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- Top 5 Asian Textiles: May 7, 2024
Welcome to the sixteenth edition of Cross Couture, the fashion x culture newsletter. |
The clothes we wear have always been an ever-shifting portrait of society and we’re sitting down to explore how our daily outfits change as we come into contact with new societies, technologies, and stories. |
It’s Day 14 of my Spring Challenge!
As a reminder, this challenge means that either you get an email in your inbox 5 times per week until May 31st (which means I get a set of luxurious, vintage jammies) OR I have to donate $5 to a charity I hate for every week that I miss the goal.
Series #3: Top 5 Asian Textiles.
Today’s pick: Nuihaku Robes from Japan
From The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Today’s work comes from the theater world. Nō is a Japanese form of theater that brings music, drama, and dance together. Female protagonists of the plays often work nuihaku robes. The term nuihaku actually brings together two techniques: nui (embroidery) and haku (metallic leaf).
Embroidery was often naturalistic, depicting trees, flowers, and grasses, especially to distinguish Japanese aesthetics from Chinese sensibilities, that favored auspicious motifs.
The embroidery itself was also uniquely Japanese, using untwisted silk threads that bring out the luster of the silk as well as allowing for easy loops and a flowing quality. Certain sections of nuihakus do use twisted thread, however, to create a stronger sense of three-dimensionality.
Aside from nature, other designs were mixed in, depending on which character the wearer was playing: from a carriage (depicting a noblewoman) to books (to depict the rising literacy in Japan).
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xoxo,
Simran