Beijing Opera Costumes: The Visual Communication of Character and Culture

3. The Form and Historical Roots of Costumes

G When classifying traditional Jingju costumes, the Chinese use a system of “outer” and “inner” elements to describe the visual impact. The outer describes the overall image, primarily the silhouette, which is rather simple, yet it indicates all six of the identifiers: the person’s status , gender, wealth, nationality, age, and whether they are military or civilian. The inner image is created by the combination of color and design on the surface of the costume. The composition of these elements reveals more information about the specific character, his or her personality, and his or her relationship to other characters, as well as elaborating on the six identifiers. The outer and inner characteristics work together to create impressions for the audience. The form of the costumes is composed of geometric shapes, which are essentially rectangular or trapezoidal . Garments are constructed to maintain the geometry of the pattern pieces, without gathers or drapery. Garments with more complicated cutting usually are based on the same shapes and embellished by the addition of flat tabs and panels, with either straight or curved edges. The one deviation from this flatness is the women’s skirt, which is pleated. When the garments are worn, the form is varied by having the costume hang either in flat sections from shoulder to hem, or stretch tightly around the body, held in place with a sash. With few exceptions, the shape of the clothing conforms to the natural body shape. The geometry of the cut also simplifies working with a stock of costumes. As the fit of each garment to the body is not precise, a single garment may be used by most of the performers who play a given role type. Historical Background Traditional Jingju costumes evolved from both historical clothing and costumes of previous performance styles, each contributing distinct images onstage. The relationship between historical and stage forms of dress evolved by happenstance rather than plan. Without a designer to shape and fashion garments according to character and theatrical intent, the costumes evolved through the spontaneous inventions of actors and practitioners . Connections between reality and theatricality can be made now through the advantageous lens of hindsight. Throughout the history of imperial China, Han rule alternated with that of non-Han invaders, and the leaders of each succeeding Han dynasty chose to return to thedesignsofearlierHanformsofdress.Cross-cultural influences in clothing existed in the intervening periods , when invaders took over the rule of the country and established their own form of clothing. As a result, a range of ethnic and period clothing styles were worn atanygivenperiodin time.In theQingdynasty(1644– 1911), for example, official clothing was regulated, and all in attendance at court were required to dress in the Manchu style of the rulers, regardless of their ethnicTheFormandHistoricalRootsof Costumes the for m a nd histor ica l roots of costumes @ 51 ity. However, dress at home was not under court edict, and the majority Han people continued to wear their own style of clothing for private functions. In addition to dress from different ethnicities and eras being worn simultaneously, hybrid clothing developed from the interplay of cultures in the country, which resulted in historical garments that combined Han characteristics with those of other tribes. The Qing dragon robe (longpao, later renamed jifu, lit. “auspicious coat”), is an example; it has the cut of a Manchu garment with the decoration of Han Chinese cosmology (Fig. 3.1).1 Onstage , a similar blending of cultures occurs in the mang (court robe) costume, which has the cut of a Ming dynasty (1368–1644), or Han, robe, and a Qing dynasty Manchu version of Han surface ornamentation (Fig. 3.2).2 The environment of dress that intermingled real Figure 3.1. The Qing dynasty jifu has the cut of a Manchu garment and an embroidery pattern of dragons and waves developed by the Han, as can be seen in this adolescent emperor’s semiformal coat. Photograph courtesy of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Murray Warner Collection of Oriental Art; acquired 1909, Peking, MWCh45.4. Figure 3.2. The stage version of the court robe, the mang, is made in the form of a Han robe with wide sleeves, but uses a Qing dynasty version of the original Han pattern of ornamentation. From the author’s collection. 52 @ the for m a nd histor ica l roots of costumes life models combined with nonrealistic influences inherited from dance...