Just as Tagore described, "Every open rose brings me the greetings of that rose in the eternal spring." And as Bei Dao interpreted spring precisely, "This is spring, the wildly beating heart disturbs the floating clouds in the water."
What is really disturbed? Is it the heart, or the long - awaited desire to embrace beauty after a dull winter? So, in today's issue, inspired by color - matching in dressing and using beautiful cheongsams as materials, let's explore the amazing color - matching in the eyes of cheongsam designers, which we can apply in our daily outfits.
Light Colors
Main color: 80% Ningzhi White (凝脂白) + 20% Apricot Yellow. This is an extremely gentle cheongsam. The warm - toned color scheme is skin - brightening and elegant, perfect for women to decorate themselves sensually. The main color, like condensed milk, comes from the traditional Chinese color Ningzhi White, which matches the charming luster of silk. It echoes Bai Juyi's famous line in "Song of Everlasting Sorrow": "In spring's cold she bathed in the Huaqing Pool, the warm water smoothed her creamy skin." The matching yellow magnolia embroidery takes the rich yellow tone of ripe spring apricots. The stronger the contrast between milky white and apricot yellow, the more eye - catching it is. It not only makes the skin look fair but also adds a bright color, making it a great choice for women's wardrobes.
Main color: 90% Fuken Red (弗肯红) + 5% Lilac Purple + 5% Tan Lip Pink. This is a very solemn and elegant cheongsam style. The new combination of a narrow hem and three - quarter sleeves blurs the seasonal boundaries of the cheongsam. The gentle and elegant color - matching makes it both elegant and simple, suitable for daily wear and versatile. The main color, like the floating milk foam in a latte cup, comes from the traditional Chinese color Fuken Red. What is Fuken? It's a dialect in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, meaning "unwilling". So, "Fuken Red" literally means not too red, just a little bit red, with a faint red tone, showing ambiguity in gentleness. The color - matching of lilac purple and a little tan lip pink is unexpected. The light milk - coffee color matches well with purple, just like when you sit in a café and suddenly see the flowers on the roadside blooming. At that moment, life meets beauty.
Black Colors
Main color: 80% Tajian Black (獭见黑) + 5% Mulberry Bud Yellow + 5% Reed Green. This is a very simple and stylish cheongsam dress. The fabric is a thick silk - wool blend. The richness of wool and the smoothness of silk highlight the good texture, matching the rich and classic color of this cheongsam. The main color comes from the traditional Chinese color Tajian. This bluish - black color is recorded in the ancient book "Pi Ya" written by Lu Dian in the Northern Song Dynasty: "The otter is a kind of beast, belonging to the White Tiger in the west. It is like a fox but smaller, with a bluish - black color and skin like a bat." The color - matching of a little mulberry bud yellow and reed green, one is a light - toned yellow and the other is a grayish - green of water plants. The large area of black is steady and classic, and the yellow, which gives a sense of pleasure and vitality, is used as an embellishment. It's like there are a few morning glories beside a reed beach with the smell of black soil, lush, charming, poetic, and beautiful.
Yellow Colors
Main color: 95% Luanhua Yellow (栾华黄) + 5% Ningzhi White. This is a cheongsam that highlights classical beauty. It is made of real silk velvet with a thick and shiny surface, having a luxurious old - money charm. The main color comes from the traditional Chinese color Luanhua, which makes people think of the spring scenery in the poem of Chu Guangxi: "Fishing in the green bay in spring, when deep spring makes apricot blossoms flurry." It also has a little luster of the luan tree, with a combination of yellow and green, rich and attractive. The little white pearls as embellishments are like the meeting of Luanhua and Ningzhi. The shiny white and the elegant yellow match well, highlighting a sense of affluence.
Main color: 90% Gardenia Yellow + 5% Peacock Blue + 5% Dark Blue. This is a very elegant and delicate cheongsam. Without the slanting front and frog buttons, it starts with an exquisite standing collar and has a well - designed waistline. The overall shape is well - proportioned and slender. The main color comes from the traditional Chinese color Gardenia Yellow. As a traditional yellow dye since ancient times, its fruit contains gardenoside, a natural yellow pigment. It is bright, warm, full of hope and energy. The little peacock blue as a match is the most mysterious color in the blue family, like the divine star clusters in the distant and eternal night sky, with an indescribable beauty. When it serves as a foil to gardenia yellow, the strong contrast creates a bold and powerful beauty.
Pink Colors
Main color: 90% Tan Lip (檀唇) + 5% Quanyuan Red (縓缘红) + 5% Flesh Red. This is a cheongsam made of brocade fabric with rich and charming colors. Using the weft - flower weaving technique with more than three colors and matching the feather pendants on the skirt, it combines Eastern and Western styles, and the design is very modern and fashionable. The main color comes from the traditional Chinese color Tan Lip. It's like the most natural ambiguous pink tone on a woman's lips, which is why there is a line in Su Shi's "Jiang Cheng Zi": "Her rosy cheeks set off her lips like sandalwood." The color - matching of a little Quanyuan Red and flesh red with a camel - red tone, mixing different saturations of pink and red, is like a hazy oil painting with a natural and beautiful transition. As a spring - matching inspiration, this color scheme of similar colors is highly recommended.
