Red Chinese Jacket

A Han Chinese woman’s wedding jacket.

Decorated garments served an important role for special ceremonies, as expressions of taste and fashion, or as delineators of status and wealth. Up until the 20th century most of these clothes belonged to the privileged segment in society.

This garment has significant festive embroidery on the front forward facing flaps. The predominant embroidery is satin stitch floral pattern with bat motifs. However there is a particular focus on the peach, which is embroidered in French knot or the forbidden stitch(forbidden since 1910 by emperor decree as it caused blindness in its practitioners). Albeit the peach is linked with longevity, it is also associated with feminine beauty and has various sexual connotations.