What did the female hair accessories look like in Qing Dynasty? What's the point?

In recent years, among costume dramas, the court dramas in Qing Dynasty are unique and in full swing. Compared with the costume drama Xian Xia, the court drama in Qing Dynasty has become one of the most popular film and television works at present because of its highly restored historical scenes, court life customs, characteristics of characters and costumes, and the love and hate of women in the palace all their lives. From the last emperor and Princess Zhu Huan in the early years to The Story of Yan Xi Palace and Love in Ruyi Palace, which have been compared in recent two years, the audience will find that the hair accessories of men in Qing Dynasty have hardly changed much, but the hair accessories of women in Qing Dynasty have been changing constantly. Since women's hair accessories in Qing Dynasty are so changeable, what are their hair accessories?

Hairstyles of women in the early Qing Dynasty

Headdress culture is a representative part of costume culture, and almost every nation and dynasty has its own hair ornaments and headdresses which are highly representative of national culture. Especially the court women in Qing Dynasty, as the representative group of Manchu aristocrats, their hair accessories culture not only embodies the unique aesthetic vision of Manchu, but also embodies the hair accessories characteristics of the blending of various ethnic cultures. Because the current audience's understanding of hair accessories and headdresses in the Qing Dynasty is basically derived from film and television works, it is a pity that film and television dramas can not accurately restore the hair styles in the Qing Dynasty, but will lead to people's inherent misunderstanding of hair accessories culture.

Hairstyles in Qing Dynasty are very exquisite, which occupies an important position in ancient headdresses in China. Therefore, an accurate understanding of women's hair accessories in Qing Dynasty is actually an understanding of the essence of China culture. Although the name Manchu began to appear in the late Ming Dynasty, the long history of this nation can be traced back to Sushen people in BC 16, who were the earliest ancestors of contentment. Before the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, Manchu people were actually descendants of Jurchen, so their costumes naturally continued the dress customs of Jurchen. Jurchen lived between Baishan and Heishui before entering the customs. They mainly live in hunting and nomadic civilization. During this period, women's hair accessories were simply braided to facilitate their riding and hunting.

After the Qing army entered the customs, for a long time, women's hairstyles did not change much, and they still maintained the most traditional style of the Jurchen nationality? Braid bun? . Due to the appearance of crown service etiquette, Manchu women began to wear hair crowns and hairpins at important ceremonies. In order to wear the crown, women had to comb the original bun into soft wings, which was the most popular hairstyle in the middle and late Qing dynasty? Two heads? The prototype of. So it's still quite practical? Two heads? In fact, it is a new hairstyle created by Manchu women in order to adapt to the changes of the new dress etiquette system.

Female Hairstyles in the Middle Qing Dynasty

By the middle of Qing Dynasty, Manchu women's hairstyles changed from practical to beautiful. According to the Qing Dynasty's Notes on Old Beijing, what was the most popular female hair accessory during the reign of Emperor Kangxi? Two heads? , wrote in the book:

Only women's clothes in the government comb their hair in a flat bun, which means two heads with the same prefix.

The appearance of this hairstyle is to satisfy women's love of beauty, because women can insert beads and velvet flowers on the bun of two heads as decoration according to their own preferences. But both heads are made of real women's hair, so it is difficult to wear a lot of hair accessories, so? Shelf head? Came into being.

Shelf head? With what? Two heads? The difference is that when a woman combs her hair, she will put a tripod made of fine wire between her two hairstyles, and then wrap her hair around the wire rack. In this way, the area of hair styles that can wear pearls, flowers and other accessories will become larger, and women can modify their hair styles more freely. Because there will still be broken hair left behind at the back of the neck, which can't be completely wound on the wire rack, Manchu women say that the remaining hair behind the head will be combed into a dovetail in a special way, so that the hairstyle will be more beautiful and diverse. The female hairstyle in The Story of Yan Xi Palace is actually very consistent with the hairstyle characteristics of the Qing Dynasty.

Hairstyles of women in late Qing Dynasty

After experiencing the prosperous period of Kanggan, the Qing Dynasty ushered in a gradual decline in the last years of the Qing Dynasty. At this time, in the Forbidden City, the extravagance gradually started, and women's aesthetic taste changed greatly. Manchu aristocratic women felt that the original shelf head could not satisfy their desire to install more hair accessories on the bun, so court women began to comb a bigger and higher bun, which was called "hairstyle".

Big wings? 、? Flag head? .

Big wing pulling was mainly popular in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, because this hairstyle was deeply loved by Empress Dowager Cixi, which led to the Manchu nobles competing to imitate it.

Because the hairstyle of big wings is big enough, the decorative heart of women is brought to the extreme. A particularly beautiful flower will be placed on the front of this bun, and silk flower Zhucui will be used as an ornament. In order to continue to increase the beauty of headdress, women will also use lighter and more elastic ornaments such as green yarn and tassel to decorate the bun. In this way, the big wings are more and more dazzling. Because there are too many decorations on the flag head, court women must always keep a dignified and straight posture. This hairstyle really made the court women in Qing Dynasty more elegant to some extent. The hair accessories in Princess Zhu Huan are actually big wings, but the tailor obviously made a mistake about the birth time of this kind of hair accessories, because it is impossible to have big wings in Qianlong period.

Exquisite headdresses of women in Qing Dynasty

Women's hair styles in Qing Dynasty are not only unique and national, but also headdresses used by Manchu women to decorate their hair styles are the representatives of traditional headdress culture in China. For example, the Qing dynasty crown, which is used to reflect status and class rank, has a unique shape. Generally, only aristocratic women will wear crowns when they participate in sacrificial activities. The crown is divided into winter and summer, and there are a lot of gold jewelry on it. According to the different grades of empresses and concubines, the number of gems on the crown is completely different. Because this kind of hair accessory only appeared on certain occasions and could only be worn by the empress of the Qing Dynasty, it was not an ordinary hair accessory in the Qing Dynasty.

What is another headdress decoration popular among Manchu aristocratic women? Xunzi? According to different functions, twinkle can be divided into Phoenix twinkle and Ordinary twinkle. Phoenix twinkle usually only appears at weddings and festivals, but it can also be worn in daily life. The number and material of flowers embedded in the crystal are also exquisite. Gems, emeralds, corals and other flowers have different symbolic meanings, so flowers are very popular in women's headdresses in the Qing Dynasty. If women think that ribbon flowers are extremely monotonous, they will also decorate beads, tassels and tassels around the flowers to increase the beauty of the headdress.

Finally, let's talk about the headdress flower on the big wings, in the film and television drama? Touhua? In fact, the material is mainly plastic fake flowers, but the headdress used by court women in Qing Dynasty is made of flowers, silk flower, velvet flowers and other materials. Touhua is so popular because of women's pursuit of beauty and the custom of wearing flowers in Manchu religious beliefs. Manchu people believe that flowers can pray for peace and exorcise evil spirits for them. Therefore, when women choose to take the lead, they will also choose some flowers with bright colors and rich fragrance. Due to the short storage time of flowers, in order to make the headdress flower reusable, silk flower made of silk and velvet silk appeared. From the changes of women's hair styles to exquisite headdresses in Qing Dynasty, it can be seen that court women in Qing Dynasty have the ultimate pursuit of headdress decoration.