Themed on "Clouds in Twilight" and full of oriental features, the ritual attire for Hangzhou Asian Games was officially released on the evening of Sep. 10, including a set for the award ceremony (female), a set for the medal bearer (female) and a set for the flag raiser (male).
The design was led by Wu Haiyan, an esteemed professor from the School of Design Art of China Academy of Art. Let’s decode the secrets hidden in these clothes.
Full of Oriental Charm and Hangzhou Elements
Manifest Splendor of China and Beauty of Hangzhou
Any of these clothes is full of oriental charm and Hangzhou elements.
Let’s firstly take a look at the attire for the award ceremony. It features a Chinese standing collar and a Western slit skirt. Coupled with the exclusive colors of the 19th Asian Games: Rainbow Purple, Laurus Yellow, Mist White, and Lake and Mountain Green, it looks very beautiful.
Regarding the fabric of the garment, Hangzhou local silk was used, with a special addition of artificial silk to make it hold up the structure while being more air permeable.
The pattern on the dress includes many famous scenes of the West Lake such as Orioles Singing in the Willows, Twin Peaks Piercing the Clouds and Leifeng Pagoda, etc., connected by a winding cloud line which eventually turns into a wave-shaped pattern on the skirt, symbolizing Qiantang River, the transportation of the city and the competition tracks.
At the beginning, the design team did a lot of research on how to promote the elegance of Hangzhou and the grandness of Zhejiang through clothes. Wu Haiyan said: "All work led to the West Lake." During their research, the team found out that the local citizens were very keen to convey the idea of the city through the design of the Asian Games.
"As the time is changing and language is also changing, there are often trending words which yield popular patterns. We combined the patterns of the 'West Lake Era' with those of 'Qianjiang Era,' as well as the local fabrics, weaving, and gradation dyeing and other design techniques, in the hope of showcasing the splendor of China and unique beauty of Hangzhou to the world."
Use Modern Techniques to Highlight the Essence of Tradition
Although there are many colors, the dress doesn’t look incongruous. Wu Haiyan said, "The secret lies in the dyeing. Rendering technique was used to dye the clothes and each piece was hand-dyed by dressmakers. Therefore the final products are unique and slightly different from each other."
"The color system of Hangzhou Asian Games has 6 color gradients and if we use all of them in one clothes, it is too much." Wu Haiyan said.
There are many "dyeing" techniques in traditional Chinese painting, such as dip-dyeing, rendering and gradation dyeing, which are also included in the dyeing and weaving profession. "I think that only through dyeing can we show the unique charm of Hangzhou, which may be felt on the West Lake in early morning, at dusk, in spring, summer, autumn and winter, and may be the hazy changes between the clouds and water."
Traditional Chinese jacquard technique was used to make the pattern on the dress for the award ceremony, namely passing weft (horizontal) threads over and under warp (vertical) threads to build a design that is convex on one side and concave on the other side.
The team spent 3 months on the jacquard style alone, and tried out 8 kinds just to find the perfect texture to present the beautiful landscapes of Hangzhou.
"In this pattern, there are more than 10 kinds of texture effects, and we want to highlight the essence of traditional weaving through the modern high-tech weaving process. Therefore we put a lot of efforts."
Mix Traditional Aesthetics with Contemporary Fashion
Integrate Traditional Culture into Modern Life
The design concept of "traditional revitalization, design transformation, oriental paradigm" has always been the direction Wu Haiyan insists on.
As a renowned professor and designer, Wu Haiyan once worked for the design of the attire for Beijing Olympic Games and Shanghai World Expo, and has always endeavored to integrate Chinese traditional culture into current life and taken it as a concept and pursuit of design education, from her unique perspective and judgment.
At the games, the award ceremony is a commendation ceremony for the winning athletes, one of the most solemn and warm moments of the event, and also the most exciting and glorious moment for the winners. To put it simply, the garment will appear as many times as the gold medal.
"Chinese culture has lasted for thousands of years and there have been many aesthetic styles which are different in different times. Nowadays many people go after "guochao," a trend of consumers' surging interest in domestic brands and products that incorporate Chinese traditional style and culture. It is actually a combination of traditional aesthetics and current fashion." Wu Haiyan said, "Now we design such a garment and we hope that at the attention-grabbing moment we can show the culture, image and style of the host city and country to the audience from different corners of the world on the spot or in front of the screen, through the ritual attire of Hangzhou Asian Games."