Fashion in the Yuan dynasty
[2]: 82–83 Mongol attire worn in the 13th-14th century was different from the Han clothing from the Tang and Song dynasties.
[5] After the founding of the Yuan dynasty, the Mongols strongly influenced the lifestyle and customs of the Han people.
[8] It was noted by Li Zhichang in his 1221 visit to Genghis Khan court that the Mongol clothing were made of "hides and fur".
As for colours they use red, purple, violet, and green, and for patterns the sun, moon, dragon, and phoenix.
[9]: 21 [note 1] After the founding of the Yuan dynasty, the Mongols strongly influenced the lifestyle and customs of the Han people.
[9]: 45 Prior to the establishment of Yuan dynasty, the Mongols wore clothing made of animal-based raw materials, such as leather, felt, and fur.
[9]: 21 Following the establishment of the Yuan dynasty, the Mongols started to wear finer materials, such as plant-based textiles and silk.
[9]: 52–54 The wearer could also slipped out his arm out of the underarm openings to allow for a greater ease of movement as depicted by an archer in green Haiqing in the painting Khubilai Khan Hunting.
[14][note 3] Similar forms of short-sleeved robes worn over outer robes can also be found in artwork and illustrations of the Ilkhanate and in other countries in the later centuries.Mongol men also wore a sleeveless and collarless garment like a vest, called bijia (比甲), whose making was attributed to Empress Chabi.
[17] Mongol men swept their hair into two plaits and would hang them behind their ears in a style called pojia (婆焦).
[9]: 79–81 The deel of Mongol women was described as looking similar to the Chinese Taoist garment; it was very wide, was opened in the front, was fastened in three places, was double-breasted, and was cut in the same way as the robe of their male counterpart.
But on the day after she is married a woman shaves from the middle of her head to her forehead, and she has a tunic as wide as a nun's cowl, and in every respect wider and longer, and open in front, and this they tie on the right side.
They do not use capes, cloaks or hoods, but wear tunics of buckram, velvet, or brocade made in the following fashion: they are open from top to bottom and are folded over the breast; they are fastened on the left with one tie, on the right with three, on the left side also they are open as far as the waist.In Chinese sources, the Mongol women clothing was described by Zhao Hong (in 1221 AD) as being ample and having a side closing;[21] similar to the garments of the Chinese Daoists...
[9]: 90 It was a form of outwear;[11] it also worn with the gugu hat,[9]: 90 which was red in colour for the Empress and court ladies.
Mongol women also did not engage in foot binding practice and often wore boots and embroidered silk slippers or shoe covers for unbound feet.
[9]: 84–86 Many Han Chinese and other ethnicities readily adopted Mongol clothing in Northern China to show their allegiance to the Yuan rulers; however, in Southern China, Mongol clothing was rarely seen as both men and women continued to dress in Song-style garments.
[8] The wearing short-length cross-collar upper garment over long narrow skirt was also a Song-style woman fashion.
[25][6]: 142 This form of set of clothing was a style which slightly deviated from the ruqun worn in the Tang and Song dynasties.
[26] Near the end of the Yuan dynasty, clothing style from Goryeo became popular and was perceived as beautiful; they were adopted by Mongol rulers.
[1] The Mongol aristocrats, queens and imperial concubines started to imitate the clothing style of Goryeo women.
[31] Due the presence of these recruited Kongnyo women, Goryeo-style became common in the Mongol court; in the 14th century, it was recorded in the Gengshen Waishi《庚申外史》 that: "Among prominent officials and influential people in the capital city [Dadu[35]: 117 ], acquisition of a Koryŏ woman has become [popular, or a "must have"[35]: 117 ] for one to be considered a leading light [notable[35]: 117 ].
[32]: 53 [36] This showed that Korean women were preferred in the last decades of the Yuan dynasty to the point that fetishism was developed around them.
[35]: 117 The late Yuan dynasty poet Zhang Xu also wrote a few poems about the popularity of Goryeo-style, which was dubbed as Goryeoyang (Chinese: 高麗樣).
