Chinese women wore tank tops, transparent outfits 800 years, Song dynasty find suggests

Digital reconstruction of treasure trove found in 800-year-old tomb reveals forward-thinking fashion of the day, according to scientists

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Chinese scientists have created a digital reconstruction of a wealthy woman’s clothing from the Southern Song dynasty. Photo: Wuhan Textile University

Published: 10:00am, 10 Nov 2024Updated: 5:30pm, 10 Nov 2024

The day-to-day clothing worn by a young woman from the Song dynasty, around 800 years ago, has been digitally reconstructed by Chinese scientists using the latest technology.

They discovered that fashion concepts during the Song dynasty (960-1279) were exceptionally open and avant-garde. Women would wear a moxiong – similar to a modern-day tank top – in public, and over it, a thin, almost translucent silk robe.

“The Song dynasty’s moxiong had triangular patches sewn along the edge of the chest as cover [for privacy]. When worn, the strings on the chest were tied behind the neck, while the strings on both sides of the waist were tied at the back,” the project team led by Liu Anding, associate professor at Wuhan Textile University, wrote in a peer-reviewed paper published in the university’s academic journal last week.

“Paired with a lightweight robe made of floral gauze fabric, the underlying moxiong was faintly visible,” Liu and her colleagues said. “The neck and chest became the focal points of visual aesthetics, reflecting a forward-thinking and open mindset towards dressing.”

The clothes used in the research came from an ancient tomb in the southeastern province of Fujian.

A moxiong, similar to a modern-day tank top, discovered in noble lady Huang Sheng’s tomb, who died in 1243. Photo: Wuhan Textile University

In 1975, an expansion project at a school in Fuzhou uncovered the family tomb of Zhao Yujun, a royal aristocrat from the Southern Song dynasty. Zhao’s tomb had been damaged by grave robbers, but the tomb of his wife, Huang Sheng, remained intact.