#huafuasks

[koikishu]

Hi! First of all I wanted to say that I only just found your account recently and it's very interesting, I love learning about other cultures and clothing has always been a big reason for that so I really appreciate the amount of research you put into your work!

Anyways, I'm also a big fan of Journey To The West and I found this photo depicting Princess Iron Fan that came from a 2010 Chinese opera performance "Monkey King: Flaming Mountain". Her outfit is very very pretty but I couldn't find any info on it no matter how hard I tried, the one thing I managed to find that was similar was called a feitian dress (I think, sorry if that's wrong), but they don't look quite the same as the one in this performance. I was wondering if you knew what it was called and if it has any historical accuracies behind the design of her outfit as well, thanks in advance! :)

Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying my blog.

So, I think you're on the right track with "feitian" dress. Another culture/ historical fashion blog, @ziseviolet, wrote an excellent post about feitian dress, its origins, and its modern versions that you should read here: https://www.tumblr.com/ziseviolet/672232299973296128/what-exactly-does-dunhuang-style-mean?source=share

Another thing to note is that it's a Chinese Opera performance, meaning that the costumes will blend the well-known character traits & signifiers from the original tale mixed with traditional Chinese Opera costumes/ accessories. As far as I could tell, Princess Iron Fan is some kind of demoness in the original story, and many gods/bodhisattvas/apsaras (i.e. feitian)/ demons were depicted wearing "feitian" style clothing to indicate their non-humanness to audiences.

We know that feitian style clothing isn't historically accurate and that many aspects of Chinese Opera costumes are also not historical, so there's not much else to find regarding this version of Princess Iron Fan's costume. I do agree that it's very pretty, but I don't think it has any special name or style other than "feitian." I hope you find this answer helpful! If not, see if @ziseviolet may have a better answer for you!

Regards,

Koikishu