To observe this year’s “Cultural and Natural Heritage Day”, which is held on the second Saturday of June each year, the “Splendid Colors: Chinese Costume Culture Exhibition” jointly hosted by the Chinese Traditional Culture Museum and Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology opened at the CTCM on June 8. It ran until Sept 8.

Poster for the “Splendid Colors: Chinese Costume Culture Exhibition”.

Vice-Minister of Culture and Tourism Rao Quan, CTCM Party chief Wang Chenyang, CTCM deputy director Su Dan and then BIFT Party chief Zhou Zhijun, along with the exhibition organization team, attended the opening of the exhibition.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition is held at Chinese Traditional Culture Museum.

At the opening ceremony, Zhou introduced BIFT’s strengths and characteristics, underscoring that BIFT attaches great importance to the protection of costume culture and inheritance research, regarding the research of traditional costume culture as an important guarantee to support the development of disciplines and talent training.

BIFT teachers and students draw inspiration from the profound heritage of Chinese culture, and actively carry out creative transformation and innovative development with an international vision and mindset.

The exhibition was an initiative for the school to show its research and education achievements and contribution to the creative transformation and innovative development of China’s traditional costume culture. It was also an important event to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the founding of the institute.

As the organizer of the exhibition, Tian Hui, director of the BIFT National Costume Museum, gave an overview of the exhibition at the opening ceremony, explaining that it required careful planning and design by the organizers and the co-curator team who worked on it for more than a year.

The exhibition aims to promote the excellent traditional clothing culture of the Chinese nation. From the four units of national costumes, clothing protection, clothing restoration and clothing innovation, it comprehensively displays the Chinese clothing forms and clothing-related intangible cultural heritage skills in different periods and different regional environments.

The hosts, organizers and curators take group photos with distinguished guests.

Chinese clothing culture is an integral part of China’s traditional culture, a manifestation of Chinese civilization, and a vital part of China’s intangible cultural heritage. The exhibitors expressed the hope that through this exhibition, BIFT’s innovative design works can be known by more people, and the story of Chinese clothing culture can be told to more people.

The exhibited clothes in the first unit of the show interpret the humanistic beauty of Chinese clothing from the perspective of etiquette, highlight the decorative beauty of Chinese clothing from the perspective of craftsmanship, and show the natural beauty of Chinese clothing from the perspective of materials.

Exhibition scenes of the first unit of the show.

Fish-skin trousers of the Hezhe people

Silver headdress inlaid with turquoise and coral of the Mongolian people (partial)

Tibetan silver waist ornament

The exhibited clothes in the second unit of the exhibition show the elegant brocade of the Han Dynasty, the unique Xianbei costumes of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the solemn and luxurious brocade of the Tang Dynasty, and the magnificent women’s tall hat and braided robe of the Yuan Dynasty. As a microcosm of the development history of Chinese clothing culture, the clever conception, exquisite craftsmanship, appropriate functions and excellent aesthetics are vividly shown in the exhibition.

Exhibition scene of unit 2.

Fragments of brocade with animal patterns on battlements from the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties

Horse-face curtain with brown-ground floral patterns from the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties

Golden brocade with flower and bird patterns from the Yuan Dynasty

Golden brocade with braided thread robe with dragon and phoenix patterns from the Yuan Dynasty (partial)

The clothes exhibited in the third unit of the exhibition reflect the in-depth research of ancient documents and multi-faceted artistic reproduction. They not only restore the classic form of clothing, but also show the ingenuity of traditional skills through exquisite details such as brocade and printing. The use of materials and the choice of colors are as close to historical reality as possible.

Exhibition scene of unit 3

Artistic reproduction of a woman's wedding dresses in the Ming Dynasty (her husband was a third-rank civil official)

Western Han Dynasty printed flame pattern curved hem robe (restored piece, left)  Western Han Dynasty longevity embroidered straight hem robe (restored piece, right) (partially attached)

Exhibits of costume restoration in unit 3

Viewers can intuitively feel the daily dressing style, social outlook and aesthetic trends of people in different periods of history, and enhance their understanding and respect for different eras. At the same time, the exhibits also promoted the protection and inheritance of traditional handicraft technology, provided a rich source of inspiration for modern design, and  rejuvenated ancient culture for the contemporary era.

Exhibition scene of unit 4

Photos of exhibits

In the fourth unit of the exhibition, the exhibited clothes combined traditional culture with modern design. Based on the study of the structure, material, pattern, color, craftsmanship and cultural connotation of Chinese clothing, it extracted classic elements from the aspects of intangible cultural heritage skills, and transformed the exquisite, unique and intelligent creative methods in traditional clothing into innovative designs, giving new vitality to the sustainable development of Chinese clothing culture.