Late last night, "Dior plagiarism" topped the list of hot searches on Weibo. This brand, which was once criticized by Chinese people because of a photo by photographer Chen Man that was considered to be full of " stereotype ", what kind of "demon" did it do this time?
It turns out that some netizens discovered that Dior has a black skirt in the clothing that has just been launched. It is very similar to the traditional Chinese dress horse-faced skirt . However, the brand's introduction did not mention the relationship with the horse-faced skirt. Called its “iconic Dior silhouette.” This situation caused dissatisfaction among many netizens, who accused the brand of "plagiarism", "cultural appropriation" and "cultural plagiarism".
It is understood that this controversial skirt comes from the Dior brand's 2022 early autumn series. This black long skirt has a smooth piece of fabric on the front, with thin pleats on both sides and a tie at the waist. The catwalk video found by netizens also shows that there are slits on the front and back between the entire fabric and the pleats. Not only is the appearance highly similar to the Chinese horse-faced skirt, but even the details are very similar. Some netizens said they had gone to the Dior store to try it on, and confirmed that this "new" Dior skirt uses horse-face skirt details such as "overlapping front and rear skirt doors", "front and rear slits" and "side pleating".
Controversial skirts
According to reports, the horse-faced skirt was one of the main skirt styles for Han women in the Ming and Qing Dynasties in China. Generally, there were four skirt doors inside and outside, front and back. When worn, the four skirt doors overlapped in pairs, and the sides of the skirt Pleating. The dress is named after it resembles a horse's face when viewed from the front. Although there have been a series of changes in decoration and style, the basic structure of the horse skirt has always existed and continued.
In contemporary Chinese costume film and television dramas, there are a large number of horse-faced skirt styles. For example, in the 1987 version of "A Dream of Red Mansions", a large number of female characters appear in horse-faced skirts. As for the TV series "Orange Is Red", which is set in the late Qing Dynasty, although the costume style has been criticized by many people as being "inconsistent with history", the "horse face" structure can still be seen. Today, traces of the horse-faced skirt can still be seen in the "phoenix gown skirt" worn by brides when they get married in places such as Guangdong and Hong Kong.
The skirt in the 1987 version of "Dream of Red Mansions"
According to industry insiders, the reason why Dior calls the skirt the brand's "iconic silhouette" is probably because the brand believes that the design tightens the waist and enlarges the silhouette of the skirt to match the brand. The small one and the large one are in line with the "A-Line" shape. In the history of contemporary fashion, it is generally believed that such "A-line" clothing was created by Christian Dior, the founder of the Dior brand, in 1955. After World War II, many industries in Europe were depressed and people were mentally distressed. Dior launched a series of clothing that emphasized women's curves to arouse people's yearning for a better life. The "A-line" impacted people at that time with its slender waist and round hip curves. The gaze has become one of the brand's signature silhouettes.
Dior’s “A-shaped”
In fact, this is not the first time that Western clothing brands including Dior have used Chinese elements. Why did they overturn this time?
As early as 1997, John Galliano (John Galliano), later known as the "Pirate Lord", became the chief designer of Dior in his first spring and summer haute couture fashion show. A large number of Chinese Elements: a cheongsam-like long skirt, a large number of woven tassel decorations... Then in the autumn and winter ready-to-wear shows that year, he continued to launch a full series of "Chinese style": cheongsam stand-up collars decorated with pearls, Chinese embroidery patterns, and necklaces with a double fish pattern. And earrings... The models wore rouge from their cheeks to their eyes.
In this show, there were short pony skirts and the brand's iconic waist-cinching blouse designs. However, these two shows were not disliked by Chinese netizens. They even affectionately called them the "Flowers of Shanghai Series" because the designer bluntly said that the inspiration came from Hollywood the first Chinese star Huang Liushuang and the "calendar girl" of Shanghai in the past. ". Later, in the haute couture show in the autumn and winter of 1998, Dior once again launched a dress with a horse skirt structure, with a bright yellow base, decorated with dark blue piping, embroidered with dragon patterns, but paired with exaggerated Miao silver ornaments .
Dior's 1997 clothing featured horse skirt elements.
Dior is not the only Western brand to use horse skirt elements. Another brand Chanel 's 2010 early autumn handmade workshop series launched a series of clothing inspired by China, including suits made of the brand's iconic tweed fabrics and short horse-face skirts. But the beginning of the series is clear, the name is "Paris - Shanghai", and even the catwalk release was completed in Shanghai.
"Netizens are not against the use of Chinese elements by Western brands. On the contrary, whether it is Dior's early shows or the 'Chinese style' designs of Chanel, Prada, and other brands, they are positive in the minds of most Chinese people because they have been introduced to the world. China." Mr. Zhu, who is engaged in the clothing industry, believes that the main reason for Dior's "overturn" is that it uses traditional Chinese clothing elements but never mentions them, and instead turns them into "brand symbols."
