Research of the Textile Pattern Design based on the Tibetan Traditional Costumes

1) Analysis of Tibetan women's costumes

There are more than 200 types of Tibetan costumes, the largest among ethnic minorities. In Tibet, besides casual dress, female costumes for festivals and celebrations are more numerous than usual, and there are also various kinds of costumes for coming-of-age ceremonies and weddings.

Depending on the region, Tibetan costumes can be roughly divided into Kham costumes, Amdo costumes, and Ü-Tsang costumes. According to the article by Park(2004) "The basic costumes of Tibetan people are similar in category, including Tibetan robe, Bangdian (Tibetan women's ornaments around the waist), the shirt (a short garment worn under the Tibetan robe), Tibetan boot, ornament, etc." Among them, the Tibetan robe is the most representative of Tibetan costumes. As shown in <Fig. 6>, wide waist, long sleeves and wide front are typical structures of Tibetan costumes. Bangdian, one of the decorative pieces of Tibetan women's costumes, is an apron woven with colorful pulu (a type of wool handmade by the Tibetan people), as shown in <Fig. 7>. Tibetan women's robes reach to the ankles, the belt is tied higher, and the lower skirt takes up most of the body, making women's costumes look solemn and elegant. Tibetan boots in <Fig. 8> are indispensable for people living in rural areas. Tibetan boots are made of pulu and cowhide and have a rich design. In areas where livestock are raised, there is no difference between the left and right sides of the boots. The soles are thick and the upper is embroidered(Park & Cho, 2002).

According to the article by Li(2009), although Tibetan costumes vary in different regions, they are very consistent in the choice and identification of colors, namely, the five colors of Tibet: white, blue, red, yellow, and green. Tibetan costumes are characterized by high purity and bright colors, which are almost all primary colors. The fabrics of Tibetan costumes are very rich and can be divided into four types based on texture, sense of sight, and sense of touch. The first type is woolen fabrics, including pulu, mubuu, woolen cloth, etc. The most widely used ethnic clothing on the Tibetan Plateau is pulu, a handmade woolen fabric made by Tibetans. The second type is silk fabrics, including kesi fabrics and silk fabrics. The third type is fabrics made of chemical fibers or natural blends. The fourth kind is animal skins, including sheep skin, cow skin, otter skin, tiger skin, leopard skin and so on. The patterns of Tibetan costumes contain many dialectical thoughts about the nation. Tibetans attach importance to a balanced and dynamic culture. Some patterns are both symmetrical and dynamic, representing the dialectical unity of movement and stillness, such as the rhombus in <Fig. 9>, the lucky knot in <Fig. 10>, the swastika（卍or卐) in <Fig. 11>, etc. According to the article by Chen & Suh(2014), Tibetans mainly wear high-purity black, red, yellow, white, blue, green and other colors.

Tibetan ornaments are very developed. There are headdresses, hair ornaments, necklaces, chest ornaments, waist ornaments, earrings, ring, etc. The materials are gold, silver, copper, shells, agate, turquoise, jade, coral, pearls, etc.(Park & Cho, 2002). Tibetan ornaments come in different types and unique styles. <Fig. 12> and <Fig. 13> show Tibetan women wearing hair ornaments. <Fig. 14> is a picture of chest ornaments and <Fig. 15> shows a Tibetan girl wearing a ring. Ornaments are usually made of precious stones such as coral and amber, but also jade, shells, gold, and silver. Tibetan ornaments are also very varied in shape, for example, regular geometric figures. Tibetan people are also freely combine the shapes of the ornaments according to their preferences.

2) The comparative analysis of Tibetan costumes textile patterns in modern fashion design works

This study examines Tibetan traditional costume fashion shows of Chinese clothing brands and international fashion week from 2015 S/S to 2021 S/S, including AYOU 2015 S/S, AYOU 2015 F/W, AJ-NAMO 2017 F/W, AJ-Namo 2020 F/W, Lanyu 2019 S/S and PRONOUNCE 2021 S/S and selects representative images from the show for comparison with Tibetan traditional costume textile patterns.

AYOU fashion, a Chinese clothing brand founded in Beijing in 1996, is committed to “expressing the pursuit of a natural and simple, healthy and eco-friendly life with a friendly humanistic temperament." With its unique and strong style, full of ethnic and exotic features. In 2015 S/S and F/W, the brand shot a series of films with the themes "Exploring Shambhala" and "Returning to Shambhala" respectively. As <Table 1> shows, the clothing in the AYOU fashion collection adopts the bold profile of Tibetan robes. The Bangdian of the Tibetan costumes in <Fig. 7> is used in <Fig. 16>, and the waist ornaments in <Fig. 18> are used for the Tibetan robe in <Fig. 17>. The bright color contrast and the use of traditional ornaments and patterns fully bring out the Tibetan costume culture.

