Table of Contents
1. Introduction 2. Overview of changes in Chinese fashion over time * Ancient Chinese clothing * Fashion during Mao’s era * Fashion of PRC today 3. Compare and contrast of Russian fashion during the same period * Soviet Union fashion * Fashion after Soviet Union era * Comparisons 4. Influences and inspirations of ancient China’s clothing style on today’s style * Effect on the designs of clothing 5. Conclusion 6. Sources
* Introduction:
Since the very beginning of time, when people lived in huts and stone houses, the idea of fashion started to emerge in the form of garments made out of beast skins and leaves. Back then, ones who had the ability to hunt more beasts produced better garments and had a relatively higher status among the rest. That was the original idea of defining a man’s social status by his clothing style. In ancient China, the same story applied.
Chinese people first developed the idea of Hanfu (Chinese traditional clothing) during the Shang dynasty. Back then one person’s appearance can already tell what social status he held. The outfit was unisex and the colors of the Hanfu’s were merely basic primary colors like red, yellow, and blue. Later in history these Hanfu developed into more sophisticated style clothings like Shenyi around Zhou dynasty, and gender specification came to be. Men and women wore different clothings. However, during Mao’s era, everyone wore unisex tunic uniforms again, it was seen as a political implication. Soon after the social reform, and China’s open policy towards other countries, the clothing style changed dramatically. Dresses were introduced from western countries and they greatly influenced the fashion of Chinese people until this day.
Historically, Russia also experienced similar changes China went through; correspondingly, their fashion also went through a rollercoaster