and there seems to be no unfairness, but in 1920 Women are easily overwhelmed.Influenced by Western culture, they are obsessed with the theory of equal rights between men and women, but the actual situation around them is far from the ideal. Under shame and indignation, they reject everything that is feminine, wishing to kill the root of women.Therefore, Chuxing's cheongsam is cold and square, with a Puritan style.Politically, a series of unfortunate incidents both internally and externally has discouraged the public.There will always be a day when the ideals of young people cannot be supported.Fashion began to tighten.The flared sleeves are shrunk.In 1930, the sleeves were as long as the elbows, and the collar was raised again. The advantage of the ingot collar in previous years was that it was at a suitable angle, and it cut obliquely across the cheeks. The high collar of the girl is cylindrical, and it presses against the chin tightly, and the girls who have not yet relaxed their muscles also have a double chin.This kind of collar is simply unforgivable.But it symbolizes the intellectualized lewd atmosphere of ten years ago—the straight collar far separates the goddess-like head from the plump fleshy body below.There is sarcasm here, and there is wild laughter after despair. The double-breasted military-style jacket popular in Europe and America at that time matched the sad mood of the Chinese people.But the Chinese woman who sticks to the golden mean wears a floor-length velvet gown under the valiant overcoat, which is slit to the thigh, revealing long trousers of the same material, with silver lace shining on the bottom of the trousers.The protagonist of the clothes also has such a strange answer, all of them sang high-profile fiercely on the surface.Still a materialist at heart. The most important change in recent years is the abolition of the sleeves. (It seemed to be an extremely difficult and dangerous job, and it took twenty years of work to cut it off completely.) At the same time, the collar was shortened, the body of the robe was shortened, and the decorative inlays were also eliminated, and the coils were used instead. Buttons were used instead, and soon even buttons were abandoned in favor of stud buttons.In short, this account is a total subtraction - all embellishments, whether useful or not, are all removed.All that remained was a tight vest, exposing the neck, arms and calves. What matters now is the person, and the function of the cheongsam is nothing more than to faithfully outline the contours of the human body.The pre-revolutionary attire was on the contrary, people were secondary and only focused on poetic lines, so a woman's figure was formulaic, and she didn't take off her clothes, and she didn't know how she was different from her. Our fashion is not a planned and organized industry, unlike in Paris, where a few large-scale fashion houses such as Le longs Schiaparellis monopolize everything and affect the entire white world.Our tailor has no claim.The fantasies of the public often coincide to produce an incredible torrent.Tailors have nothing but to follow.For this reason, Chinese fashion can be more representative of public opinion. It is difficult to prove who is the creator of fashion, because the Chinese do not respect copyright, and the authors don't mind much, since plagiarism is the most solemn compliment.The recently fashionable half-length sleeves, also known as "three-quarter sleeves", are said by Shanghainese to be originated from Hong Kong, while Hong Kong people are said to have originated from Shanghai. The return of a pair of sleeves heralds the revival of formalism.The latest development is to go to the traditional side. Although the details cannot be restored, the outline can be quoted as much as possible, and it can be used flexibly to meet the needs of the modern environment.The apron style of the cheongsam is a good example. It is a bit of a style of "three days into the kitchen", which is intriguing. The recent history of menswear has been more prosaic.It was only a very short period, from the 4th year of the Republic of China to the 1989th year of the Republic of China. Men's clothes were also fancy, with multi-pointed wishful hair, and the materials of men's and women's clothes could be used in the same way. One of the strange status quo.The current Chinese suits are, of course, discreet and gloomy, abiding by the conventions of Western gentlemen. Even Chinese suits have been rolling in gray, brown, and dark blue for many years, and the texture and pattern are extremely monotonous.A man's life is much more free than a woman's, but just because of this lack of freedom, I don't want to be a man.Clothes seem like a trivial matter.Liu Bei once said: "Brothers are like siblings, wives are like clothes." But if a woman can achieve the point where "husbands are like clothes", it will not be easy.A Western writer (is it George Bernard Shaw?) once complained that most women choose a husband far less attentively and carefully than choosing a hat.No matter how heartless a woman is, when she talks about her "last year's brocade jacket", she is also very affectionate. Until the eighteenth century, Chinese and foreign men still had the right to wear red and green.The limitation of men's clothing color is a characteristic of modern civilization.Whether or not this has unhealthy psychological effects, at least it is unnecessarily depressing.In the collective life of a civilized society, there are many kinds of necessary suppression, and it seems that some small details should be indulged as compensation.There is such an argument that if men are more interested in clothing, maybe they will settle down a bit, and they will not do everything possible to win the attention and praise of the society, and do not hesitate to bring disaster to the country and the people in order to build their own reputation.It would be a joke to say that the world would be peaceful as long as men were dressed up in bright colors.Officials wearing embroidered bellybands under their big red python clothes will still confuse the court.However, in the rationalized utopia of the prophet Wells, the male and female citizens all wear the most colorful film-based underwear and cloaks, which are worthy of our reference. Because of the customary relationship, men's clothes are a little out of style, which is indeed not pleasing to the eye. An overcoat is an example. It is better to add a cotton or leather robe, even if it is more bulky.Once I saw a young man on the tram, maybe a student, maybe a store clerk, with a gown that was too tight made of beige and green checkered rabbit woolen, wearing women's red and green striped socks on his feet, with a mouthpiece in his mouth. Chic painted fake ivory pipe with no smoke in it.He sucked on it for a while, took it down and disassembled it piece by piece, put it back on again, and put it in his mouth to suck, his face was very colorful.Ridiculous at first glance, but why not, if he likes it? ...In the cool autumn dusk, the stalls on the small vegetable market were closed, and the ground was full of fishy smell and bluish-white skin and dregs of miliflower.A child rushed over on a bicycle, showed off his skills, yelled, let go of the handrail, swayed, and passed lightly.At this moment, the people all over the street were filled with unreasonable admiration.Let go of the loveliest moment in life?