服裝類英文文章
服裝是與人的生活最為關係密切的藝術門類,其審美內在規律值得探討。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!
1
Change Of Chinese Clothing
Tradition
An outstanding characteristic of traditional Chinese clothing is not only an external expression of elegance, but also an internal symbolism. Each and every piece oftraditionalclothing communicates a vitality of its own. This combination of external form with internal symbolism is clearly exemplified in the pair of fighting pheasant feathers used in head wear originating in the battle wear of the Warring States period ***475-221 B.C.***. Two feathers of a ho bird ***a type pheasant good at fighting*** were inserted into the head wear of warriors of this period to symbolize a bold and warlike spirit.
Archaeological findings of 18,000 year-old artifacts such as bone sewing needles and stone beads and shells with holes bored in them attest to the existence of ornamentation and of sewing extremely early in Chinese civilization. Variety and consistency in clothing were roughly established by the era of the Yellow Emperor and the Emperors Yao and Shun ***about 4,500 years ago***. Remains of woven silk and hemp articles and ancient ceramic figures further demonstrate the sophistication and refinement of clothing in the Shang Dynasty ***16th to 11th century B.C.***.
The three main types of traditional Chinese clothing are the pien-fu, the ch'ang-p'ao, and the shen-i. The pien-fu is an ancient two-piece ceremonial costume of a tunic-like top extending to the knees and a skirt or trousers extending to the ankles. The ch'ang-p'ao is a one-piece garment extending from the shoulders all the way to the heels. The shen-i is a cross between the pien-fu and the ch'ang-p'ao; it consists of a tunic and a skirt or trousers like the pien-fu, but the tunic and the skirt are sewed together and essentially one piece like the chang-pao. Consequently, the shen-i was the most widely worn of the three types. Typical of these three types of clothing were wide and voluminous sleeves and a very loose fit. Tunic and trousers or tunic and skirt, utilized a very minimum number of stitches for the amount of cloth used. So because of their relatively plain design and structure, embroidered edgings, decorated bands, draped cloth or silks, patterns on the shoulders, and sashes were often added as ornamentation. These varied designs came to be one of the unique features of traditional Chinese dress.
Darker colors were favored over lighter ones in traditional Chinese clothing, so the main color of ceremonial clothing tended to be dark while bright, elaborate tapestry designs accented. Lighter colored clothing was worn more frequently by the common people for everyday and around the house use. The Chinese associate certain colors with specific seasons: green represents spring, red symbolizes summer, white represents autumn, andblack symbolizes winter. The Chinese are said to have a fully developed system of matching,coordinating, and contrasting colors and shades of light and dark in apparel.
Today
Today, Fashion designers use a mixture of traditional and modern ideas to createnew fashions. These new fashions also incorporate age-old motifs such as guardian deities, lions, and masks of Chinese opera characters. Chinese bronze is another source of printed, woven, embroidered, and applied design for clothes. Some of the distinctive designs include dragons, phoenixes, clouds, and lightning. Motifs from traditional Chinese painting also end up in woven or printed fashion designs.
In modern society, men are seen at social occasions wearing the dignified and refined traditional Chinese long gown, and women often wear the ch'i-p'ao, a modified form of a traditional Ching Dynasty fashion, on formal occasions. The variations of height, length, width, and ornamentation of the collar, sleeves, skirt, and basic cut of this Oriental fashion are limitless.
Many accessories such as macram?are used to decorate shoulders, bodices, pockets, seams, and openings of clothing, as well as belts, hair ornaments, and necklaces. Some successful examples of combinations of modern and traditional fashion elements are the modern bridaltiara, based on a Sung Dynasty design and the Hunan Province style of embroidered sash made in the traditional colors of pure red, blue, and green. From these examples, it can be seen how traditional Chinese dress is the foundation of modern fashion. However, the Chinese have also adopted many Western styles of clothing such as business suits and jeans.
2
A Comparison of Chinese and Western
Clothing Culture
【Abstract】 In a sense, clothing reflects cultivation, taste, even dignity, and personality. It does not only beautify one's appearance but also represents a national political, economic, scientific, technological, and cultural landscape. In a word, it reflects the nation's overall quality. As one of the human culture manifestations, clothing culture was born to the national difference. This paper has analyzed the difference of Chinese and the Western clothing cultural in many aspects. The innovative spot of the paper is that it uses artistic conception to expatiate the Chinese and the Western clothing cultural differences. It enables people to have further understanding of Chinese and the Western clothing culture, achieving a better inheritance and development.
