LOST TRADITIONS IN CHINESE DRESS
Text by Helen (Siuyi) Ting
An almost forgotten tradition in Chinese fashion, Belt toggles, known as zhuizi (坠子), are small carved ornaments used as counterweights on cords tied around belts in traditional Chinese dress.
Traditional Chinese garments up until the 1940s did not have pockets. Instead both men and women had external pouches for small items such as money, tobacco, perfume or even chopsticks.
Toggles gradually disappeared in the early 1900s as Western styles of dress became more fashionable across China. Zhuizi are decorative and functional objects that also embody great symbolic and cultural significance. Carved from a diverse range of natural materials to represent a variety of figures, plants, animals, and everyday objects, these splendid miniatures manifest Chinese culture and material values.......................
An almost forgotten tradition in Chinese fashion, Belt toggles, known as zhuizi (坠子), are small carved ornaments used as counterweights on cords tied around belts in traditional Chinese dress.
Traditional Chinese garments up until the 1940s did not have pockets. Instead both men and women had external pouches for small items such as money, tobacco, perfume or even chopsticks.
Toggles gradually disappeared in the early 1900s as Western styles of dress became more fashionable across China. Zhuizi are decorative and functional objects that also embody great symbolic and cultural significance. Carved from a diverse range of natural materials to represent a variety of figures, plants, animals, and everyday objects, these splendid miniatures manifest Chinese culture and material values.......................
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