Study On Old Objects Of Horse-Face Skirt In The Late Qing Dynasty And Early Republic Of China

The goal of this research is to describe and analyze the characteristics of the Chinese horse-face skirt in the late Qing dynasty and the early republic of China.For years, this issue has been investigated by previous scholars;however, most of the works concentrate on the historical document or the picture materials while the study on the old objects is hardly involved. This research will be a complete study of the horse-face skirt within which 36 pieces of the old skirts (with 143 pictures), collected in DongHua University Clothing Art Museum, will be investigated by using various methods, such as: analysis, classification, comparison, statistics and deduction etc. And also the collected pictures taken from other old objects (34 pieces) and the paintings (68 pieces) will provide sufficient support to the study at the same time. It will give a more detailed and accurate analysis and description in the followings: the definition,structure, component elements, texture patterns, fabric, color, tailor, decoration technology, aesthetic judgment etc. The results obtained are as follows:1. With respect to the structure of horse-face skirt, the basic characteristics are quite similar to the costume named "YE SA" and another kind of skirt in Ming dynasty and the word "horse face" is also found in the documents of Ming, it should be regarded that horse-face skirt is oriented from Ming dynasty and become popular in Ding dynasty. In this research, a clear definition is given to the skirt and a new description is provided to the typical style and the transferred style of the horse-face skirt with an appropriate chart.2. During this period, the horse-face skirt has a series of changes. First, the hundred-pleat skirt appeared after the phoenix-tail skirt, and then came with the striped skirt in the early republic period. Second, the height of the waist band changed but it was not in accordance with the time. Third, the long and wide shape of the skirt hem gradually became shorter and narrow, more and more reflecting the silhouette of women's body. Forth, decorate strips became simpler and the numbers were to be smaller.3. The texture patterns also have series of change. First, the skirt was heavily decorated on the bottom and the height increasedwhile the fixed shape style changed into a separate shape style. Second, the older motifs were relatively traditional, stable and glory while the modern ones were simple, unstable and unadorned. Third, the various arrangements were fully done with smart design and harmony rhythm.4. With respect to the fabrics, the main material used in horse-face skirts is silk and unfinished cotton. The unfinished cotton is all for waist band and the silk is all for the left part. Generally the figured silk is for hundred-pleat skirt and the damask satin is for striped skirt and the phoenix-tail skirt. And most of the skirts get lining which is made of silk too.5. With respect to the tailor and decoration technology, they were gradually transited from manual sewing to machine one. Traditional manual ornament crafts, such as inlay and embroidery, etc., were replaced by machine and showed a tendency of becoming simpler.6. With respect to the aesthetic judgment, the skirt was once a formal dress which should be worn with long pants beneath, but this tradition transited into another form later with no pants wore anymore. And the waistline in that period have experienced a tendency from low waistline to the natural waistline style, this is in accordance with the increasing heightof the decorate patterns on the panels of the skirts.