Posted on: Sunday, October 31, 2004
Asian traditional dress examined
By Victoria Gail-White
Special to The Advertiser
The Honolulu Academy of Arts has a remedy for those of us who are costume-impaired. The "From Flat to Contoured Body Form" exhibit includes many stunning garments made from just a length of cloth.
Honolulu Academy of Art Hong explained that to Asians, fabric was like money. It was used to pay salaries and taxes, and was an important item of tribute. The weaving of cloth required intense labor, concentration, creative ideas and technical skills. Textiles were not wasted — not even scraps.
The academy's exhibit "Wrappings of Happiness: A Traditional Korean Art Form" last September illustrated this point. Many of the beautiful wrapping cloths (pojagi) were made from colorful cloth remnants.
Wearable, different-sized loom-woven cloths could be worn as a sari or dhoti (man's loincloth) in India, kira (wrap-around) in Bhutan, kain panjang (pleated wrapped skirt) in Indonesia, and as a wrap-around pantaloon on the Indochina Peninsula.
10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays
1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
Through Jan. 16
Honolulu Academy of Arts
532-8701 Asian attire did not waste stitching on seams. Stitching was saved for decorative purposes such as embroidery and embellishments of shells, sequins, gold braid and buttons.
However, the structure of sleeves and collars added to the jackets from Indonesia, Bhutan (toigo) and Japan (haori) grew into the coats of Indonesia and Vietnam. The addition of front flaps with side openings gave birth to the kimono. There are superb examples of these jackets and kimonos colored with natural dyes and embellished in various ways.
Many of the 20th-century Indian costumes on display are lengths of fabric for saris and dhotis. A complex tapestry-woven dhoti (19th century) has metallic threads that make it shimmer, while the deep and bright turquoise-colored silk of one sari gives it a fluorescence.
The woven men's cloth from Laos (puum, 19th century) has small multicolored geometric designs woven into the cloth. Included in the show is a woven headhunter's vest (late-19th to early-20th century) from Malaysia and cloth from Sumatra (Lampung), known for its outstanding weaving.
Alongside the woven cloth patterns are examples of surface designs on cloth that are batik (wax-resist dye method from Indonesia), yuzen (paste-resist dyed from Japan), hand-painted, embroidered and appliqué
d. A deep, blue-black indigo jacket from Vietnam with 64 silver buttons is simply designed but wonderfully stylish.
The Korean hanbok garments (20th century) have clean lines and are made of gauzy silk raimie. The stiffness of the translucent silk and their A-lined shape gives them a sculpted look.
The more nomadic Manchurians influenced the clothing of the Chinese Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Clothes were regulated by social status, gender, age and occupation. The Manchurian women of prominence wore long robes (qi pao) and platform shoes while Chinese women wore shorter robes (a o) and had bound feet. During this time, complex motifs were woven into pre-determined shapes on the loom. The fabric was cut, although not economically, into this shape (similar to our present day paper patterns).
A roll of dark-blue woven tribute silk from the late Qing dynasty, with dragons, cranes, clouds and the eternal knot forming a coat pattern, is displayed close by the finished ceremonial coat made from woven silk. It is a rare and fascinating presentation of weaving composition and costume construction.
One special piece in this show is a jawidropper. It's a patka (man's waist sash) from India, mid-18th century. The stitching is impeccable, as shown in an upturned corner of fabric. However, the hundreds of shimmering, tiny green insets are not sequins. They are beetle wings!
No trick, this show is a real treat.
Guest curator Hong Na Young tells the story of Asian costumes in her statement, shedding light on the different characteristics that appear in the costumes of Asian countries, and comparing the costumes to Western dress. The costumes in the exhibit were selected from the academy's collection. Hong, a professor of Asian costume history in the Department of Clothing and Textiles at the Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea, is a visiting professor at the University of Hawai'i.
This gorgeously complex weaving is a kira, or woman's wrap-around skirt, from the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, circa 1900-1920.
This is a woman's short tunic from the late 19th or early 20th century, woven by the Haka people of Chin state, Myanmar.
Even though many of these lengths of fabric start out flat, they become contoured when draped around the human body. Hong noted that the ancient Greeks and Romans dressed similarly, in togas and tunics, before the fall of the Roman Empire. It was the ancient Medians, in Persia, who invented the set-in sleeve that became common worldwide.
'From Flat to Contoured Body Form: A Story of Asian Costumes'
