In fact, in ancient times, women were not the only ones who would wear jewelry. Jewelry originally refers to the ornaments on the heads of men and women. “The Book of the Later Han Dynasty•Yufuzhi” once recorded: “The saints of later generations saw the system of the beard and beard of birds and beasts, so they made crowns and tassels, which were regarded as ornaments.” You can express the honor and inferiority.” These records show that the early jewellery was an imitation of birds and beasts with “crown horns and beards”, and at the same time, jewellery was worn to distinguish one’s identity. Cao Zhi wrote in the “Luo Shen Fu” that women “wear the jewelry of Jin Cui”, but the jewelry here refers to hairpin, hairpin, sheng, step, gold tin, bead flower, 栉 (the general name of comb and grate), Le Ziba Kind of jewelry. With the development of history, the accessories used by women began to be collectively referred to as jewelry, and the categories suddenly increased~
In the Qing Dynasty, it can be said that it was an era when the jewelry of the past dynasties was collected, and the styles were colorful and very beautiful. In addition to headdresses, the empresses of the Qing Dynasty also combed two hair styles. In order to embellish the hairstyle, he also created matching special jewelry: the flat square is one of them. The flat square is in the shape of a ruler, one end is semicircle, and the other end is shaped like a scroll. It looks a lot like the crown hairpin worn on the head of a man in the Qing Dynasty. The flat square mainly serves to connect the “beams” in the real and wig buns. When the concubine of the Qing Dynasty combed her hair, she also deliberately exposed the patterns on the two ends of the flat square, which was eye-catching. Some concubines will hang a bunch of silk tassels in the flat square shaft hole, which is said to echo the flowerpot high-soled shoes worn on their feet, and their actions are disciplined, adding a beautiful and dignified manner. It seems that the matching of costumes is really a tradition from ancient times to the present~
Speaking of the hairstyles of the concubines in the Qing Dynasty, we must mention hairpins and head flowers. The hairpins worn by concubines in the Qing Dynasty are indispensable for combing all kinds of hair buns. They are generally divided into two types, one is practical and the other is decorative. Practical hairpins are relatively plain, available in gold, silver, or copper, and are mainly used to fix the bun and head shape. The other type of hairpins for decoration is much more exquisite. Generally, precious materials are used to make hairpins with exquisite patterns and decorate them on the combed buns. In addition to its decorative function, it also implies auspiciousness and caress with things, which implies many blessings, longevity, and many children. Such as Ruyi, Aquarius, Peony, Butterfly, etc. are very common patterns in hairpin ornaments.
In addition to hairpins, there are also head flowers. The head flower is a jewellery developed from the hairpin, which consists of two parts: the head flower and the needle. The head flower is actually based on the development of the Qing Dynasty concubine’s hair style, which is a kind of head decoration with a larger coverage. Most of them use pearls and gems as raw materials, with rich patterns, flowers, birds, animals, cordyceps, and pine, bamboo and plum shapes. The workmanship is not only exquisite but also lifelike. It looks very beautiful on the head. The feeling of beauty~
赶上晴天，簪花出游 – 天气晴朗，今天就和大家一起簪花“云”出游吧~
其实在古代，并不是只有女性会戴首饰。首饰原本是指男女头上的饰物。《后汉书•舆服志》就曾记载：“后世圣人，一见鸟兽冠角髯胡之制，遂作冠冕缨蕤，以为饰件。”“秦雄诸侯，乃加其武将首饰为绛袙，以表贵贱。”这些记载可以看出早期首饰是古人模仿鸟兽有“冠角髯胡”，同时佩戴首饰也是为了区别身份。曹植在《洛神赋》里写到女子“戴金翠之首饰”，但这里的首饰指的是簪、钗、胜、步摇、金钿、珠花、栉（梳子和篦子的总称）、勒子八种首饰。随着历史的发展，开始把女子使用的装饰品都统称为首饰，品类一下子就多了起来~
到了清代，可以说是一个集历代首饰大成的时代，样式丰富多彩，非常好看。除了头饰外，清代后妃还会梳两把头发式。为了点缀发型，还创制了与之相配的特色首饰：扁方就是其中之一。扁方呈尺形，一端半圆，另外一端形似卷轴，看着很像清以前男子头上戴的冠簪。扁方主要起到连接真、假发髻中“梁”的作用。清代后妃在梳头时，还会故意将扁方两端的花纹露出，引人注目。还有的后妃会在扁方轴孔中垂一束丝线穗子，据说是与脚上穿的花盆高底鞋呼应，行动有节，增添美丽端庄的仪态。看来服饰装扮的搭配真的是从古至今的传统呀~
说到了清代后妃的发型，那就一定要提一下簪和头花。清代后妃佩戴的首饰中簪是梳各种发髻必不可缺的首饰，一般分为两种，一种是实用的，另一种是装饰用的。实用的簪比较素，有金、银或者铜的，主要是为了固定发髻和头型。另一类装饰用的簪就精美的多了，一般会选用珍贵的材料，制作成图案精美的簪头，装饰在梳好的发髻上。除了有装饰作用外，还有寓意吉祥以物托情的作用，会将多福多寿多子等寓意暗含其中。像如意、宝瓶、牡丹、蝴蝶等等都是簪饰中很常见的图案。
除了簪以外，还有头花。头花是簪发展而来的首饰，由头花和针挺两部分组成。头花其实是依托清代后妃发式发展而来，是一种覆盖面较大的头上装饰。大多以珍珠、宝石为原料，图案丰富，有花朵鸟兽、虫草环抱，还有松竹梅等造型，做工不仅精细而且形象逼真，戴在头上非常好看~让人不禁有一种美人如画，画如美人的感觉~
Imagines visuals credit are from the Forbidden city –Imperial Palace –Beijing – China- People’s Republic of China…