【Key Words】contrast;clothing;China;west;
I. Introduction
Clothing is a mundane part of our daily life. Yet in every culture, clothing is one of the most powerful and ubiquitous forms of visual communication. Judging people's clothes they wear, we can easily evaluate their social status, occupation, ethnic or national identity, and so on. Manipulating the same sets of signals, people can declare their individuality, indicate their beliefs, and signify their membership within various groups through the way they dress. Clothing is human unique achievement. It is not only the material civilized crystallization, but also the meaning of spiritual civilization. The h uman passed through society from barbarism to the civilization, marched forward slowly for several thousand years. After our ancestors left the apes and monkeys with a hands-clasped bow, they draped over the animal skin and the leaf to go through the years in wind and rain which counted with difficulty, and finally strode in the civilized time difficultly. Then they got to warm the body by leaves, created a material civilization. However, to pursue beauty is the human instinct. The clothes on human as the gold plating in Buddha, whose aim is not only to cover and warm body, but also to make them look more beautiful. After the appearance of clothing, people gradually put their custom, esthetic appeal, color interest, as well as all sorts of cultural mind, and the religious idea into the clothing, to reflect the connotation of clothing culture. Therefore a nationality's clothing characteristic is deeply rooted in national culture. The Chinese and Western clothing went through the millennium history continually, and then formed their own special style and system.
2. Different rank concepts in Chinese and Western clothing
2.1 Rank concept of clothing in China
China is the nation of etiquette. The goal of the rituals is to maintain “the etiquette has the different ranks”, and clothing is the representation of different ranks. Therefore, the Chinese clothing culture is the symbol of politics. For example, the King always wore the fur coat as sacrificial clothing in the significant festival. The quantity and the quality of the pearls enchased in the crown are different a ccording to the owner’s status. The clothes are not only different in color, but also in the design. The crown of king and the fumigated clothing are decorated by twelve kinds of emblems***帝王冕服，雲衣薰裳，用十二章紋***. The emblems refer to the sun, the moon, the stars, the dragon, the insect; the algae, the fire, and the embroidery on the ceremonial dress of noblemen in ancient times, as well as the unicorn, which have their symbolic significance. The garments of upper duke take nine chapters, but the marquis’ clothing have seven chapters, or five chapters. The reason why people make such a complex stipulation to the clothing is that it can distinguish miscellaneous and simpleness, and classify the senior and junior. When the dynasty changed, especially when another race to invade. It always caused a dramatic revolution in the national clothing.
2.2 Rank concept of clothing in Western countries
The break of the western culture and the primitive effect are quite thorough. The ancient Greece city-state system demonstrated the characteristic of the slave-owner democratism, whose society had not been controlled by an emperor. Therefore the western clothing rank idea is quite weak and not strict except the extremely special ceremony activity. Upscale works and fine lining mainly display their rank differences. Many noblewomen bribe the clothing artisan in the palace to know what kind of clothing the queen will wear in the social occasion. Then they dress up as the same as their queen, in order to show off. Their queen always permits others to wear the same attire like hers. This tolerant behavior causes little exclusive politics in the clothing, such as design, color, pattern and aesthetic factors.
3. The different culture Of Westerners
Can we comprehend our society by observing the appearance and behavior of its people because of the way people dress reveals people's attitudes and interests ? While when we view this fantastic world , we will realize this point of view is reasonable, For instance: the French dress romantically because romance and imagination are the main factors in French culture; the American dress optionally which is the result of American's quick rhythm of life and the Japanese dress formally, which may partly because the emphasizing of comity in Japanese culture. Thus when we carefully appreciate different dresses from different countries, we can realize distinct cultural atmosphere. Also, changing in people's dressing styles coincide with value changes of a society. A quite typical instance is Artistic Dress Movement happened in 1860s, which were fashion trends in nineteenth century clothing. Dresses were loosely fitted and comparatively plain, often with long puffed sleeves; they were made from fabric in muted colors derived from natural dyes, and could be ornamented with embroidery in the art needlework style. Artistic Dress gradually became popular in intellectual circles and among artist for it natural beauty, it also reinforce their social ideals of quality materials , respect for the work of hands, and the purity of medieval design. Such evidence demonstrate the truth that dress and appearance of people are the mirror of an age.