By dr. Mark Joseph O’Connell,
Fashion scholar Hilary Davidson States in “The Embodied Turn: Making and Remaking Dress as an Academic Practice” (2019) that “remaking the clothed past can yield unique and useful research insights” (329). These “unique and useful” methods are in fact necessary in order to generate a more comprehensive knowledge of the fashion research object, especially when traditional methods are found to be lacking. Davidson identifies the standard material objects examined in traditional fashion research, listing these as “surviving examples, dye colors, fibers, [and] construction techniques” (332). The remaking method, however, examines very different aspects of garments and fashion processes, and thus affords fashion scholars and dress historians an opportunity to open up the fashion historical narrative to diverse voices not traditionally deemed fashionable.
Shiyin is a Chinese woman based in Shanghai, who, on her social media platforms is often shown wearing traditional outfits from China’s Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). A (beautiful) sartorial engagement with a growing trend in fashionable historical recreation: Hanfu. Shiyin who grew up in Canada learned of Hanfu through a roommate, and as she states the discovery was a breakthrough moment for her: “In Canada, we had days at school where you could wear national dress, yet as a Chinese person, I had no idea what to wear. Now I know, we have Hanfu.” (Shiyin qtd. in Wang 2021). Hanfu thus allowed Shiyin to connect with a cultural past that was not readily available to her in Canada.

Fig. 1 “Hanfu” photograph, Peng Ke (2021), courtesy Vogue.com.

Fig. 2 “Hanfu” photograph, Peng Ke (2021), courtesy Vogue.com.

Fig. 3 “Hanfu” photograph, Peng Ke (2021), courtesy Vogue.com.

Fig. 4 “Hanfu” photograph, Peng Ke (2021), courtesy Vogue.com.

Fig. 5 “Hanfu” photograph, Peng Ke (2021), courtesy Vogue.com.
Vogue states of the three ensmebles pictured above: “Shiyin wears a ma mian qun, literally “horse face skirt”, a pleated skirt typical of Hanfu. With openings at the front and back, it was originally designed to make horse-riding easier, but this isn’t the reason why it’s called “ma mian” — the actual origins remain unclear.” (Wang 2021)
Shiyin only wears historically accurate reproductions, a practice she differentiates from cosplay and role playing games (RPG):
“They’re all subcultures so people often think they’re the same but they’re actually very different. You can get historical RPG, like I can cosplay a character from a wuxia [martial arts] TV show or video game but that’s not Hanfu, because it’s just a figment of imagination, it has no historical basis. (Shiyin qtd. in Wang 2021)
The desire for historical accuracy is reflected in the fashion designers who are creating Hanfu for this enthusiastic and rapidly growing market:
“A lot of Hanfu brands will reference historical artefacts, although less remain from the Tang period (7th to 10th century) but there’s a lot from the Song (10th to 13th century) and Ming periods (14th to 17th century) to refer to.” (Shiyin qtd. in Wang 2021)
She notes historical dramas like The Imperial Doctress (2016), inspired interest in Ming dynasty styles and Serenade of Peaceful Joy (2019) created an interest in historical garments from the Song dynasty.
Fig. 6 Serenade of Peaceful Joy Season 1, episode 3
Shiyin is not the only one to hold this interest in using garments to explore history and personal identity however, her Youtube channel has 21 million views (and counting), and on Weibo, the hashtag #Hanfu has had over 4.89 billion views to date (Wang 2021). The adoption of Hanfu clearly resonates with those who wish to embody a historical aspect of their historical and cultural identity.
Shui Tang
Closer to home, Saint John New Brunswick resident Shui Tang collects and wears dresses in the Han style from the Ming, Song, and Tang dynasties (Wright 2019). Like Shiyin, Shui Tang notes historical accuracy is the primary goal of Hanfu.