Since the rise of the contemporary fashion industry, "Chinese style" has been an important element of the world's fashion trends. In 1977, Yves Saint Laurent designed an entire series inspired by China. The designer who once collected the rat heads and rabbit heads from the Old Summer Palace twelve animal heads expressed his imagination of China in this series: a black double-breasted coat with red patches embroidered in the middle, and a dragon-patterned coat with a pendant. A tasseled jade ring. In 2015, the Metropolitan Museum of Art annual exhibition in New York, USA, with the theme of "China: Through the Looking Glass", displayed a large number of clothing inspired by Chinese elements. The number of visitors exceeded 810,000, ranking 6th in the history of the museum.
However, whether it is Yves Saint Laurent, one of the first designers to visit China, or the "China: Through the Looking Glass" exhibition with the participation of Wong Kar Wai , judging from the eyes of today's Chinese people, it is probably difficult to escape the "Oriental" "ism" and "power gaze" controversy.
After designing the China series, Yves Saint Laurent immediately launched a perfume called "Opium". In the designer's opinion, the name represented the mysterious imagination of the East. It immediately stung the humiliating memories of overseas Chinese and triggered huge controversy. . Unlike most perfumes that use transparent glass bottles, the bottle of this perfume uses a rare red packaging. It has been interpreted as being inspired by the Chinese snuff bottle . In fact, the shape is exactly the same as the Japanese inro .
Being unable to tell the difference between Asian countries seems to be a common denominator for many Western brands. The "Calendar Girls" designed by John Galliano are wearing cheongsams but wearing socks and clogs. Their exaggerated gait is full of gaze and speculation. Chanel's "Paris-Shanghai" series is dominated by patina blue-green, and even has necklaces made of copper coins. The male and female models wear green hats that were common in China in the 1970s. A sweater embroidered with three Chinese characters "Chanel" that has been ridiculed on the Internet in recent years also came from this show.
Chanel's "Paris-Shanghai" series
"Many international brands are full of arrogance and prejudice, and they are unwilling to face the real China - whether it is an ancient country with a history of 5,000 years of civilization, or an open and prosperous modern country." In wishing In Mr. Wang’s opinion, as Chinese people pay more and more attention to traditional culture and their calls for cultural equality become stronger and stronger, such disputes “will only increase.”
Are Chinese people too sensitive?
Similar things may cause more intense reactions abroad. Barbados singer Rihanna (Rihanna) who developed in the United States once held a personal brand show, which caused controversy because the white female model had " dreadlocks " because many people thought it was unique. Black history and culture. American socialite Kim Kardashian (Kim Kardashian) once named her shaping underwear brand "KIMONO", which means "kimono" in English, which triggered a large number of Japanese protests. In the end, Kardashian announced that it will rename the brand.
In the eyes of some fashion industry practitioners, the exchange, cross-border and collision of different cultures are precisely the key to innovation. Will too much emphasis on cultural identity hinder the pace of innovation?
Mr. Zhu also gave the example of Dior.After John Galliano designed many "Chinese-style" clothes, he finally visited China in 2003. That year, he even invited Shaolin Kung Fu to open the Dior catwalk show, interspersed with various acrobatic performances - but here In a design that is obviously inspired by China, there are no more "Chinese elements" such as stand-up collars, buttons, tassels, and embroidery. Instead, there are clothes and makeup that change the model's original body proportions and facial structure. It is said that this is the inspiration that the designer got from Peking Opera . In traditional Chinese dramas, the costumes and makeup actually reshaped the person's figure and appearance to express the character's personality, which amazed the designer. “The innovation we hope for is for creators to refine and collide new images based on their feelings and perceptions of different civilizations, rather than simply collaging some old elements, let alone combining things that are not yet familiar to the world. Elements become 'brand images'."
In Dior's 2023 early spring series, which has just completed the catwalk and has not yet been launched, many people can tell at a glance that the designer's source of inspiration is related to Spanish bullfighting . This is the reason for many opponents: the brand Prada has designed clothes that resemble cheongsam many times, and Tom Ford was directly inspired by the "dragon robe" when he was working at the brand Yves Saint Laurent. Why has no one Criticize them for "plagiarism" and "cultural appropriation"?
Gong Li is wearing a cheongsam-style garment designed by Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent
In addition to the clear inspiration from China in public interviews, these Chinese elements are also the same as the broad shoulder decorations and embroidered blouses of Spanish matadors. It has been recognized as a "Chinese element". In the view of many netizens, in addition to clearly opposing cultural appropriation, we must also go all out to export culture and spread the elements and image of Chinese culture through various forms such as cultural relic exhibitions, film and television dramas, music, and contemporary art, so that the world can know about Chinese culture. The tradition of China is not only cheongsam and embroidery, but also many more unique, interesting and good things that can be used to this day.
designer Mr. Lu once visited the "China: Through the Looking Glass" exhibition, and "unsurprisingly" it was filled with stand-up collars, dragons, porcelain and embroidery. "Why can't we abstract Chinese traditional cultural elements into modern expressions and form something more acceptable to contemporary people? How can we criticize other people's stereotypes if we don't summarize, refine, and innovate ourselves?" In his words It seems that Dior, who was criticized this time, has taught practitioners a lesson, "How to modernize tradition and integrate our own personality into a common culture. This is what we need to do immediately." Editor-in-chief of
column: Shi Chenlu Text Editor: Jian Gongbo title picture source: Xinhua News Agency (data picture)
source: author: Zhujian