Main color: 30% Tongguan (彤管) + 30% Zhukongyang (朱孔阳). This is a very bright and romantic cheongsam. The whole piece depicts a picture of competing flowers with colorful silk threads stitch by stitch, showing the amazing craftsmanship and vividness of manual skills. The main color comes from the traditional Chinese color Tongguan. This light - red and pink tone is very light and romantic. Although its meaning in ancient times varies, this color has always represented the color of love tokens, which is why there is an expression in "The Book of Songs": "The gentle maiden is so lovely, she gave me a red tube." The main matching color is Zhukongyang. It is a bright red color, meaning happy and auspicious. When Tongguan meets Zhukongyang, it's like the most dazzling flower sea in the spring garden. The meeting of pink and red is like a romantic love blooming at that moment.
Main color: 90% Shiyangjin (十样锦) + 5% Qinggu (青古). The beautiful meaning of reunion is expressed by the clustered hand - embroidered flowers. This cheongsam is very gentle and elegant in both style and design. The main color comes from the traditional Chinese color Shiyangjin, which belongs to the traditional Chinese red series. It was originally a general term for ten kinds of brocades made in Sichuan. The red variety was very popular among court ladies, so it became the color standard of Shiyangjin. In ancient times, Shiyangjin was also the name of a kind of pink paper note. Poets at that time dyed the paper into a romantic pink with plants to express their feelings. So, this gentle woody pink tone has the atmosphere of love and is as dreamy and beautiful as described by Wei Zhuang in "A Song for Colored Paper Notes": "Like a flower - like guest on the Huanhua River." The main matching color is Qinggu, a light green. When the pink tone of love meets the moist green, they match so well. It's like pink flowers and green leaves in nature, but we sometimes forget about it.
Purple Colors
Main color: 90% Zidie (紫菂) + 10% Chizhang (赤璋). The main color comes from the traditional Chinese color Zidie. Di means lotus seeds, and Zidie refers to the newly - born tender lotus seeds wrapped in the lotus pod, showing a purple color. This purple tone presents a different kind of charming taste because of the silky luster. It matches well with the color on the shoulders - Chizhang. Chizhang is the color of jade used in the southern ritual. The shape of Zhang is half of Gui, symbolizing that half of the life of things has passed in summer. It is the color that reminds us to cherish time. When the charming and gentle purple meets the camel color with a sense of time, a charming beauty comes over. Because of the gradual passing of life, the hidden intellect and wisdom of maturity become more prominent.
Green Colors
Main color: 80% Sucai (素彩) + 5% Baiqing (白青) + 5% Xiaoyao You (逍遥游). This cheongsam is made of heavy - weight real silk fabric with a Chinese charm. Matching the wave - like satin feeling, it has the beauty of "cloud - like green color". The main color comes from the traditional Chinese color Sucai, also known as Sucai, referring to the color of moonlight. It has the hazy feeling of cyan and the brightness of jasper, which exactly matches Wang Yi's line: "The bright moon shines with a pure color, illuminating my six - foot figure." The main matching colors are Baiqing and a little Xiaoyao You. One is an ancient herb for treating eye diseases, which is now extinct. The other is taken from the free and easy meaning in "Zhuangzi - Xiaoyao You", meaning the color is free and natural. When these three similar colors are combined, there is an extremely soothing and peaceful beauty, as if the saying "Saying there is great joy inside, being content is no different from free and easy wandering" comes true. It's pure, clear, and slow, making it an excellent color scheme for spring outfits.
Main color: 90% Stone Green + 5% Egg Color + 5% Glazed Yellow. This is a high - end cheongsam. The rich dark - green real silk velvet fabric matches well with the exquisite three - dimensional embroidery, and the hidden transparent fabric adds a natural and elegant charm. The main color comes from the traditional Chinese color Stone Green, which is ground from malachite. As a traditional pigment color in Chinese painting, this stone - green color is rich and deep, just like the beauty in Lu You's poem: "The blue - black dots the evening mountain color, the stone - green dyes the spring river tide." The color - matching of a little glazed yellow and egg - color green, one is as bright as the sun and the other is as clear as the lake and sky. As auxiliary colors beside stone green, the combination of yellow and green is not only harmonious on the color card but also a blend of each other. So, the combination of yellow and green is always versatile and attractive.
Blue Colors
Main color: 75% Peacock Blue + 25% Lilac Brown. This cheongsam is made of precious Suzhou brocade. As a world intangible cultural heritage and one of the four famous embroideries, the patterns and craftsmanship of Suzhou brocade contain precious cultural connotations. The main color comes from the traditional Chinese color Peacock Blue, also known as French Blue. As the most mysterious color in the blue family, it's like the divine star clusters in the distant and eternal night sky, with an indescribable beauty. The color - matching of a little lilac brown, a popular color in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, has a warm and wooden feeling in its steadiness. It forms a strong contrast with the cold and beautiful peacock blue, suitable for spring and summer color - matching. It has both the freshness and calmness of blue and the good texture of lilac brown, making it a color scheme that highlights taste.
