Clothing, Textiles and Personal Appearance under the Yuan Dynasty

Clothing in the Yuan state reflected the coexistence of Mongol, Han Chinese and other regional traditions. Kublai’s consolidation of Mongol rule in China created a court that governed communities with distinct ways of dressing; the Yuan dynasty was formally established in 1271. Court garments combined Mongol forms with precedents drawn from earlier Chinese regimes, while everyday clothing varied by community, region and status. This account ends with Yuan rule in China in 1368 and distinguishes it from the later Northern Yuan period.

Surviving garments, portraits and excavated textiles show how clothing was cut and decorated. A robe’s fastening and gathered skirt affected movement, while fabric, accessories and permitted designs could distinguish rank. These practical details help explain why a recognisable style could be worn in both simple and costly forms.

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Court dress and the regulation of textiles

The Yuan court did not rely on one uniform model for formal dress. The History of Yuan describes the founding government as following established customs and drawing on the clothing traditions of the Jin and Song dynasties, as well as older Han and Tang precedents. Mongol and Han-style garments could therefore appear together in court settings. The system of clothing was codified during the reign of Temür Khan. Later, under Ayurbarwada, sumptuary laws regulated which textiles, materials and patterns could be used. These rules addressed the use of clothing materials and decoration, not a single required form for every garment.

Imperial ritual clothing displayed the court’s authority through its materials and imagery. The History of Yuan records dragon decoration on the emperor’s sacrificial robe, including eight dragons on the robe itself, as well as a belt and other ritual accessories.

The jisün, a court robe related to the terlig, was another important garment for men. It was associated with the emperor and could be bestowed on officials. Yuan descriptions characterize it as usually one colour. Its court use distinguished it from the broader range of robes worn in daily life.

The terlig and clothing for riding

The terlig, also called a bianxianao or yaoxianao in Chinese records, was a long Mongol-style coat worn by men. Those names refer to its plait-line or waist-thread decoration. Its fitted upper body, long narrow sleeves and gathered folds below the waist made a distinctive combination: the folds allowed room for movement, while the broad waistband helped secure the robe for riding. The garment generally closed at the right side with ties. Its collar could be round or crossed.

The terlig was worn across social levels, but not necessarily in the same materials or finish. Silk and decorative waist threads could mark greater expense and status. The robe’s association with riding did not confine it to mounted activity: it became a prominent style in Yuan dress and could be adapted for court use, as in the jisün.

A surviving silk robe in the China National Silk Museum makes the workmanship tangible. Its remaining left shoulder carries a moon with a rabbit among cloud forms, worked with gold embroidery on patterned silk. The opposite solar design is a reconstruction suggested by the surviving motif and period descriptions. Narrow sleeves, a secured waist and a generous lower part connected ornament with a garment built for movement.

Other garments were worn in layers. Men might put a short-sleeved outer robe over a long-sleeved one; a sleeveless vest known as a bijia was also associated with Mongol men and practical use in mounted combat. A Yuan painting by Liu Guandao, Khubilai Khan Hunting , shows robes with openings beneath the arms. The openings may have let a wearer move an arm more freely or wear the garment in a sleeveless arrangement, though their precise function is uncertain. Later texts use the name haiqing for this type of robe.

Mongol women’s robes and the gugu

Mongol elite women wore a long, ample, one-piece robe that closed at the side. Its sleeves were broad but narrowed at the wrists. This dress differed from Han Chinese women’s garments and was not simply a women’s version of the male terlig. Yuan court images show elite women in long red robes, sometimes with a short overjacket. The red robe was a formal garment for women at court.

With formal dress, Mongol noblewomen wore the tall headdress known as a gugu or boqta. It had a high, hollow frame shaped like a shaft that widened toward the top, and could reach about one foot in height. The frame was covered with silk, brocade or felt and might be decorated with pearls, jewels, goldwork or feathers. Accounts differ on how the frame was made: some describe iron wire and bamboo strips, while other written and archaeological evidence points to bark or slender rods. The evidence supports a rigid, elaborate structure more clearly than one standard construction.

The gugu was associated with married Mongol women and appears prominently in portraits of Yuan empresses. Travellers described the form by the mid-thirteenth century, giving it a history in Mongol dress before the Yuan dynasty was proclaimed. Its height and decoration made the wearer conspicuous at a formal gathering.

Textiles, colour and visible status

Materials used in Mongol clothing included hides, fur and felt. Yuan dress also used plant-fibre cloth such as ramie, along with silk, brocade and gold thread. These materials did not replace one another in a simple sequence: their use depended on the garment, wearer and occasion. Elaborate silk and gold decoration feature particularly in accounts and images of court clothing.

Cloth of gold required makers to combine metal and fibre. Narrow strips of gold leaf on a supporting material could be woven into silk as an additional decorative thread. Against a coloured ground, these strips created gleaming motifs when the wearer moved. Producing such cloth demanded more work and costlier materials than an undecorated weave, making textile technique itself part of visible status.

Textile quality helped distinguish wearers when a garment form crossed social boundaries. The terlig, for example, was worn by people of different ranks, but the fabric and decoration could signal wealth or position. Colour also mattered. Descriptions of Yuan aristocratic dress report a wide range of shades, with different shades identified in clothing descriptions. Patterns brought together different visual traditions: Mongol wearers adopted motifs such as dragons and phoenixes, which were associated with Han Chinese design, and some garments used glittering gold thread.

Regional and community differences

Han Chinese clothing continued alongside Mongol styles. Men’s casual dress could follow Han conventions, including the banbi, a short or half-sleeved garment. Women wore combinations such as the ruqun, an upper garment with a skirt, and the banbi. Such dress was not simply an expression of opposition to Mongol rule: it remained part of everyday practice. In some cases, however, families who retained layered Tang- or Song-style clothing have been interpreted as expressing resistance to Mongol rule.

Regional differences were pronounced. Mongol garments were more readily adopted in northern China, sometimes as a way of showing allegiance to Yuan rulers. In the south, men and women more often continued to wear Song-style dress. Tomb paintings and burial garments from southern areas show women in separate jackets and skirts rather than the one-piece Mongol robe.

Performance also brought different styles into view. Actors in zaju , a form of Yuan drama, wore costumes representing Jurchen, Khitan, Mongol and Song Han Chinese dress.

Hair, hats and footwear

Mongol men commonly wore their hair in two plaits hanging behind the ears. Their headwear included round or square hats made of rattan, felt hats with upturned brims, and triangular hats. A broad-brimmed hat called a boli offered protection from sun and rain and was worn by emperors, officials and ordinary men. Empress Chabi is credited with its creation, and Kublai ordered the style to be promoted. Mongol men also sometimes wore earrings.

The tall gugu shaped the appearance of elite Mongol women, while Han Chinese communities retained different clothing and headwear traditions. Footwear evidence is more limited. Mongol women did not bind their feet and wore boots, embroidered silk slippers or shoe covers made for unbound feet.

Goryeo styles at the late Yuan court

Goryeo styles became fashionable among some late Yuan elites through the movement of people between Korea and the court. That movement included women sent under coercive tribute arrangements. Empress Gi, who came from Goryeo, became a powerful court figure. The Gengshen Waishi, a late Yuan account, describes Goryeo-style clothes, shoes and hats among influential people at the capital, including a short, square-collared, half-sleeved jacket. Court taste was therefore shaped by political relationships and palace service as well as by trade.

For the wider setting, see Food, Clothing and Urban Recreation in Yuan China (1271–1368).