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Chinese Woman Fashion Trend

Introduction

Fashion is created based on traditions, religion, ethnicity, and social class in the society. The

Chinese women fashion trend has a significant change over the years coinciding with the social

level, fashion sense and most importantly the message and how a Chinese woman wants to show

herself in the society. Looking at the transition over the years the fashion trends have brought

about impacts to social issues, resistance movements, the intersection of art, and social changes

to the current world.

The Chines women fashion has faced various influences from the western world and the current

world trend on the fashion line. Though most fashion designers tend to retain the Chines

traditions by maintaining the various arts in their fashion the style in creating the clothes has also

changed significantly. The trend in Mao era is very different to the current Chines women

fashion a situation that has changed opinions and impacts in the society of Chines people. The

main question is “Does the deviation and transition of Chinese women fashion have an impact on

the postmodern world?”

Impact of Transition in Chinese Women fashion

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Ancient Women Fashion

The fashion changes in Chinese Women have significantly affected their traditional ways of

clothing. Ancient Chinese clothing varied with a different dynasty that symbolized their

tradition, religion, social class, and was a form of identification (Finnane, 44). The women

clothing was respected and chosen as it represented a woman role in a society and the image they

created for people. For instance, during the Qing Dynasty era, women had unique clothing

traditionally known as Han Chinese that got characterized by inlaid collars and wide sleeves

(Finnane, 39).

Current Chinese Women Fashion

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The current direction in which the Chinese trend is taking has been greatly influenced by other

cultures, other religions, and the world current fashion trends. A dilution of the traditional aspect

and significance that cloth played during the ancient dynasty era is evident (Moyer, 25). People

in the present world wear something that makes them comfortable and looks good on them

ignoring the fact that traditional clothing should be a way of identification and representation of

the culture of where you from (Moyer, 52).

The picture above is an example of the modern Chinese woman fashion sense. The artwork in

the clothing is to retain the Chinese identity and the inlaid collar to show some tradition, but the

style is entirely different to the dynasty era clothing. The communist relaxation clothing

standards in the 70’s the Chinese women fashion started to experience drastic changes. In an

urban center like Shanghai, the western looks are more appreciated and embraced because many

people prefer brand names and the western outfits (Moyer, 49).

In a comparison of the two clothing style and design, the difference shows a change in social

class as the modern clothing seem to be fancy and expensive. The cultural meaning of apparel is

lost, and there is no traditional resemblance in the contemporary outfits. The old aged Chinese

women who still embrace the traditional fashion do not agree with the transformation not cause it
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is a bad idea but for the sake of preserving the Chinese traditions. Efforts have been made and

are still ongoing to restore the old tradition clothing such as hanfu by the hanfu movement. In

2001 during the Asia-pacific Economic Cooperation Summit held in Shanghai the tangzhuang

jacket which is a silk embroider was presented as the Chinese Traditional national outfit.

Annotation

Garrett, Valery. Chinese Dress: From the Qing Dynasty to the Present. New York: Tuttle Pub,

2012.

[Author Credentials] Valery Garrett is a writer of more than a hundred published magazines

articles and newspaper based in Hong Kong and overseas. She started as a fashion designer and a

lecturer career which she later left and went into freelance writing full-time and at the moment

she majors in Chinese culture and traveling.

[Audience/Type of Information] The Chinese Dress is a book. The targeted audience for it is

those people interested in fashion especially the Asian history and tradition follow up concerning

the dress code, transformation, and significance. The audience who love fashion designing and

adoption of different cultures to come up with designs the book proves to be relevant to such

audience.

[Bias / Point of View] based on the historical follow up of the Chinese clothing tradition the

cultural and social change is evident.

[Currency of the Source] The book Chinese Dress: From the Qing Dynasty to the Present was

published in 2012 in New York under the Tuttle Publishers.

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[Relevance to Paper] This book looks at the history of Chinese clothing especially women based

on different dynasty era and traditional significance and makes a comparison to the modern

Chinese women fashion.

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Works Cited

Finnane, Antonia. Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, and Nation. New York:

Columbia University Press, 2010. Print.

Moyer, Bill. The Practical Strategist: Movement Action Plan (map) Strategic Theories for

Evaluating, Planning, and Conducting Social Movements. San Francisco, CA: Social

Movement Empowerment Project, 2012. Print.