The short drama "Writing" has recently become popular. The exquisite transformation and the constantly reversing plot have made many netizens praise it. Taking advantage of this excitement, many people went to rewatch the well-known short dramas such as "Xu Yan" and "Nian Nian Wu Ming". It turned out that these short dramas have one thing in common, that is, almost all female characters are female characters. Wearing floral makeup.
Not only short plays, but also large-scale ancient puppets seem to be very fond of Huadian makeup, such as "Ning'an Like a Dream", "One Thought of Guanshan", "Yong'an Dream"... Huadian has a tendency to unify the aesthetics of costume dramas.
Source: Film and TV drama screenshots
Why do costume dramas love to use flower makeup so much? Why are most of these flowers red?
HuaDian: the creative aesthetics of our ancestors
The beautiful HuaDian makeup actually existed as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
Cao Lifang, a professor at the School of Liberal Arts of Liaoning Normal University, once said that the faces of the painted female figurines unearthed from the Chu tombs of the Warring States Period in Changsha were dotted with three rows of trapezoidal dots. The painted wooden figurines unearthed from the Chu tombs in Xinyang, Henan also had three rows of dots on their eyelids. There are round dots on the dots, which can be regarded as the prototype of flower mother-of-pearl.
Hua Tianzhuang reached its peak during the Tang Dynasty. The popularity of this kind of makeup can be seen from the unearthed makeup of lady figurines from the Tang Dynasty and poems such as "The flowers are lying on the ground and no one can collect them, and the green buds and jade scratch their heads."
Picture source: Visual China
As for the reason why flower mother-of-pearl makeup was popular in the Tang Dynasty, it seems to be related to Shangguan Wan'er.
This statement comes from a record in Duan Chengshi's "Youyang Zazu": "Today's women's facial decorations are made of flowers, which originated from Shangguan Zhaorong, and were made to cover tattoo marks."
This "covering tattoo marks" The specific stories were filled in by oral tradition among the people, and there are many versions spread to this day. One of them is that when Wu Zetian crushed a palace coup, she suspected that the coup was related to Shangguan Wan'er, so she became furious and gave Shangguan Wan'er a tattoo. However, after Shangguan Wan'er's defense, Wu Zetian believed that he was innocent. However, since the edict could not be canceled after it was issued, Wu Zetian used cinnabar to mark his forehead during execution.
Cinnabar paired with Shangguan Wan'er's beautiful face turned into a beautiful decoration, attracting women inside and outside the palace to imitate it, and it became popular. Although there are many versions of the story, they all show that people at that time did flower makeup out of the pursuit of beauty.
Although the flowers in costumes have different shapes, the colors of the flowers in costume dramas are relatively uniform: except for Xianxia dramas where colored flowers are used to match the image of fairies and demons, the flowers used in costume idol dramas are basically red. , maybe because red is not picky about skin color, it also matches red lip makeup.
Looking beyond the flower mother-of-pearl makeup in costume dramas, in fact, in history, flower mother-of-pearls were not only red, but green and yellow flower mother-of-pearls were also widely used.
Green flower mother-of-pearl is also called "emerald mother-of-pearl" and has been mentioned by many poets. For example, Du Mu's "Spring Yin Flowing on the Green Ding", Wen Tingyun's "The Deep Green Ding Between the Eyebrows", etc., yellow flower dew frequently appears in "Pictures of Ladies with Hairpins".
Source: Liaoning Provincial Museum "Pictures of Ladies with Hairpins"
Moreover, compared to the flowers directly painted on the forehead in most costume dramas, the materials of the flowers in ancient times were also very diverse. Not only can it be painted directly on it, gold foil, paper, fish bones, flowers and even dragonfly wings can also be used to make flower mother-of-pearl.
During the Song Dynasty, it was once popular for the royal family to use pearls to make flower mother-of-pearls, called pearl mother-of-pearls. The costume drama "Qing Ping Le" perfectly restored this flower mother-of-pearl style.
At this time, the flower buds can also be attached to the ears, cheeks, cheeks and other places | Source: Song Huizong Queen's portrait, "Qing Ping Le" stills
These flower buds with different materials are not too complicated to make. . Generally speaking, when gold foil and other special materials are used to make flowers, the shapes are cut out of these materials and then attached to the forehead. The glue used to stick the flower mother-of-pearl is a kind of glue called Hejiao. This glue is named because it becomes sticky as long as you breathe on it.
