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In terms of fashion, I would say that Ba Sing Se is probably my favorite locale in Avatar: The Last Airbender. And my favorite piece of Ba Sing Se fashion would have to be the beautiful headdresses that the fancy ladies of the Upper Ring wear. While not entirely accurate to their real-life inspirations, they are nonetheless colorful and stylized versions of the headdresses that Manchurian women wore during the Qing Dynasty (1636–1912).

Shout out to @guzhuangheaven for this post, which helped me a lot during the research process for this particular post.

Liangbatou

Liangbatou (两把头) refers to a traditional Manchurian woman’s hairstyle in which hair is wrapped around a long frame known as a bianfang (扁方) to create a rigid, wingspan-like shape. The hair is then decorated with flowers and hairpins.

As I mentioned earlier, their Avatar equivalents aren’t quite historically accurate. In real life, bianfang were meant to be mostly covered up by a woman’s hair or hair extensions; they weren’t necessarily meant to be decorative on their own as they’re shown in ATLA. That said, I still really enjoy the show’s take on liangbatou as it really contributes to the Upper Ring’s atmosphere of opulence.

Dalachi

Manchurian noblewomen’s penchant for grand, gravity-defying displays of hair decor reached its apogee during the late Qing Dynasty (mid-19th century to very early 20th century). During this period, the elaborately coiffed hair wings of the liangbatou were replaced with the more streamlined but still extravagant dalachi (大拉翅). Instead of wrapping their hair around a frame to achieve the fashionable wingspan shape, Manchurian noblewomen began to wear their hair in buns covered by large black headdresses (dalachi) that allowed them even more room for decorations like flowers and tassels. It also seems like the dalachi gave the illusion of having even more hair to wear up than the liangbatou.

Like the previously mentioned hairstyle, the dalachi in Avatar are much more colorful than their real life counterparts. Nonetheless, I still find them to be very pretty, especially the one with the tassels that the poetry teacher wears.

Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^

Since “The Beach” features a lot of new and original outfits, I figured I’d divide “Ember Island Fashion” into a series of posts. First I’ll be covering Azula’s party outfit, since that design takes the most influence from historical fashion.

Her design is inspired by traditional Southeast Asian clothing, particularly the fashion of the Angkor Empire (802–1431), a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom. This empire encompassed modern-day Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. For the sake of convenience, I’ll be using the Cambodian (Khmer) words for these clothing items, as those are the terms I’m most familiar with.

Overall, her look is reminiscent of Thai and Cambodian depictions of apsara, female spirits in Hindu and Buddhist culture with dominion over various kinds of revelry (dancing, gambling, etc). The first picture in the second row and the middle picture in the third row are examples of how apsara are commonly portrayed in Thailand and Cambodia.

Jewelry

The thick gold necklace she’s wearing was a popular accessory for royalty during the Angkor period, influenced by the style of jewelry coming from India. While I haven’t found a specific name for these types of necklaces, I think calling them “apsara necklaces” would be appropriate, as that’s usually the imagery people are evoking when wearing them. The gold armband that Azula’s wearing is also a common accessory in traditional Thai and Cambodian formal wear and is similarly influenced by Indian culture. However, the chest-belt accessory that she’s wearing is uniquely Angkorian, having been worn exclusively by kings and princes (as far as I’ve seen). Which makes me wonder if she borrowed (snatched) it from Zuko just to… stand out more than Ty Lee. ;)

Clothing

The top that Azula’s wearing is a simple wraparound tube top known as an aor chong pong (អាវចងពង់) in Cambodian. Her skirt is a unique cross between Angkor culottes called chong kben (ចងក្បិន) and an Angkor wrapskirt called a sampot (សំពត់). Like chong kben, Azula’s skirt is knee-length and gathers at the center; like sampot, it’s a skirt with a strip of fabric that hangs down the front. Finally, the curly shoes she wears were also quite en vogue during the Angkor period— Although, curly shoes have always been pretty popular throughout Asia.

I find it hilarious that right after saying that she wants to pass as a normal Fire Nation citizen for the night, she proceeds to wear like three pounds of gold meant for literal kings and goddesses.

Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^

-pointing all my viable fingers a stages light on @ssreeder because THEY just casually slid jetski as a concept in their fic and i have never been the same since! besides... another rare ship as well so now i am dragged in this corner. BY THEM!-

well hello hi! its fine its fine! i just.. i don'T have some grand headcanons about them. i just was introduced to the concept and the thought of them just makes me squeal because i find them just... to cute. i doodled them once, i should do so again maybe for the rarepair event.

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Katara's Ba Sing Se dress is inspired by changyi robes (氅衣), which were full-length gowns worn by Manchu noblewomen during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). Characteristics of changyi include high slits on both sides of the dress, prominent trim along the openings of the robe, and a rounded cross collar (pianjin/偏襟). Around the beginning of the 20th-century, standing collars and more fitted silhouettes also became common on changyi and other Manchu women's clothing. Overall, Katara's Ba Sing Se dress possesses many characteristics of a late Qing Dynasty changyi.

However, similar to her headdress, her robe isn't 100% historically accurate. The standing collar doesn't appear to be directly attached to the pianjin opening and her sleeves appear to be modeled more after hanfu than qizhuang (Qing Manchu clothing). Nonetheless, her design still alludes to a very specific period in Chinese fashion history, rather than simply being a generic "Asian-esque" dress. Plus, the design is just lovely!

Fun Fact: The cloud pattern on Katara's dress is known as xiangyun (祥雲) or "lucky clouds" in Mandarin. Clouds are considered auspicious imagery in Chinese culture due to the Mandarin word for cloud (yún / 雲) sounding similar to the Mandarin word for good fortune (yùn / 運).

Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^

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We got green lit to share our entries for the ATLA Generation Vol. III zine by @atlazine thanks again for being invited to this project. It was an amazing opportunity to work with other talented writer and artist on this project. And my compliments to the mods for the great organization, all the beautiful graphics and layout.