Tang Dynasty Lady with a Flower Medallion Shawl 唐代贵妇 (团花披肩)

 

Music: Flower/ Hana

Reenactor:  Dalu88888

Tang dynasty noblewoman dressed in an intricately tie-dyed (zhá rǎn/扎染) transcalent shawl. Popular motifs included repeating floral medallion prints. During the Tang the vibrant and highly resistant tie-dyed dresses were sign of status because they were very labor intensive and costly to make. 

Tang dynasty at its height during the reign of the Xuanzong Emperor (the High Tang period) before the calamitous An Lushan Rebellion. 

Often vibrant colors were favored and the forms of the flower medallion tuán huā 团花 "flower block/ flower medalion" shapes ranged from intricate and refined to cloudy floral fields of color.

Like the idyll of a youngster's folly-filled spring, the gaudy tie-dye patterns represented a high watermark of extravagance. And later- with the hindsight of the calamities and fall of the Tang: it was seen by later eras as a sign of frivolity and over-indulgence. After restabilizing the realm after nearly 7 decades of civil war and chaos which ended the Tang, the succeeding conservative and frugal minded Song dynasty tried to prohibit these ostentatious dresses. 

Eventually the tie-dyed dresses began to disappear while some pockets still remained which had far more subdued patterns. Though banished~ it is safe to say that just like the halcyon innocent spring of youth, it still remains in a cherished place that is inextricable from the better days of Tang. There's really nothing quite like the freshness of one's youth.

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