Design and Materials of Embroidered Female Clothes: A Transcultural Object

During the early 20th century, modern industries—like the textile and apparel industries in China—have emerged, thanks in large part to the modernization process. Throughout the Qing era, Canton and Shanghai both functioned as treaty ports, enabling important cultural exchanges with numerous countries across the world. Chinese textiles have been shown to provide a substantial contribution to cross-border trade and cultural exchange, both as domestically produced and utilized goods and as commodities exported to other nations. In this paper, women's embroidered clothing from the late 19th and early 20th centuries is examined, with particular attention paid to the patterns employed, the use of imported materials, and possible clientele. The study looks into how different materials are used, such as metal buttons and dyes, trimmings and pattern designs, clothing styles, and fabric cutting, to create pieces that are specifically tailored to the tastes of female customers, both domestic and foreign. It explores further how these preferences may reflect China-Japan cultural exchange. This study looks at how women's jackets, in terms of dressmaking and consumption, function as movable material objects that spread culture and tell stories about urban living and cross-cultural encounters. The role that women play in creating those products is also examined in this research. This paper examines the image of women's jackets around early 20th-century paintings and prints in addition to analyzing the physical characteristics of embroidered women's clothing. It also looks at how transcultural experiences are represented by female coats, both as actual objects and in visual representations.