Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1997 - 16

Costumes in

Conte.\t

Ancient China \\as knmm as "the land of impeccahle atlire." (lluang. -8) From the earl\
times of the more than 5000 year history of the
country. the Chinese people belie\ed that personal clothing and adornment \\as indicati\e
of being cultured and ci\ilized. (Pang. -) In a
culture \\here atlire had long been a signifier
of the person. dress also became a \\'ay to
idemi~' people. an outward e\pression of
one's place in society, ,-\ sy tem of assigning
clothes to distinguish member of the coun
\ras formalized into sumptuary lm\s as earlY as
the Zhou period (lln-n5 B.C.). De\eloping
throughout the rest of China's imperial history.
the delineation of clothing \\as used to distingUish class. rank. and position in society
through the assignmem of embroidered s\mbois. significant colors and specific garments,
For e\ample. by the time of the Qing dY11asty
(16-1-1-1911 I,U,) there \\ere nine orders of
ci\ilian and military ranks. each \\ith its 0\\'11
distinct clothing sign system, II is only natural
therefore. that a traditional theatre eml\ing in
this rank and clothing conscious conte\t
\muld translate to the stage the use of con\entionalized role l\-pes and a design language
emphasizing clothing for the idemity of characters, The characters and the costumes of
jingin are organized in a hierarchy similar to
the system of dress of the imperial society. In
e\amining the costumes of traditional jingin of
the last pan of the twentieth centluy. the key distinctions from imperial dress are thatjingin has
added the dimension of theatlical Sl\-Ie. ;Uld as a
thing ~u1 form. it has continuedlO erolye berond
the end of imperial influence.
In both Euro-American and Chinese theatre. \yhen the performer \I'alks onstage the
audience can distinguish the character before
a \\-ord is spoken. yet the techniques used in
traditional )ingin to accomplish this task are
distinct. jingill costumers ha\e deYeloped an
elaborate s\stem of telegraphing character
through prescribed garmems \\ith specific
symbolism in color and decoration. During the
se\eral hundred years of e\olution of both
xiqll and )ingill. choices of garments and
color \\ere made that defined what \muldlook
be t for each character in each pial', The
choices \\ere the result of the combined input
of the dressers. the performers and the response of the audience. rather than a specific
costume designer. These choices graduall\ developed into a patlern \Yhich no\y serves as
the language of the design aesthetic. These
costumes are of standardized cut. color and
t-t

1D&1

ornamemation, Some ha\e e\ol\ed from Chinese imperial dress. often from specific periods and garmems. \\hile others are the
products of theatrical imemion. Though the
sources are quite \aried. the o\erall look is
unified b\ simplicity of cut. clarity and intensity
of color. and scale and amoum of ornamentatiOIl, Eyeryjingin COStlll11e is a \rork of an in itself. and the beaUl\' of ule image is a guiding
factor in e\er\ aspect of dress. The combinations
of the costumes onslage are selected to com'e\
the character. as well as to produce the most
beautiful stage picture possible,
\\11en costllllling a traditional opera. ule
jingill costumer slans \\ith a stockroom of con\elllionalized. factotY-produced costumes.
Rather than construct ne\\ costumes for e\et~'
production. each opera companI' or school collects a range of stock COStllllleS from which ulev
select the costumes for each performance.
While occasional 1\ ne\\ costllllles are constructed for ne\\ presentations of traditional
)ingill. the stock normall\ contains a selection
of garmems that can be used for each of the
roles, \X'hen a traditional jingill performance
is scheduled no\y. a \\ell-trained dresser \\ill
select the costumes needed for the script.
Their training \\ill have included learning the
patlerns of dress for each role ly-pe. the costume plot for hundreds of plays. including all
the components of dress for e\el~' character
\\ho appears in each of those plays. and the
o\erall aesthetic that defines the sly'le, The
dressers make their choices based on these
three aspects. as \vell their mm artistic sensitirities and the personal acting sly'le of the pel'
formers in the production. In some
companies. principal pla\ers mal' be involved
in selecting their costumes or e\en pro\iding
their 0\\'11 garments. TIle stYle and cut of the gal'
mem-,uld for some characters. the color-is
pan of the panem. but the dre sers (or actors)
must call upon their m\11 lli1iStiC ;Uld technicu
training to make the specific choices from the
available \\ardrobe stYles. (Zhao. April 25) Contrary to a common Elll'o-American attitude that
no artistic choice is invol\ed in selecting costumes for Chinese opera. this \\Titer witnessed
)ingill costumers using their "designer's eye"
to create b,uance and beaul\' on the stage.

The

Elements of Design

Teacher Zhao began the first class \\ith a question. "What are the t\\O main characteristics of
jingill costumes'" It is hard to concei\e ho\\
such a complicated system of dress could be
distilled into jllst two ke\ characteristics. but

the question presented an intriguing conundrum, In ule lJ~tining of Euro-.-\melicllil costume
designers. a tecllllique for defining sly'le is to ;LIlalyLe dress through the elements of design: line,
form. color and te:-.1ure. \Xhile the Chinese
don't choose to eyaluate their art specificallY b\ these elements of design. these elements occur frequentlr in descriptions of
the significant aspects of their costumes. E\amining the use of design elements in traditionaljingjll costumes was the first path that
1 chose towards searching for the answers
to the teacher' question.
The line of traditional )ingill costumes
tends to be straight and \ertical. (Fig. I) The
garments are made of silk crepe or
charmeuse. and then richlY embroidered.
couched with gold threads, and lined \\ith a
layer of Iighl\\eight silk. The layers and embroidel~' gi\e structure e\en to the softer fabrics thereby maintaining the impression of
straight lines, The \\omen's qllnzi. or skirts.
are crispl\ pleated adding another straight line
to the o\eraIJ look, As the colors are so \ibrant
and the te\tures so intricate, the straight and
c1e,ln line is import,ult to l1l,tintain a sense of
order and c1aril\' in the visual whole. The line
of the arm is e\tended by the addition of the
sImi xiII. or \\ater slee\es. to the costumes of
all members of the upper classes, The lengthened slee\e is a theatrical inyention and has
a language of e\pression unto itself. Sleeve
movements have been developed to mirror
the innermost thoughts of the character.
\eatly folded across the hand \\hen not in
use, the sleeve can be Dung and twirled in
moments of emotion, a visualization of the
character's agitation. The long, curved line
of the sImi xiII is an e\ception to the dominance of the straight line in the body of the
garments.
The line of the embroidel~' and accessories tends to be as curved as the rest of the costlllne is straight. The flmyer llild animal
imagel~' in the embroidely utilizes curves and
arabesques to create undulating tendrils and
writhing dragons to enrich the otherwise sedate surfaces of the costumes. (Figs, 2--1) The
hem of the /liang. the theatrical \ersion of the
dragon robe. is embroidered with two feet of
crashing \\a\es in a \ariely' of patterns. The
headdresses are a s\mphony of curve. bedecked with pearls. filigree and pompoms.
and topped with si\ foot long pheasant
feathers. or lingzi, that dance and swirl \\ith
cach head movement. The contrast of the
straight linc of thc costume and the curved line

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1997