Fashion in the Liao dynasty
[2]: 266 According to scholar Linda Cooke Johnson, by the 11th century AD, Chinese influences dating from Tang dynasty period appears to have been thoroughly integrated in the Liao culture.
[2]: 267 After 970 AD, it was decreed that all top Khitan officials had to be dressed in Chinese style clothing while the lower officials of Khitan origins had to continue to wear their native dress for the Great Willowtree Shooting ceremony (大射柳; dasheliu) when praying for rain.
[7]: 74–75 According to the Liao shi, "After the fifth year of the Qianheng 乾亨reign [983] when the Shengzong 聖宗 Emperor [Yelü Longxu 耶律隆緒] conferred the title of Empress Dowager on Chengtian, all of the officials above 3rd rank wore Han-style formal dress [fafu 法服]".
[8] According to Liao shi, "According to the record of the zunhao ceremony 尊號冊禮 [in which a title was conferred on the emperor] in the 5th year of Chongxi 重熙 [1036], following [the zunhao ceremony] the Emperor [Xingzong 興宗, Yelü Zongzhen 耶律宗真] wore the dragon robe and the officials from both the north and south wore [Han style] court dress...".
[8] Based on mural paintings from Khitan tombs during the Liao dynasty, a typical outer garment worn by the Khitan men is a narrow-sleeved, round-collar gown which falls just above the ankles, and opens from the waist down on both sides but not in the front and back; they also wear a belt around the hip area.
[9] Khitan officials used gold ornamented ribbons to found their hair locks around their foreheads, covering their heads with felt hats according to the Ye Longli's Qidan Guozhi.
[11] Tomb murals of Khitan hairstyle show only some hair remaining near the neck and forehead with the rest of the head shaved.
[14] Khitan men might have differentiate between classes by wearing different patterns on their small braids hanging off their shaved foreheads.
[3]: 53, 190 Khitan men left only two separate patches of hair on each of the forehead's sides in front of each ear in tresses while they shaved the top of their head.
[14]Khitan-style clothing for women also existed and were often depicted in Liao tombs in settings associated with nomadic lifestyle and horseback-riding.
[7]: 75–77 This form of dress appeared to be multi-layered in order to keep warm as they lived in harsher climates in the northern regions.
[6] Khitan women also wore tight-sleeved, cross-collared long robes which were mostly buttoned on the left side and were tied at the waist with a silk band.
[10] This form of left sided, cross-collared robe is depicted in the painting "Zuo Xie tu" (卓歇图) by Hu huai.
[10] The long sleeved outer robe which closes to the left is the most defining feature of the Kithan-style women clothing.
