My Peking Opera Costume Design assignment

1. Peking Opera
Costume Design
&
Makeup
Jessica Wu
March 17, 2011
Jessica Wu
Peking Opera Costumes Research, Page 1

2. Types Of Makeup
TEENAGE GIRL AND WOMEN MAKE
UP
The makeup of teenagers and women are
quite different
from others. All teenagers and women cha
racters have thin
and defined brows, thick and black eyeline
rs, bright pink
blush and bright lipsticks that contrasted
harshly with their
powdered white skin. The eyeliners made
their eyes look
larger, and the bright blush and red lipstick
made them
look energetic and happy all the time. Tho
se thin and
slightly arched brows also gave them a very
feminine look.
oto of a Jing, also
The photo at the left is a ph
ptain. His face is
known as a general or a ca
d from that, we can
generally covered in red, an
brave and loyal. The
see that he is probably very
at he has probably got a
bright red also showed th
e different shades of
very fierce personality. Th
is very honest and
blue also showed us that he
respectful.
GENERAL MAKE
UP INFORMATIO
The use of facial mak N
eup in Peking opera
ago. Back then, acto began about 1,400
rs used to wear actu years
on them. However, al masks with colors
they later substituted painted
the audience could the masks with mak
hear them and see th eup so
The purpose of thos eir facial expression
e exaggerated facial s better.
audience would imm makeup is so that th
ediately be able to kn e
personality and the ow the character’s
character’s social st
have their special ty atues. Each of the fo
pes of makeup and ur roles
though the makeups patterns. However,
may be similar, none even
would ever be alike of the two painted fa
since each mask is un ces
iquely designed.
Jessica Wu
Peking Opera Costumes Research, Page 2

3. Costumes
Material Colors
In early days, costumes was made of mainly wools or Just like makeups, each type of color also has different
meanings in costumes. Like the color yellow can only be
rough fabric. Later, satin, silk, crepe and velvet were
worn by royalties. The color red is for highly respected
also used. The costumes would usually be decorated characters. Green can only be worn by military
with carefully embroidered designs. characters. White is usually for teenagers and black is
for upright people and sometimes servants.
Symbols Types
Different symbols also have different meanings Each different type of character would have different
on costumes. Let’s take a dragon design for types of costume. Rich people would have costumes with
example. On the emperor, the mouth would be long and flowing sleeves, made out of silk, covered in
wide open. Generals would have dragons with bright colors, and decorated with embroidered designs.
mouths closed. Whereas dragons on an officer However, poor people would have costumes made out of
would be gentle and quite. rough fabric, small sleeves, simple designs with light pastel
colors, and their costumes would only reach their knees.
Jessica Wu
Peking Opera Costumes Research, Page 3

4. Accessories/Shoes/Hair
The photo above shows a pair of The image above is a pair of shoes
female shoes. We can see by the for old women characters. We can
Above is a photo of Peking see that they have much plainer
way they are heavily decorated
Opera boots. These are color and aren’t very decorated.
with embroidery. Also, there are
generally worn by most male Also, the heel is spread evenly and
those heels in the middle that
characters and military figures. not too high, making it easier for
symbolizes the shoes of young
They also have very high heels, the old characters to move around.
female characters.
however, they spread evenly
over the sole of the shoe, giving
it a more masculine effect.
Headdress
While performing, the actors for While performing Chinese Opera,
mature female characters would Weapons would also be used in
most of the characters would most
have their hair put into a bun and some plays that contains war
likely wear a headdress. The
covered by a headdress. Young and fighting. The most
headdress also expressed one’s
women would have sometimes common ones are swords,
social statue. We can see that the
have their head braided at the sticks, whips and Qiang (A
headdress about is decorated with
side or into two strands. While old traditional Chinese Weapon
pearls, fur balls, and embroidery. It
women get their hair covered with a sharp head).
showed that the character is very
with a piece of cloth. Sometimes, when performing
highly respected and very rich.
a war theme, flags with
Whereas a poor character would
different colors with the
have a much simpler headdress with
country’s name on it would
plain colors.
also be used.
Jessica Wu
Peking Opera Costumes Research, Page 4

5. Colors In Masks and
Makeup
Red-Bravery, Loyalty, Fierceness
Black-Roughness, Boldness
Yellow-Ambition, Calmness, Cruelty
Purple-Nobel, Wisdom, Uprightness
Blue-Loyal, Committed
White-Suspiciousness, Treacherous, Sinister
Green-Impulsive, Violent, Stubborn
Gold, Silver-Gods, Ghosts, Supernatural beings
My Opinion On Chinese
Opera Costumes:
I think that the Chinese Opera costumes Designing system is
very neatly arranged. Each color has got it’s own meaning
and each role has got it’s own special type of costume and
makeup. Also, I really liked most of the costumes because
they all look very beautiful. Each small detail is perfected, and
all of them are made by hand. Which I think is quite amazing
because of the tremendous amount of embroidery on each
on. I also really liked the make up and masks since all the
colors are quite bright and they all contrasted with each other
Jessica Wu
Peking Opera Costumes Research, Page 5

6. sharply. The bright colors also has got other purpose than
just looking good, they are used to emphasize the face of
each characters. The makeups are eccentric so the audience
would watch the character’s face closely and no expression
would be missed. Hence increasing the quality of the play.
Jessica Wu
Peking Opera Costumes Research, Page 6

7. My Costume Design
Above is my final Peking Opera Costume design. This costume is for a
teenage girl between the age of 15-20. I used big and watery sleeves and
long dress to show that my character is a girl. I drew mostly cloud
patterns, which symbolizes good luck. I chose some bright colors to
show that the girl is very rich. Due to the bit of yellow at the left side, it
shows that the girl is some kind of royalty since they are the only ones
that are allowed to wear the color yellow. I also used some blue to show
that the girl is very clever and mature.
Jessica Wu
Peking Opera Costumes Research, Page 7

8. Bibliography
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Jessica Wu
Peking Opera Costumes Research, Page 9