I don’t know if you do costume reviews for (parts of) dramas, but if you’d be interested, 玉楼春 /Yu Luo Chun/Song of Youth is set in the Ming Dynasty and looks like it might falls into the early end of your time periods of study. I think remo-ny’s blog on here has a number of stills from the show also if you just need costume visuals.
I’ve been hearing about 玉楼春 so much recently I’m dying to analyze it’s costumes! Thanks for requesting it.
This is a new drama that just came out so I won’t include a synopsis, it’s just important to know for the costumes that it’s supposed to be set in the Longqing era (1567-72). Since Longqing’s reign was so short the costumes should be very specific to these couple years. However, seeing photos of the costumes on Tumblr and elsewhere they very much look like a mishmash of many different eras from the Ming and even Qing, so we’ll have to look at some specific outfits. I’m generally more well versed with Qing and republican era fashion so unfortunately I won’t be able to tell you exactly what Longqing era fashion looked like, though I can identify which outfits are not from the Longqing era. As usual, if I say anything wrong feel free to correct me, I’m just going for the general impression here.
Before we begin, I just have to say that I absolutely love the costumes in this show and the inaccuracies I spotted don’t necessarily detract from that. I think it’s a huge improvement to older dramas set in the Ming Dynasty and looks fabulous. All the screenshots are from their official (?) Youtube uploads.
This pretty much sums up the costuming in this drama. Everybody looks beautiful and great but in this shot you have three looks from three different centuries. The first outfit from the left looks very mid 18th century with the middle parted hair, 璎珞 yingluo necklace and the 立领长衫 long robe with standing collar plus sleeveless 褙子 beizi combo. The sleeve width and little embroidery patterns also scream Qianlong era, which isn’t even in the Ming Dynasty. If it had a 挽袖 wanxiu or folded cuff design at the sleeves, it would be a very historically accurate 1730s or 40s outfit, a far cry from the 1567-72 frame the drama is set in.
Screen from the early to mid 18th century showing very similar outfits.
The lady in the middle is probably wearing some variation of the outfit from this iconic painting. Interestingly, I still haven’t been able to find out when exactly this painting was made. If somebody knows please tell me I’m begging… It’s probably some time in the 15th century; I’m not sure but I think the chances of it landing in the Longqing era are pretty small.
However, her hair has the early 17th century 三绺梳头 sanliushutou (coiffure in three sections) vibe going on, making the outfit rather anachronistic. The early 17th century clothes have been given to the lady to the right. My problem with the robe worn by the lady on the right is that the collar is too high; Ming collars weren’t meant to be worn folded so they should be significantly lower when they are folded.
Late Ming illustration for the novel 醋葫芦 showing the giant front closing robe with huge sleeves and 三绺梳头 hairstyle.
The lady to the right sports a coiffure that’s either from the Qianlong era or worn by servant girls in the late Ming, neither of which are Longqing era.
Qianlong era reverse glass painting showing the hairstyle with the sectioned middle part.
Wow this is really great!! She’s wearing a shirt/robe with a standing collar underneath a 圆领袍 yuanlingpao or round collar robe, which was appropriate ceremonial wear for some occasions. Again the collar looks too tall and somewhat forced, like they probably added hooks and eyes inside so it would stay folded like that, but in the 16th century you would usually not intentionally fold and even iron the collar. The embroidery on the outer robe looks more Qing than Ming to be frank? In the mid 16th century, fabrics with colored threads woven into them like 织金锦 gold brocade, 妆花 zhuanghua or 缂丝 kesi were still more popular than embroidery, which thickens the fabric and gives it a different texture. The women in the back are wearing gold brocade which is great, though I think robes with standing collars have become the norm in the mid 16th century already, so their clothes look a bit 15th century and outdated. Her headpiece is probably supposed to be a 狄髻 diji (狄 isn’t written like that but that character doesn’t exist in the language anymore), which is a very common and elegant headpiece for upper class Ming women but somehow never gets represented in other period dramas. A cookie for the costumer here. A diji is a conical headpiece made of metallic threads or fake hair which would be used as a base for various decorative pins. My only problem with the diji here is that it could be bigger and sit closer to the forehead, and the hair at the front could be pulled back tighter to show more of the forehead. The placement of the individual pins look correct, you have the long, horizontal piece at the bottom, the giant one in the middle, the round piece at the top and the smaller circular pieces at the sides. I’m not great with the terminology of each piece but here is a random diagram I found on the internet which looks legit.
Ok this Ming emperor look is legitimately the best I have ever seen in a drama. For once, they finally didn’t give him the annoying 帽正 maozheng (round jewel at the front of the hat) or a completely gold hat, which already elevates the costuming in this drama to a whole next level. The 双龙戏珠 shuaglongxizhu or two dragons playing with a ball motif is really unfussy and well done, with the correct materials, textures and placement for the time period. He has the red collar of the under robe which you sometimes see in portraits, and for the round collar robe they chose a 云肩 yujian (cloud collar) design which (correctly) extends down to the sleeves. Although I don’t think you would pair this particular hat with this kind of outfit? It would have been more standard to pair this hat with a 衮服 gunfu (or any garment with roundel motifs) instead, though it also depends on the occasion. I know nothing about Ming court dress regulations soooo I can just say that the clothes look good.
Portrait of Emperor Longqing in a 衮服 gunfu. Contrary to popular belief the emperor wasn’t stuck with a yellow robe for life, he wore outfits in different styles and colors to different occasions.
The officials look fabulous, I’m living. They’re wearing 补服 bufu with colored 补子 buzi or square badges which were popular in the late Ming (not sure if the Longqing era was late enough for that though). There is also only one bird instead of two in the buzi, popular from the late Ming til the end of the Qing. Their belts and hats also look legit. The cut of the clothes and texture of the fabrics with the shimmering tone on tone decoration are just *chef’s kiss* perfection. Also can we just appreciate the sleeve length and shape here, it looks quite authentic; a lot of older dramas had sleeves that were way too short and straight. I just love that the costume designer didn’t add any unnecessary details and actually aimed for historical accuracy, a rare quality among Chinese period costumers indeed.
