In recent years, costume dramas featuring Tang Dynasty aesthetics have surged in popularity. From the widely acclaimed "The Curse of the Pearl Screen" and "Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty" to upcoming productions like "National Beauty and Fragrance" starring Yang Zi and Li Xian, "Midnight Return" with Tian Xiwei and Xu Kai, Liu Shishi's "Palm of the Hand," and the adaptation of Ma Boyong's novel "Lychees of Chang'an," the Tang Dynasty has become the go - to historical backdrop for filmmakers.
The Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD) was a golden age of Chinese civilization, renowned for its cultural confidence and sartorial splendor. As historian Sun Ji noted in "Essays on Ancient Chinese Costumes," Tang noblewomen boldly embraced low - cut dresses that accentuated their beauty. The poet Ouyang Xun famously captured this aesthetic with the line: "Snow - white chests and flower - like faces."
Shen Congwen's "History of Chinese Clothing" details how Tang women pioneered fashion trends. The popular "half - sleeve" jacket, worn over narrow - sleeved blouses, featured various collar styles and was tied with delicate ribbons across the chest. The pi (披帛), a long decorative scarf often made of sheer silk with intricate patterns, became a signature accessory. Contemporary records praised how these "vibrant drapes" enhanced feminine grace.
During the Shangsi Festival on the third day of the third lunar month, Chang'an's elite women would promenade by the riverside in high - waisted skirts, their pi scarves fluttering, hair piled high with ornamental hairpins (buyao), foreheads adorned with floral huadian designs, and toes peeking from upturned shoes. Their influence was so profound that a Han Dynasty proverb noted: "When the capital favors high chignons, the provinces raise them higher."
Tang women's wardrobe revolved around three essentials: skirt, blouse, and pi scarf. Sun Ji emphasized that these formed the foundation of female attire across all social classes. The dynasty's fashion evolution mirrored its historical trajectory—early Tang's athletic simplicity, high Tang's opulent grandeur, and late Tang's extravagant ornamentation.
Breaking gender norms, Tang women freely adopted male attire, wearing low - cut tunics and venturing out unchaperoned—a radical departure from contemporary European medieval dress codes. Men's fashion incorporated Central Asian influences, featuring futou headwear, round - collar robes, leather belts, and knee - high boots. The futou, made of lightweight fabric, allowed Tang gentlemen to maintain impeccable style while indulging in sandalwood - scented grooming rituals.
As the Tang capital welcomed foreign merchants along the Silk Road, hu (Central Asian) styles gained popularity. Women sported fitted hu jackets with leather boots, their lips and cheeks brightly painted—a look that epitomized Tang cosmopolitanism. Scholar Wu Gongzheng observed in "Aesthetic History of the Tang Dynasty" how quickly trends spread from urban centers to rural areas, creating a dynamic fashion cycle where styles rapidly replaced one another.
This enduring sartorial legacy explains why filmmakers continually return to Tang aesthetics. As Coco Chanel remarked, "Fashion fades, only style remains the same"—a truth vividly embodied by Tang Dynasty fashion's timeless appeal.