AJ-NAMO is a Tibetan fashion brand founded in 2015, the first ethnic minority brand to participate in the International Fashion Week, the cultural industry demonstration brand of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and "The Belt and Road" cooperation brand in 2017. Ajanamu, a member of the Aja Group, is the founder and chief designer of the brand. As shown in <Table 2>, In <Fig. 19>, traditional Tibetan patterns in <Fig. 20> are used, and in <Fig. 21>, the basic materials of Tibetan costumes in <Fig. 22> are used.

Designer Lanyu, who founded his studio in 2005, is known in China for designing wedding dresses. At the official invitation of New York Fashion Week, he presented his latest collection for the 2019 S/S Haute Couture in New York for the fifth time, using Tibetan costumes as design elements. As exhibited in <Table 3>, in <Fig. 23>, Tibetan language elements in <Fig. 26> are used; in <Fig. 24>, Bangdian in <Fig. 27> is used as a design element; in <Fig. 25>, the Tibetan Eight-treasure pattern of Chinese Tibetan in <Fig. 28> is used for clothes.

PRONOUNCE is a menswear brand founded in Milan in 2016 by two Chinese designers, Li Yushan and Zhou Jun. The design of the brand is fun. The two designers expressed a desire to design gender-neutral clothing made from a blend of fabrics of different materials, with clean workwear silhouettes that soften the inherent hard style of menswear and show amorous and playful traits resulting from changes in fabrics that are not present in traditional menswear. In 2021, they designed clothes with the theme of Tibetan traditional costumes. As shown in <Table 4>, traditional patterns of waist ornaments on the back in <Fig. 31> and the lotus pattern of the Tibetan Eight-treasure image in <Fig. 32> are added as decoration to <Fig. 29> and <Fig. 30>, merging Eastern and Western cultures.

In the modern fashion design show with Tibetan traditional costume patterns, it can be seen that the designers added Tibetan cultural symbols to the fabrics and repeated or enlarged the patterns on the clothes. Therefore, this study combines the Tibetan cultural symbol Gesang Flower with the colors of Tibetan traditional costumes to develop and design textile patterns.

1) Textile pattern design 1

<Table 5> shows the first textile pattern design. Using Adobe Illustrator, the motif design was first taken from the shape of the <Fig. 3> Gesang Flower petals and stamens, and then the main color was red (PANTONE 19-1554TCX) from Tibetan traditional costumes. Green (PANTONE 18-0135TCX) was also utilized to create a dramatic contrast with the red. The colors are displayed in the color column according to the amount of color used, with the corresponding color number noted on the back.

2) Textile pattern design 2

<Table 6> displays the textile pattern design 2. The shape of the <Fig. 51> Gesang Flower petals, as well as the texture of the petals, were used to create the design of the theme. The artwork is then created by evenly arranging the petals and their textures. White (PANTONE 11-4302TCX) and black (PANTONE 19-3911TCX) were chosen as the main colors.

3) Textile pattern design 3

<Table 7> shows the textile pattern design 3. The motif design was first derived from the shape of the <Fig. 52> Gesang Flower petals and stamens to draw circles and triangles, which were then combined into a work of art. The artwork is then used in a textile pattern with symmetry and repetition. The main colors in this design are yellow (PANTONE 14-0754TCX) and dark brown (PANTONE 19-1018TCX).

4) Textile pattern design 4

<Table 8> shows the textile pattern design 4. Initially, the motif design was derived from the shape and texture of <Fig. 53> Gesang Flower petals. The artwork shows a four-flowered shape in the center, around which four other flowers are evenly spaced. The opacity of the petals is reduced for the embellishments at the four corners of the artwork. The main colors in this design are beige (PANTONE 11-0510TCX) and crimson (PANTONE 18-1657TCX) which come from Tibetan traditional costumes.

5) Textile pattern design 5

<Table 9> shows the textile pattern design 5. The motif design was initially derived from the shape of the petals and leaves surrounding the petals of the <Fig. 54> Gesang Flower. The artwork shows a flower in the center with leaves evenly distributed on all four edges. We chose the brown (PANTONE 18-1137TCX) of the Tibetan traditional costume as the main color tone.