The whimsical geometric depictions of fantastical beasts were a mark of the Chu. Considering themselves descendants of phoenixes rather than dragons, the Shamanistic Chu were considered “heathen” to many at the time.
Were you impressed at how gorgeous the new Tangren outfits for its upcoming Three Kingdoms drama. Yours truly happen to be currently in a Chu dynasty phase and immediately recognized them as strangely anachronistic. In fact, half of the patterns for their character posters came directly from the same tomb, the famous No. 1 Chu Tomb of Jiangling Mashan 江陵马山一号楚墓, dated about five centuries before the story’s time.
So, in honor of our beloved Tangren that seems to try each time to be slightly more historically accurate (albeit via the laziest way possible), here’s a look at some of the patterns of Chu.
Wan Qian’s outfit (C) uses a facing Phoenix pattern from a silk robe(R). Left shows the colors of the original textile. The Chu were known for their fondness of slenderness, both in artistic style and in body shape. Rumor has it that in order to win the favor of one King of Chu, his chancellors starved so much that they couldn’t stand up by themselves.
