Women's clothing and accessories in the Han Dynasty are widely recorded in ancient documents and literary works. "Book of the Later Han·Yu Fu Zhi" elaborates on the content of the hierarchical system of women's clothing in the Han Dynasty. Nie Chongyi's "Three Rites" of the Song Dynasty conducted a textual research on women's clothing based on the Confucian classics "Zhou Rites", "Rituals" and "Book of Rites".
The inheritance of previous costumes in the Han Dynasty is reflected in the "Han inherits the Qin system". The clothing system of the Han Dynasty was formally established in the period of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty. "Book of the Later Han·Yu Fu Zhi" contains detailed descriptions of the clothing and accessories worn by aristocratic women on different occasions. Aristocratic women wear a variety of clothing, while ordinary civilians wear relatively single styles of clothing due to economic constraints and official restrictions on clothing colors and materials. Under the rule of Huang-Lao thought in the early Han Dynasty, the binding effect of Confucian etiquette was not very strong. Overall, the society was in a relatively relaxed social environment, and the social status of women was improved. Women have a higher degree of spiritual freedom, are brave in innovation, attach importance to shaping their personal image, and create a variety of clothing types. Some clothing styles, hairstyles, etc. will cause people to imitate them one after another, forming a popular social trend.
Before the Han Dynasty, there were basically two forms of traditional clothing: the top-lower garment style and the garment-attached style. Most of the tops are in the style of upper and lower garments, with the collar folded and the right hem folded, and the lower garment is shaped like an apron and tied at the waist. The skirt suit that appeared in the Han Dynasty is of this shape. The attached clothes mainly include various robes and deep clothes.
Deep clothes
Deep clothing began to be used for women's clothing in the late Warring States Period, and was still very popular in the Han Dynasty. The form of deep garments is generally cross-collared right pleats with hooked edges. They are divided into deep garments with curved trains and deep garments with straight trains. "Book of Rites: Shenyi" records that "shenyi can be used for literature and martial arts...it is complete and free..." Lu Dalin of the Song Dynasty believed: "The use of deep clothes does not matter if they have the same name, whether they are good or bad, and whether they are men or women. It doesn’t matter if you wear the same clothes.” This shows that there are no restrictions on the number of people wearing dark clothes and the occasions on which they can be worn. Women's deep garments can be worn as dresses or at home. The Changxin palace lantern unearthed from a Han tomb in Mancheng, Hebei Province, is shaped like a palace maid wearing a deep robe with a curved train. In the silk painting unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, Hunan, an old woman, symbolizing the female owner of the tomb, wears dark clothes with rich patterns.
robe
Before the Han Dynasty, robes were only worn as underwear and casual clothes. Compared with deep clothes, their shapes were wider and their trains were shorter. Robes with wide sleeves were a popular clothing for women in the Han Dynasty. In addition to being casual clothes, they could also be used as dresses for aristocratic women on special occasions. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty·Yu Fu Zhi" records: "Princesses, nobles, concubines and above are required to wear brocade and silk ribbons, and adopt twelve-color heavy fate robes." The trains of the robes include straight trains and curved trains. These two types of robes were unearthed from the burial objects of the female tomb owner in the Wangdui Han Tomb. There are different explanations for the form of robes. It is generally believed that robes can be divided into two forms: robes and robes. Liu Xi's "Shi Ming Shi Yi" said: "Women's upper garments are called hao, and the drooping ones are wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, like a knife and Gui." That is, in the lower part of this kind of robe, the shape of the skirt is similar to a pointed Gui. The vessel was called a robe. Yan Shigu's ancient annotation "Han Shu He Bing Zhuan" said that "蜜褕" is a single garment with a curved train (without lining), while Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" says that "蜜褕" is a single garment with a straight train.
