The Asuka period began with the introduction of Buddhism, and the writing system of Chinese characters to Japan; during this time, Chinese influence over Japan was fairly strong. In 1869, the social class system was abolished, and with them, class-specific sumptuary laws. Social segregation of clothing was primarily noticeable in the Nara period (710-794), through the division of upper and lower class. This proposed the widely held belief that those of lower ranking, who were perceived to be of less clothing due to their casual performance of manual labor, traditional qipao chinese dress were not protected in the way that the upper class were in that time period. In response to the increasing material wealth of the merchant classes, the Tokugawa shogunate issued a number of sumptuary laws `for the lower classes, prohibiting the use of purple or red fabric, gold embroidery, and the use of intricately dyed shibori patterns. The sleeves of the kosode began to grow in length, especially amongst unmarried women, and the obi became much longer and wider, with various styles of knots coming into fashion, alongside stiffer weaves of material to support them. Rinzu, a damask fabric, also became the preferred material for kimono at this time, replacing the previously popular nerinuki plain-weave silk, which had been used to create tsujigahana.
In the Edo period, the kimono market was divided into craftspeople, who made the tanmono and accessories, tonya, or wholesalers, and retailers. This prevented Chinese-imported goods-including clothing-from entering the Imperial Palace and disseminating to the upper classes, who were the main arbiters of traditional Japanese culture at the time and the only people allowed to wear such clothing. With the opening of Japan’s ports for international trade in the 1860s, clothing from a number of different cultures arrived as exports; despite Japan’s historic contact with the Dutch before this time through its southerly ports, Western clothing had not caught on, despite the study of and fascination with Dutch technologies and writings. A number of different fashions from the West arrived and were also incorporated into the way that people wore kimono; numerous woodblock prints from the later Meiji period show men wearing bowler hats and carrying Western-style umbrellas whilst wearing kimono, and Gibson girl hairstyles – typically a large bun on top of a relatively wide hairstyle, similar to the Japanese nihongami – became popular amongst Japanese women as a more low-effort hairstyle for everyday life.
In 718 CE, the Yoro clothing code was instituted, which stipulated that all robes had to be overlapped at the front with a left-to-right closure, following typical Chinese fashions. The jackets given to the APEC leaders were a blend of Chinese motifs and western design, made from silk supposedly artificially enhanced to be stronger, softer, more wrinkle-resistant, more water-absorbent, and better ventilated, with longer-lasting and brighter colors. Initiatives such as the Tokyo Women’s & Children’s Wear Manufacturers’ Association (東京婦人子供服組合) promoted Western dress as everyday clothing.诸王加官者自服其官之冠服，惟太子及王者后常冠焉。 The term paofu (袍服) is composed of the Chinese characters pao《袍》, which literally means “robe”, and fu《服》which literally means “clothing”. Traditional Chinese clothing had been introduced to Japan via Chinese envoys in the Kofun period, with immigration between the two countries and envoys to the Tang dynasty court leading to Chinese styles of dress, appearance and culture becoming extremely popular in Japanese court society. After the feudal Qing dynasty was overturned, Chinese feminists called for women’s liberation from traditional roles.
This reconstruction is probably outdated; the hō should be shorter, with a short pleated frill beneath, as in the women’s costume. Below the ran and extending below it to about knee length, a more heavily pleated contrasting skirt called a hirami was worn. The Dummies’ Guide to the Aoqun: A guide to making the basic shape of a wide-sleeved top and pleated wrap skirt, with a 15th century flair. Female figures often wear a skirt, with male figures wearing trousers tied with garters just above the calf, so that they balloon over the knee, allowing freedom of movement. Judging by the depictions in the Tenjukoku Shūchō Mandala, during the reign of Empress Suiko (593-628), male and female court dress were very similar. As a result, to deliberately create a more figure-hugging silhouette and to focus on showing off the natural curve of the female body, many elements of Western tailoring techniques can be found in the Shanghai-style cheongsam, including curved cutting, waist darts.