The cultural expression of young people is hidden in the red makeup of Hanfu
The Spring Festival has just passed and the Lantern Festival is ushered in. The ritual sense of young people and the customs of the ancients collide with each other to create a new charm in traditional festivals.
When the window is undressed, the mirror is decorated with yellow decals.
During the period before and after the first month of the lunar calendar, Wanwan, who works as an Up host at Station B, starts every day like this, and strictly follows the literal meaning - combing her hair into a bun, putting on a festive hairpin, and adding a red flower to her forehead. Dian, wearing an ancient outfit, shuttled through the city.
"You don't feel unique when you go out like this. During the Spring Festival, I saw many children in the ancient town wearing clothes with traditional elements. Such an outfit has been integrated into their daily life."
Wanwan has been making and sharing Hanfu buns at Station B for two or three years. She clearly feels that there is more demand for people to wear Hanfu to enjoy the Chinese New Year this year. Not only her own event announcements have been scheduled until the Lantern Festival, but she also has more and more friends. I sent an invitation, hoping to wear a festive and charming ancient-style makeup to go out and take photos. "Young people are paying more and more attention to the sense of ritual when celebrating traditional Chinese festivals. Hanfu and red makeup have become a cultural expression for them."
The Lantern Festival is just around the corner, and she has prepared a set of clothes made in the Song Dynasty early, with a bright red mandarin skirt and an orange pleated skirt, paired with a girlish side bun and the pearl makeup popular in the Song Dynasty - there is something about her hidden in it. Ingenious idea: "Guessing lantern riddles during the Lantern Festival is said to have begun in the Southern Song Dynasty. This costume just echoes it."
Integrate modern aesthetic taste into ancient style makeup
The complicated double-ring bun is dotted with red and white pompoms and gold hair accessories. "The symmetrical double bun is very popular in ancient makeup because of its cuteness. Most hairstyles are based on this basis with some braiding and flowers." ." Wanwan said that "God of Wealth makeup" is particularly popular during this year's Spring Festival, with ingots, copper coins, etc. appearing on clothing and hair accessories.
"These combine the taste and aesthetics of modern people. In ancient times, makeup was popular with large foreheads and bright tops, but today's young people pay attention to low hairlines and rounded heads and faces. Except for some special styles, we will completely reproduce them based on historical data. My makeup will not just be 'ancient', but will add some contemporary aesthetics to the retro foundation to complement each other."
For example, Huadian is usually paired with elegant Tang costumes.
But the forehead flower will make the whole makeup look more festive, so I will add one to my makeup recently. “Especially the five-point plum blossom shape, the eight-treasure flower shape, the four-petal flower shape, and the multi-petal flower shape have good colors and good meanings. It is used the most to add a little joy between the eyebrows, especially suitable for the atmosphere of celebrating the festival and welcoming the spring.”
Wanwan has thought about it. Ancient style makeup pays more attention to eyebrow shape, but the styles of crescent eyebrows, inverted eyebrows, moth eyebrows...are particularly rich. "Especially willow leaf eyebrows and distant mountain eyebrows are more graceful. On the day of the Lantern Festival, I plan to draw the eyebrows that were popular in the Song Dynasty." The distant mountain eyebrows have a simple and elegant atmosphere."
In terms of clothing, Ming-style Hanfu is worn more often in winter. "Ming-style clothing is warmer and absorbs rich clothing elements from past dynasties, allowing for more matching. No matter what kind of bun you make, it will not look out of place."
Tang Hong, a makeup and facial stylist at a traditional culture promotion agency, has been busy since the beginning of the year.
"In recent years, more and more people are interested in ancient-style Hanfu, and the number of orders has increased significantly." She said that as the Lantern Festival approaches, orders have surged again, and "the appointments have been fully booked on the Lantern Festival."
She also revealed that April and May are also busy seasons of the year. “Spring is blooming, and many young people will choose to wear Hanfu to go outing. To welcome the spring, girls will prefer fresh makeup and jewelry made of imitation jade. . And makeup is also constantly updated. In the past, it was popular to apply blush on the smile muscles, but now it starts from the bottom of the face, which is cute and fashionable.”
Wearing Hanfu and ancient makeup is an expectation for the return of traditional culture
"Wearing festive Hanfu specifically to pay New Year greetings and visit the house." For Wanwan, this is a sense of ritual. "This outfit brings out the feeling of celebrating the festival that has been spread in poetry and ancient paintings."
Wearing Hanfu and red makeup during traditional festivals is a new festival trend that has become popular among young people based on ancient ideas.
In fact, making fuss about appearance and praying for new year's blessings has been a tradition in our country since ancient times.
Liu Yuxi, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, described it in his "Reminiscences of the New Year": "The fire is burning and the children are wearing colorful clothes".
"In ancient times, women from wealthy families could not go out easily, and the Lantern Festival was a special case. Women would dress up and go out, so there were many good stories about the marriage of lovers during the festival." Vice Chairman of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association, Zheng Tuyou, a professor at the Chinese Department of Fudan University, said.
Wang Hongchao, a professor at the School of Humanities of Shanghai Normal University, also described in the book "The Living World of the Ancients": During festivals such as the Beginning of Spring, the Lantern Festival, the Flower Festival, the Qingming Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Chinese Valentine's Day, and the Mid-Autumn Festival, women will wear bright clothes. Take clothes and go out for fun.
Especially during the Lantern Festival, ancient women usually went out in groups to cross bridges and worship temples in order to eliminate all diseases.
On this day, women will dress up carefully and, as recorded in Fangxian Chronicle, "show off their beautiful clothes and travel in groups in the countryside."
Zheng Tuyou also mentioned that in ancient times there was the custom of cutting ribbons and hoopoe on the seventh day of the first lunar month. "It is said that Nuwa created man on the seventh day of creation, so the seventh day of the first lunar month is also called 'Human Day'. The ancients would celebrate this day on the seventh day of the first lunar month." Wear pieces of gold jewelry and paper cuts in your hair to celebrate the birth of a person.”
The sense of ritual among young people and the customs of the ancients create a new charm in traditional festivals, which Zheng Tuyou finds very interesting.
In his opinion, young people wearing Hanfu and ancient makeup are looking forward to the return of traditional culture. At the same time, it also promotes the elegance, interest and beautiful meaning of traditional culture that have been passed down to this day to become a new fashion. “Young people have chosen such a style. This way to understand the flavor and traditions of the New Year not only adds to the festive atmosphere, but also fits their psychology and aesthetics, injecting modern new ideas into New Year customs."
Wenhui Po reporter Liu Liyuan