“The Empress of China” is set in the Tang Dynasty, so the clothing in the show is ostensibly based on Tang Dynasty fashions. However, as I explained in another post, most Chinese dramas set in ancient times do not have historically accurate costumes – the designs are usually exaggerated or changed in some way for aesthetic effect. This is definitely the case with “The Empress of China”.
Nevertheless, most of the women’s costumes in this show are based on the following hanfu styles, with varying degrees of accuracy:
1. Chest-high ruqun, an outfit consisting of a top (ru) and skirt (qun) in which the skirt is tied above the breasts or at the bust point. Like most outfits on this show, it’s accessorized with a long scarf called pibo and a large-sleeve outer robe called daxiushan. Fan Bingbing’s pink and green outfit is a chest-high ruqun:
The chest-high ruqun + pibo + daxiushan coordination is very characteristic of the Tang Dynasty.
2. Heziqun, an outfit that consists of the hezi (strapless chest cover, often embroidered), skirt (qun), and top (ru). The hezi is worn over the top, and a thin cloth belt is typically used to hide the joint between the hezi and skirt.
Heziqun is one of the most popular hanfu styles in Chinese media portrayals of the Tang dynasty, and is probably the most depicted style in this show.
3) Waist-high ruqun, which is a ruqun with the skirt tied at the waist. Below – waist-high ruqun with parallel collars (1st row) and crossed collars (2nd row):
4) Banbi, a half-sleeve jacket commonly worn with ruqun. In the image below, the lady on the left is wearing a u-collar banbi, and the lady on the right is wearing a parallel-collar ruqun.
5)
Yuanlingpao, a round-collar robe that was originally a male garment, but became fashionable for women to wear during the Tang Dynasty. It’s collar was often worn flipped open, as can be seen below.
…And then there are outfits in which the costume designers took full creative liberty to mix-and-match different hanfu styles (and non-hanfu elements) as they saw fit 😛
For the record, these are examples of what actual Tang Dynasty hanfu looked like:
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