Fig. 7 “Shui Tang” photograph, Nelson Cloud (2019), courtesy CBC.ca

Fig. 8 “Shui Tang” Photograph, Nelson Cloud (2019), courtesy CBC.ca

Fig. 9 “Shui Tang” photograph, Nelson Cloud (2019), courtesy CBC.ca

Fig. 10 “Shui Tang” photograph, Nelson Cloud (2019), courtesy CBC.ca

Fig. 11 “Shui Tang” photograph, Nelson Cloud (2019), courtesy CBC.ca
Shuai Tang differentiates her fashionable historical recreations from the fantasy-based garments worn for cosplay or RPG; the latter two while often inspired by historical details are not specific to any particular era. As she states: “If you imagine something, that becomes cosplay, not Hanfu,” (Tang qtd. in Wright 2019). The goal of Hanfu is to faithfully re-embody a historically accurate recreation of a garment that existed at an earlier time. Her custom-made historical ensembles can “take months or even years to ship to Canada from Chinese suppliers” and these pieces can range from a “few hundred dollars, to more than $3,000 for top-quality reproduction Ming dynasty robes” (Wright 2019). However, as discussed in the introduction, this is not the only engagement with historical garment recreation.
Joining Forces: the Intersection of Two Replica Garments
The fascinating method of historical exploration through remaking can be aligned with a larger fashion historical turn that sees fashion researchers recreating garments from earlier eras as a form of practice-based, research. Bringing close observation of the the embodied garment on the body into fashion historical research methods, and thereby simultaneously creating new methodologies.

Fig. 12 “Toile and bodice together on model” (2007) photograph courtesy Hilary Davidson.
Davidson, a dress historian and Anna Hodson a textile conservator respectively describe their process of re-creation of two historical garments in “Joining Forces: the Intersection of Two Replica Garments” (2007). The research conducted by Davidson “began from a textual source to bring to life flat patterns in an early Spanish tailor’s book,” while Hodson worked on a “conservation treatment for a fragile and degraded early 17th-century blackwork jacket in the collection of the Gallery of Costume, Manchester” (204). When their two research trajectories converged something unexpected, and very significant occured.
They note that carefully researched garment replicas can “form a useful adjunct to more traditional methodologies yielding much worthy data, especially during the medieval and Early Modern periods, with comparatively few surviving pieces” (209). Their research also highlights the cross-disciplinary possibilities offered by careful examination of their respective replica garments, likening the observation to published textual research: “Comparing the research results embodied by two carefully made replicas can be the physical equivalent of comparing published scholarship within an article” (209). The “text” is the reconstructed garment, and scholarship is carried out by the recreation of historical fashions, and subsequent wearing.
The conjoining of their research was a result of a lucky coincidence where two contiguous disciplines unintentionally merged into one research, an “experiment of a moment without prior design”. As the duo describe it:
“The bodice was taken to the TCC to be mounted on a form for display at the conference. The mannequin and mounting materials were in the same room in which the jacket was being conserved. At this point, the proximity in era of the two garments was realised – c.1590 and 1620 respectively – and the toile was arranged over the mounted bodice because it looked like they could sit well together.” (208)
The rest, as they say, was history! The first notable observation was that the:
“[L]ength of the jacket back had seemed disproportionately short to the rest of the garment when seen in the toile alone; putting it with the bodice made sense of the shape of the outer garment. The top point of the godet (a triangular insert giving fullness) on the back of the jacket matches the bottom edge of the bodice, flaring out where the undergarment’s tightness ends (even though the originals were made 20 to 40 years apart). The short back of the bodice could be an effect of changes in body size over four centuries. It supports the illusory waist reduction mentioned above, however, and exactly reflects the proportionate backwaist lengths shown in sculptures.”( 208)
The second major observation was around the fit of the two garments on the body when worn together:
“The Filmer jacket has an unusual shape of neckline which appears to have no comparison.The neckline curves smoothly from the centre front line to the collar. Unlike the other jackets, there is no clear point at which the closure of the garment begins (Fig. 6). From the beginning of the conservation intervention, this obvious difference was fascinating, especially as no indication remains of how the garment fastened, whether by ribbons, hooks, pins or other means. It was when the jacket toile was put over the bodice that the ingenuity of the neckline’s cut was revealed. The top edge of the bodice threw into relief the natural meeting point of the two curved front sections. This was not evident when the jacket lay flat or when tried on a mannequin or model without a period undergarment. The apex of the curve matches the top of the bodice, after which the two front sections meet smoothly down the centre front.” (208)
They also note the “surprising adaptability of fit” of the recreated bodice, that was (so far) worn by “four women, and a mannequin, of different heights and proportions”, and as long as the “back edges were laced fully closed, the bodice consistently achieved the required cone shape” it gave structure “independent of the natural shape of the body underneath” (208).This definitely could not come from examination of a flat garment and definitely not from observation of a painting.
As the researchers note “The possibility of trying on a replica returns the function of wear to a fragile historic piece of clothing. Since this is the main purpose of most garments, good replicas can be complementary, not secondary, in study value to the original items they reproduce” (209).This embodiment of fashion history is crucial to fashion research, as clothes are literally made to be worn on a body. The research conducted by Davidson and Hodson adderss this directly, and thereby provides new areas of knowledge creation within fashion-historical studies.
This method was also explored in Davidson’s recreation of a pellise (an ankle length coat dress) that was thought to have once been owned by Jane Austen. Davidson’s observation of her own recreation garment led her to state in her 2015 article “Reconstructing Jane Austen’s Silk Pelisse, 1812–1814” that:
“The pelisse was made for a woman of between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 foot 9 inches in height, with a slight bust, waist and torso, and narrow shoulders and arms for someone of her height. She wore stays from early childhood which shaped her body into a more rounded shape, away from the ribcage’s natural oval.” (Davidson 2015, 220)
In addition to this, when she compared her recreation to the textual records left by Austen Davidson discovered:
“Through evidence from her own letters, Jane Austen was known to like brown gowns, to have a silk pelisse in 1814, to need 7½ yards of fabric to make a gown (albeit over a decade earlier and thus in different fashion), to be interested in maintaining a respectable, reasonably up-to-date appearance, and to be a tall woman.” (220)
Davidson was thus able to confirm that the original brown slik pelisse garment that she utilized as the source garment for her recreation—a garment held in the collection of the Hampshire County Museum Services and Archives—was in fact a pelisse that had been owned by Jane Austen. Davidson succesfully answers her own research questions through her remaking:
“Was it really Austen’s? If it was, what can be discovered about her physique from examining the garment? How does it relate to ideal and actual fashions, textiles, clothing cultures and wider national contexts? How should the
delicate object be studied, stored, interpreted and displayed?” (198)
The original, too delicate and rare, could not have yielded up the knowledge Davidson was seeking in her research.

