Framing Devices: The Production and Consumption of Woven Ribbon Borders in Late Qing Women's Clothing

This project will investigate the role that woven ribbon borders played in the fashion system of the late Qing (1860-1911), including how they were used to frame women's clothing, how their production involved trade with Western merchants, and how this affected clothing production and fashion. I will combine analysis of visual culture, literary and economic sources, and study of extant objects in the V&A (London) and Chinese Textiles and Clothing Culture Center (Taipei), making sense of how these ubiquitous trimmings were used in the Chinese fashion system and how increased globalization and commercialization affected the fashions of Han Chinese women.