Hi everyone, I’m Ally
I am wearing a Ming Dynasty ao qun with a high standing collar
or some of you might recognize this as the mandarin collar
Most people think the standing collar is derived from Qing Dynasty manchurian dress
also known as the cheongsam or qipao
It is actually originally invented and passed down from the Ming Dynasty, the dynasty before the Qing Dynasty
It is a part of the hanfu system and was later on adapted into manchurian dresse s
And today it’s widely known in the world as the mandarin collar
and recognized as one of the most distinctive features of Chinese clothing
Before I go into details of my outfit, let’s talk a little about the history of the standing collar
Do you remember this Ming Dynasty painting from my other video?
Almost every woman and child is wearing the cross collared aoqun
showing how popular this style was at that time
However, when we look more closely at the painting
you can find a little button right in the center of their crossed collars
Let’s look at the Ming Dynasty timeline
The Chenghua Emperor is the 9th emperor, and this painting was done in 1485
it’s a representation of mid-era Ming Dynasty clothing style
Now with almost 300 years of history, exactly how did the Ming Dynasty clothing style evolve?
I thought of a really direct and simple method, that is to study the paintings of all the Ming Dynasty empresses
Starting with the very first Empress, Empress Ma, she wears a cross collar
then Empress Xu still wears a cross collar, Empress Sun also wears a cross collar
pay attention now, when it gets to Empress Qian
a vertical line appears in the middle of her collar, but without any buttons
and then by the time of the Chenghua Emperor from earlier, Empress Wang started wearing a standing collar with two buttons
Empress Zhang also wears a standing collar, Empress Chen is the same
when it comes to the last empress, Empress Wang
her clothing style has changed quite a bit from the previous ones, but she still wears a standing collar
Although the empress’s wardrobe cannot define the clothing style of the whole nation, it’s representative of the trend
From Empress Qian to Empress Wang, there exists a transitional period
In this painting during the Chenghua period, ladies already put buttons on their cross collars
and it eventually evolved into a standing collar with two buttons
By the late Ming Dynasty, the standing collar had become a stable for women’s wardrobe
It was naturally passed down into the Qing Dynasty
During the early Qing Dynasty era, Han women continued to wear the Ming Dynasty clothing style
while Manchurian women wore Manchurian dresses
The two clothing styles coexisted together for several hundred years
but eventually the Manchurian dresses went from having no collars to adding false collars, to finally incorporating the Ming style standing collar
By the time of the late Qing Dynasty, standing collars had evolved into the modern mandarin collars which are commonly seen in Chinese dramas
They are a symbolic element of Chinese clothing today
Ming Dynasty ladies usually wear a Ma Mian skirt or pleated skirt. I will talk about the Ma Mian skirt in detail in another video
This one is a pleated skirt with pleats all the way to the bottom
I really like the printed designs on the skirt. They are all makeup and hair accessories from ancient times
There are usually two types of one piece skirts
one style you insert the belt through a hole in the middle, the other style uses an extra set of ties
This is the first type
so after wrapping it halfway around the body, insert the belt into the hole
and wrap the remaining skirt to the back
Cross the belts from behind and then tie them up in the front
This is the standing collar ao or jacket
This style is found in many archaeological relics
Ao is defined as a top with lining
It has narrow sleeves
There is a middle seam on the back that represents a person’s righteousness
There are four sets of metal buttons on the body of the ao, and an additional two sets on the collars
It’s made of pale pink jacquard fabric, that is shiny under the sunlight
Keep in mind that Ming Dynasty people usually wore round collar inner garments underneath
which I don’t have yet, so I’m just wearing a modern shirt
After putting on the jacket, align the buttons together
I will usually work on the buttons on the body first.
And button the collars last, because they are harder to do
Some friends said to me that standing collars are not the most flattering on people with short necks
on the contrary, I think a well tailored standing collar will make the neck appear longer
This particular collar size however is a bit too big on me
The back of the collar is slightly taller than the front, making it more comfortable for the person wearing it
Last but not least, I added a long necklace
If you find this video helpful, please like and share
I’ll be making more videos on traditional Chinese culture, beauty, and fashion. See you next time!