Hong Kong Story | Ye Jintian, Designer of the Olympic "Dragon Suit": Telling China to the World
Xinhua News Agency, Hong Kong, August 22 -
Title: Olympics "Long dress," designer Tim Yip: telling China to the world
Xinhua News Agency reporter Lu Min Weihua
Ye Jintian was always nervous when watching the Olympic games.
For the excitement of the game, for the record of the Chinese team, and for the award-winning uniforms worn by the Chinese athletes after the game.
As a visual artist, Ye Jintian won the Oscar for Best Art Director for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and has made considerable achievements in many art categories with numerous titles.
But this time, his title is the designer of the award-winning clothing of the Chinese sports delegation in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Sharpen a sword in three years.
The award-winning clothing he designed was hailed as the "dragon clothing" by Chinese audiences.
When Yang Qian, the first gold medalist in this Olympics, stepped onto the podium wearing a "dragon suit", netizens' praise instantly swept the screen.
Since then, the podium has become a "T stage" where award-winning clothing from many countries are competing to display, and the "Dragon Clothes" has appeared on the stage again and again.
The red and white look "very prominent and very simple", which is what Ye Jintian wanted.
"She is so young, and she looks pretty good on her." Ye Jintian said when she saw the 14-year-old contestant Quan Hongchan put on a "dragon suit".
Convey the beauty of meaning
"The Olympic Games is a human event without borders. How should China express itself?" More than three years ago, with such a question, Ye Jintian accepted the invitation of Anta Group to start the design of award-winning costumes.
In the direction of design, he envisioned many possibilities.
Since it is a sportswear, it must be related to the body, and it must reflect the physical relationship between the clothing and the body.
"But I think that what is different in China is to have a spiritual level of participation on top of these physical relationships." He said.
Just like Chinese Kung Fu, "Chinese Kung Fu is not only about fighting, but also about martial arts and chivalrous spirit." Ye Jintian said.
After in-depth research on the styles, patterns and colors of Olympic costumes in many countries, Ye Jintian made clear his design direction: to express the feeling of China and reflect the spirit of the Chinese people's tolerance, tolerance, and sportsmanship. "More To convey the beauty of meaning."
The Chinese Tang suit round stand-up collar designed this time, the collar line extends all the way to the dantian, symbolizing the "shen dantian" in Chinese Kung Fu; the large area of pure white makes the red embellishment appear very strong, reflecting the "stay" in Chinese wisdom. "White"; and the overall shape is a state where the body is lifted up. "You see that white is dominant, the upper part is wide and the lower part is narrow, so that the legs will look slender, the waistline will be closed, and the shoulder lines will be more emphasized. Very powerful."
Ye Jintian has been engaged in stage design for many years, and is very familiar with the human body line and the relationship between clothing and the human body, but this time, "Dragon Suit" is made for people with different physical characteristics, which also involves the application of new technology and new materials in sports clothing. , The difficulty is not small.
"The most important point is to suit everyone."
The blending of physical relations and spiritual elements, taking into account both functionality and calmness, constitutes the overall aesthetics of the "Dragon Suit", reflecting the state of soaring.
He hopes the athlete wears it, "very comfortable and very confident."
Before seeing the athletes wearing the "Dragon Suit", Ye Jintian was always nervous, "I want to see how they really feel when wearing them. At that time, I was still wondering if there is any room for improvement."
When more and more Chinese athletes are on the podium, Ye Jintian observes the visual effects of the "Dragon Suit" again and again and confirms that they are what he wants. Not bad."
A teenager who is crazy about Mei Lanfang
Ye Jintian always wears black clothes and a black hat in life.
It is hard to imagine that the visual feast he created in his works is so rich and colorful.
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Daming Palace Ci", "Red Cliff"... the works he has participated in, freeze any frame of the picture, all of which change with the environment, full of oriental connotation.
In the 1980s, "In Hong Kong at that time, Western culture was the mainstream, and the understanding of traditional culture was almost blank." Why are the new and good ones all from the West?
The dissatisfied young man Ye Jintian started by looking for the reasons and took the initiative to explore Eastern and Western cultures, feeling that "someday, they will do better than them."
He liked the bold and avant-garde art in Europe, but when he met Peking Opera and Mei Lanfang, he was immediately fascinated by the "cool and very Chinese" stuff.
"I was crazy at the time. I searched libraries, bookstores, and book stalls with my friends, and searched all over the world for all the content about the'Four Famous People'. We were so excited that there could be one or two pages on a book to introduce them. It's incredible."
The farther Ye Jintian goes, the closer to his original intention.
Traveling to other cultures in the world and interacting and cooperating with many world-class artists have made him more and more aware of Chinese culture.
"Those illocutionary things attract me the most," he said.
In Ye Jintian's view, Chinese culture has an inherent intangible power. In terms of artistic creation, it will become infinite possibilities, allowing creation to continue. "I get a lot of nourishment from it, and more and more."
Speaking of cultural heritage, Ye Jintian believes that in addition to introducing traditional culture, a group of excellent creators are needed to make good works for young people to see, and let them know that there are many cool and great works in China.
Just like the wonderful performance of Chinese athletes at the Tokyo Olympics, the world was impressed and the Chinese felt proud.
Tell your own story
In Ye Jintian's artistic creation, "how to tell one's own story" has always been a proposition for his thinking.
"I hope we can be strong and express ourselves." He said.
He gave examples, such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Westerners believe that it is impossible for a person to fly to the sky.
But when the style, language, and narration of the whole play are presented at the same time, they can understand and receive what you want to express.
"To communicate with them, we must find this point."
In Ye Jintian's view, the world's trends are always changing, but artists must maintain their concentration, "We have a group of people who want to do something, just for the unchanging thing."
The design of "Dragon Clothes" is actually telling the Chinese story to the world.
"Make it both scientific and humanistic, hoping to achieve the feeling that everyone feels that they can stay." Ye Jintian said, "The more people believe in me, I will do more things."
During the Olympics, Ye Jintian watched a lot of games. During the games, the Chinese team members were in a state of high concentration, and their physical and technical skills were so well grasped.
He takes the perspective of an art creator to observe the state of people, such as watching diving, just like that. The talent, effort, success and failure of athletes are all in it, and the beauty is indescribable. As time stretches, what they show is the present."
He was particularly impressed by Quan Hongchan’s diving. “There was a scene in which she was turned upside down facing the camera, and then the camera was slowly pushed up. The connotation it conveyed has exceeded the diving itself. At that moment, the performer It is one with the spirit of the audience."
At these wonderful moments, Ye Jintian was deeply moved.
He felt that, as an audience, he and national honor also had a common connection.