Poems Made to Wear: Traditional Colors in East Asia

Colors have many symbolic meanings in East Asian fashion. This exhibit features clothing from China and Japan organized by the five basic colors of black, red, green-blue, white, and yellow. These colors are traditionally associated with the elements of water, fire, wood, metal, and earth, respectively. Originating in the mythical past, color symbolism was popularized throughout East Asia with the spread of religious and philosophical ideas. Just as the elements were thought to combine into more complex materials, colors could be combined into complex poetic expressions.

This exhibit was curated by Elaine Lu (’25). Additional curatorial support was provided by Dr. Andrew Gurstelle and the Lam Museum staff. Funding for this exhibit was provided by the Lam Museum Members.

Images from "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" showing the steps of silk production

The Exploitation of the Works of Nature was a Chinese encyclopedia compiled by Song Yingxing. It was first published in May 1637 and recorded technologies in medieval China, including rice cultivation, textile production, and silkworm breeding. The text included images of the complete textile production process: picking mulberry leaves for silkworms to eat, breeding silkworms, gathering their chrysalises, cleaning the silk, spinning it into to yarns, and finally weaving the finished cloth.

Silk production started in China at least 4000 years ago, but it was slow to develop in other parts of the world. Even after the knowledge of silk had spread, written guides like this helped spread Chinese textile technologies around the world. At the same time, it also spread the symbolic meanings of clothing and color. The version of the book shown here was published in 1771 in Japan, making it the earliest foreign publication. In the early 20th century, Japan was producing most of the world’s silk before China regained this position after World War II.