Coinciding with the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China in September 2023, the Colorful Asia: Asian Costumes Exhibition was launched by the China National Silk Museum in collaboration with the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles in Thailand, the Samarkand State Museum and the State Art Museum of Uzbekistan, with support of International Council of Museums Asia-Pacific Alliance (ICOM-ASPAC).
The exhibition showcases the different costume cultures that have emerged from different national, social and cultural contexts, highlighting the exchanges, influences and integration of costume cultures among the people of Asia via both the Land and Maritime Silk Roads. Organized into five sections based on the regions of East, Southeast, South, Central and West Asia, the exhibition features 140 costumes (sets) from 27 countries. In addition to the China National Silk Museum’s own collections, exquisite costumes are also on loan from the Samarkand State Museum, the State Art Museum of Uzbekistan and the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles. These exhibits reflect the diverse styles, techniques and cultural backgrounds of costumes from different Asian countries dating from the 18th to the 20th century, providing a both holistic and detailed view of traditional Asian costumes.
The exhibition is open between September 1 and November 12 at the China National Silk Museum.
Source: China National Silk Museum