Ming was the last dynasty in which men wore the skirt.Images most frequently found in portray were those of government officials and scholars, who wore scholar caps or casual square caps, long robes,and sometimes holding a horsetail "Buddha duster."
Women's costume of the Ming Dynasty went even further in its gentle and elegant beauty, which is often recognized as the epitome of classic Chinese female garment. The Ming dynasty is a period in which the Chinese Hah culture developed to the fullest, absorbing the cultural essence of the previous Tang and Song Dynasties. Ever since the Ming Dynasty and up until the present day, visual representation of ancient Chinese females or women in mythologies has mostly adopted the Ming style. The Ming women wore robes of rough homespun cloths without gold embroidery, and the colors were limited to purple, green and fuchsia. Red, deep blue and bright red were strictly forbidden for women commoners to wear, so as not to confuse with the royal garment colors.
The most typical Ming women's garment is the bijia, a long sleeveless jacket that drapes all the way down to below the knee or even lower. Embroidery is superimposed on woven textures, and at the front closure, a jade ornament is often attached. We can easily find women clad in this type of sleeveless jacket in Ming paintings. A slender figure was the ideal of beauty for Ming women. The bijia
helped create a visual impression of slenderness.
In comparison with the Tang ruqun,the Ming women's garments were less lavish but more gentle and elegant. Neither was it as stiff and rigid as the Song women's wear. A closer look at how they dress can tell us that these women were not as flippant as the Tang women were. They seemed much nmre reserved and subdued in their proper-fitting long gowns with woven patterns. Often the gowns are tied with a bow at the waist, the end draping all the way down below the knees.Ornaments included silk ribbons at the waist tied in decorative knots, jade ornaments between the knots, and hairpins for grownup women. The entire set of garments is carefully put together for an overall detect to elegance, but not extravagance.
The Ming ruqun was more similar to the Song Dynasty ruqun in overall appearance. The most obvious change in the Ming Dynasty was the addition of a short waist skirt on young maidservants, intended, possibly, to serve as an apron that protects the longer robe underneath. This waist skirt becomes an added layer, as we can see in Ming paintings, which flow with movement with its natural soft pleats. In artistic representations, this makes up the image of a lively girl, together with coiled hair buns.