Many people may think that it is a pity that such beautiful flower makeup has not spread to modern times. But in fact, many people born in the 1980s and 1990s have worn "flower patch makeup".
When I was taking pictures when I was a kid, the makeup artist would always put a red dot between the eyebrows. In fact, a red dot between the eyebrows is the simplest way to apply flower makeup.
Childhood art photos of Jing Tian and Zhang Yixing|Photo source: Weibo
If you pay attention, you may find that this kind of "red eyebrows" makeup is still used in many film and television dramas and imitation makeup of the Han and Tang Dynasties. For example, Yang Mi had such a look in "Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossom". Although it was simple, it successfully added to the charm and agility of the look.
Picture source: Tuchong Creative, "Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossom" stills
So, don't underestimate this little flower, sometimes it can be the finishing touch of a makeup.
"Foreign version of Huadin", only beauties can have it?
In addition to China’s tradition of putting makeup on the face, India and France also have such decorations. However, unlike my country’s flower mother-of-pearl, which has a wide variety of patterns and is mostly for decorative purposes, the flower mother-of-pearl in India and France has different shapes and styles. The meanings are slightly different.
The country that likes to put makeup on the eyebrows the most is India, and this custom has been preserved to this day. It's just that they don't have as many fancy patterns as China. They usually just click a red dot, which is called "dileg" in Indian.
Indian women's eyebrows are reddish, which has two meanings. On the one hand, ancient Indian yogis believed that the forehead between the eyebrows is the source of human vitality and must be protected by applying ointment. Therefore, many people put moles on the forehead to pray for warding off disasters and evil spirits.
On the other hand, red nevus is also a sign of married women in India. On the wedding day of young men and women, the husband must use cinnabar powder to put a red mole in the center of his wife's forehead; while the husband is still alive, the wife must put it on herself every day. Therefore, the red mole on the forehead of a married woman is regarded as a symbol of happiness and good luck, and is also called an "auspicious mole".
The traditional material for auspicious moles is a paste made by pounding cinnabar, glutinous rice, rose petals and other materials. Nowadays, most Indian women use patch-type auspicious moles sold in boxes on the market. They take them out and stick them on their foreheads when in use. This kind of auspicious mole is not only convenient, but also has more colors and shapes for women to choose from, making it easy to match clothes and jewelry of different colors, which increases the beauty.
Today, red moles are no longer limited to married women. Unmarried women and even children can also have auspicious moles. Some people even put moles on beautiful children to reduce their beauty and avoid premature death.
Picture source: Tuchong Creative
In ancient France, "mouches" were popular. Similar to the Chinese huadian, this mole is cut out of materials and attached to the face or body. It was originally used to cover spots on the face or body that detract from beauty, and later became a means to enhance makeup and attract the attention of the opposite sex.
The main material for making beauty moles has evolved from taffeta to velvet, and various shapes such as crescent shape and animal shape, which are similar to flower nuggets, are also popular.
In terms of usage, France is more bold. For the French, the biggest effect of beauty marks is to attract the attention of the opposite sex to their bodies, so they often put beauty marks on their necks, chests, and even elegant ladies put them between their breasts. This prompts men to often stare at women's breasts, and even reach out to touch the breasts with beauty marks in the name of curiosity.
Picture source: fashion print "le matin dame a sa toilete"
Compared with today's pursuit of a clean face, moles are often removed, but ancient people were very fond of these "little dots"! It is said that trends come in cycles. Will the tradition of wearing flowers and dotting moles return to modern people's makeup one day?
References
[1](2011). Why do Indian women have auspicious moles on their foreheads?. New Youth (09), 4.
[2] Song Yang. (2017). Beauty of Beauty: Ancient Chinese and Western Women’s Decoration Comparative study with aesthetic culture. Journal of Nanjing University of the Arts (Art and Design) (03), 108-115+210.
[3] Zhang Zhongjiang. (2011). Flowers of ancient women: The endless desolation of Concubine Yang when she died. Peninsula Morning News
Author: Min Min Song Qiyu
Editor: Tennessee
