I cannot express how much I love the maid’s dress behind Kathy Chow in The Empress of China. Everything from the design to the patterns to the colors are wonderful replicas of Tang-dynasty paintings. Much better than the random gold confetti dangling around Kathy Chow. More photos of Kathy Chow, Zhang Xinyu, and their maids below the cut.
If you’re interested, Phoenix Totem, whose costumes are designed by the team behind documentary series Da Ming Palace, also has amazing Tang-dynasty costume and make-up design for the maids (but not so for the leads).
And I guess a few photos of just Zhang Xinyu and Zhou Haimei without their awesomely-costumed maids …
Trailer:
Holy smokes, zappers, that is hawt!
You know, with such complex myriad of colors on these women, I don’t know how these fashion designers manage to pull it off! It’s fantastic, really. You can’t even say these are all in the same color scheme – on the color wheel they’re so far apart from each other. I’m definitely amazed.
And Kathy Chow does not look that polished in real life lol. The photographers must’ve had a field day modifying these stills. I must admit though – they made them all look fantastic. Definitely kudos.
Funny how idarklight focused on the maids’ outfits. I didn’t really lend them any attention until she mentioned it. They are gorgeous — certainly doesn’t seems like expenses were spared in the wardrobe department. In some ways, I appreciate designers who put more focus and attention for people and items in the background. Maids don’t really spend a lot of time in the spotlight so people rarely care about the quality. But it’s the tiny things that builds onto the bigger things that make the whole thing great. So thanks for the good eye and attention to detail, idarklight :).
Wow, the colours and designs are gorgeous, hopefully the drama will be great too. Speaking of which, Kathy Chow hasn’t aged at all, has she?
I love the costume but do they show that much cleavage back in the tang days???
There is evidence of cleavage-exposing clothing from that time. The prevalence of such clothing during the Tang dynasty and if this drama matches it or our personal tastes and preferences is another debate altogether. :)
Supposedly Tang was one of the most liberal dynasties and there is basis for showing cleavage based on paintings etc
I like the last 2 outfits the best for the colors. *W*