Skirt
The upper skirt and lower skirt became popular in the Qin Dynasty and became very popular in the Han Dynasty. The undershirt is a top, usually with a sloping collar and right gusset, wide sleeves, and the lower end is tied into the lower skirt. A short skirt was found in the Mawangdui Han Tomb, which may have been worn daily by the female owner of the tomb. Skirts in the Han Dynasty were mostly long skirts, usually reaching the length of the feet or even longer. There are images of women wearing wide-sleeved jackets and long skirts in the murals of the Han Dynasty Tomb in Dahuting, Mi County, Henan and the murals in Xibaqingli, Luoyang.
Half sleeves
The half-sleeve is a top worn on the outermost part of the garment, similar to the half-arms of later generations. Liu Xi's "Shi Ming Shi Clothes" records: "Half sleeves, half sleeves, and sleeves." Female figurines wearing half sleeves were unearthed from the Eastern Han Dynasty Tomb in Yongfeng, Chengdu, Sichuan. Some half-sleeves are simple in shape and without decoration; others are decorated with edges and pleats, making them look very gorgeous.
pants
In the early Han Dynasty, trousers were crotchless. It is usually two trouser legs that are put on the legs and tied with belts. The female tomb owner of the Mawangdui Han Tomb was wrapped in layers of gorgeous clothes, but she didn't even wear pants. Maybe because the clothes at that time were tightly wrapped from top to bottom, it didn't hurt to not wear pants. It is generally believed that crotchless trousers in the Han Dynasty began to emerge during the reign of Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty. In order to prevent other palace ladies from getting close to the emperor, Queen Shangguan ordered the palace ladies to wear crotchless pants.
In the early Western Han Dynasty, the economy was in depression, and the rulers did not make unified regulations on the clothing system. "Han inherited the Qin system", but some systems still continued the regulations of the Qin Dynasty. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Confucianism "exclusively respected" ideological governance. Confucianism emphasized etiquette, and the concept of hierarchy reflected in clothing was re-established. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once issued an edict to correct Shuo and Yi Fuse. However, this restructuring only stipulates uniform colors and does not stipulate specific uniform rules.
In the second year of Yongping reign of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a detailed system of official uniforms was formulated, and specific regulations were also made on the clothing of concubines. Throughout the Han Dynasty, due to their status and economic conditions, aristocratic women wore clothing and accessories made of a wide variety of materials and exquisitely made. Ordinary civilians have strict restrictions on fabrics and clothing colors that cannot be exceeded.
For more than four hundred years from the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, women's clothing showed a transformation process in terms of overall style. Judging from the clothing of aristocratic women, aristocratic women in the Western Han Dynasty mostly wore dark clothes, while women in the Eastern Han Dynasty mostly wore loose robes. In comparison, the fabrics of women's clothing during the Eastern Han Dynasty were more sophisticated, and the patterns and decorations were more complex. Women's hair styles are also more diverse, and their makeup styles are more varied. The reason is that at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China in the early Western Han Dynasty, the economy was in depression. Starting from the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, despite the impact of the war between the two Han Dynasties, the overall economy has gradually developed. Due to the restrictions of Huang-Lao's thoughts in the early Western Han Dynasty, women's clothing showed a simple style. After Confucianism became popular, its etiquette thought made women's clothing reflect their hierarchical status just like men's. Women's clothing gradually became richer and became more gorgeous and diversified.
Clothing originally served as a practical item to protect the body and ward off the cold. With the development of society and the emergence of human aesthetic consciousness, it has been endowed with artistic beauty on the basis of practicality. For example, the costumes worn by dancers in the Han Dynasty, with stretched long sleeves and elegant skirts, highlight the dancer's slender figure and graceful dancing posture. The development of the textile industry has made clothing patterns more colorful. Economic prosperity, the opening of the Silk Road, and the expansion of foreign exchanges have enriched the cultural connotation of clothing patterns. The popular cloud patterns, mythical beasts, animal patterns, geometric patterns and auspicious words in the Western Han Dynasty, and the popular figures, light bird and beast patterns and other decorative patterns in the Eastern Han Dynasty not only reflected people's aesthetic consciousness at that time, but also expressed people's yearning for a better life.