Figure 13. “Juniper Bedwell-Wilson Wearing the Replica Pelisse, April 2014”, photograph courtesy Hilary Davidson.
Her recreation though, that did, it offered up the answers she was seeking. Also, seeing that there are no reliable likenesses of Austen extant, the physical presence of a young woman of similar build wearing the garment adds a more nuanced understanding of the physical presence of Austen.
This is also true of the Hanfu as there may not be many garments extant from the eras from which they harken, and what remains is often too fragile and precious to be worn. Thus, historical recreation not only provides a direct link to a cultural history, it also provides embodied education on the physical effects of garments on the body. Thus, this new knowledge from actually wearing historical garments (through recreation) is invaluable. It is literally history come to life.
Davidson, Hilary. 2015. “Reconstructing Jane Austen’s Silk Pelisse, 1812–1814.” Costume 49, no. 2: 198-223.
Davidson, Hilary. 2019. “The Embodied Turn: Making and Remaking Dress as an Academic Practice.” Fashion Theory 23, no. 3: 329-362.
Davidson, Hilary, and Anna Hodson. 2007. “Joining Forces: The Intersection of Two Replica Garments.” Chapter in Textiles and Text: Re-Establishing the Links between Archival and Object-Based Research. Editors Maria Hayward & Elizabeth Kramer. London: Archetype Publications: 204-210.
Shiyin, Official Youtube Chanel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4QxpE043KzFdI7O4zMQ70w
Wang, Meng-Yun. 2021. “Meet Shiyin, the Fashion Influencer Shaping China’s Hanfu Style Revival” Vogue. March 8, 2021, Why The Return of Hanfu Represents A Generational Shift in China | Vogue
Wright, Julia. 2019. “Traditional Chinese Clothing Inspires a Budding Fashion in Saint John”. CBC News. Posted: Aug 17, 2019. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/chinese-unb-clothing-saint-john-hanfu-1.5246476