Yay, another Chinese-inspired makeup collection!
According to many places/beauty blogs, Chanel Orient Extreme Collection for summer 2010 (Let's hope that black liner is sweat proof...Well, I guess it's OK if it smudges since panda bears are totally Chinese) is inspired by the Terracotta Army in Xi'An...How do they know? Since the paints on Terracotta Army have long been oxidized... Even with modern technology, those paints were determined to be natural mineral pigments in burgundy, teal, purple and green (Nope, there isn't any gold or black)...
Anyway, the gold-black color theme actually reminds me of those dresses worn by Empress Cixi.
Of course these are not actual painting of her (for non-Chinese who are reading the blog, this style is rather modern and 90s), I just thought younger girls are not interested in looking at pictures of old ladies...
An actual painting of Cixi because she actually looked pretty good for a grandma. 
Picture of Empress Cixi. (She was actually a "beauty queen" back in the old days, handpicked for her beauty, literary/artistic talents, not for a bathing suit bod...Just FYI.)
Overall, a pretty neat collection (not that I would ever pay for expensive gimmicks like this because technically everything I put on my face is considered "Chinese makeup").I still think that Chanel should so something inspired by embroidery, cloisonne, peach blossom temporary tattoo (woman in Tang Dynasty uses on their necks)if they are coining "Chinese"...or just do some Google/Baidu+Google translate beforehand so Chinese bloggers won't make fun of them next time.
According to many places/beauty blogs, Chanel Orient Extreme Collection for summer 2010 (Let's hope that black liner is sweat proof...Well, I guess it's OK if it smudges since panda bears are totally Chinese) is inspired by the Terracotta Army in Xi'An...How do they know? Since the paints on Terracotta Army have long been oxidized... Even with modern technology, those paints were determined to be natural mineral pigments in burgundy, teal, purple and green (Nope, there isn't any gold or black)...Anyway, the gold-black color theme actually reminds me of those dresses worn by Empress Cixi.Of course these are not actual painting of her (for non-Chinese who are reading the blog, this style is rather modern and 90s), I just thought younger girls are not interested in looking at pictures of old ladies...
An actual painting of Cixi because she actually looked pretty good for a grandma. 
Overall, a pretty neat collection (not that I would ever pay for expensive gimmicks like this because technically everything I put on my face is considered "Chinese makeup").I still think that Chanel should so something inspired by embroidery, cloisonne, peach blossom temporary tattoo (woman in Tang Dynasty uses on their necks)if they are coining "Chinese"...or just do some Google/Baidu+Google translate beforehand so Chinese bloggers won't make fun of them next time.
i think its really good that you know your culture and traditions so well... some people dont think its important these days but i do think its admirable x
ReplyDeleteI actually don't care if 2nd+ generation who are not taught about those history stuff (My friends laugh at me because I am borderline clueless about all those literature/history) but it does bother me when white people (there I said it, shoot me.) present some "facts" about other cultures as if they are the expert /have done so many research...It's kind of like American like to butt in China's business picking on this and that when all they do is reporting news based on assumption.
ReplyDeleteI remember there is a really well-known Russian Canadian doll-maker presenting some story about a doll she made, called The Young Empress Cixi...and how she imagine how pretty the Empress should be when she was young...
Well,but she was using a hairpiece/costume that are both from Tang dynasty, even if I disregard the fact that the doll-maker is off by 1000 years, (I think) she should at least make sure that Cixi (Manchu) and the emperor from Tang (Han) don't even have the same ethnic background...
I really like the last picture! I didn't even know that collection was inspired by Chinese culture, it just reminded me of the gold collection by Chanel like 2 years ago. :/
ReplyDeleteIt could have been so pretty though! I bet Shu uemura would've done a better job.
Smiley:
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if they would bother though (Chinese is not as "exotic" as French according to Japanese) and I am not sure how would a royalty-theme collection turns out with those clear plastic lipstick tubes. (It could be so pretty if they incorporate those gold on the glossy black chanel compact...)