{View Larger} {View the PDF} {View Black & White} {View the Black & White PDF}
{More Bodacious and Buxom Paper Dolls}
Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Tang Dynasty Hanfu, Sort of…
Today’s paper doll gown is for the curvy B&B paper dolls. It’s part of my Sorceress Gowns Project. My goal with the Sorceress Gowns Project was to create a series of gowns for a sorceress, as one might imagine. I started with the classic four elements- earth, air, fire and water. The element of Air inspired today’s paper doll gown.
For a series of gowns based on the elements, most of the Sorceress gowns were pretty easy to design. I created Water, Fire and Earth. Earth was the hardest, but only because my sister is a geologist and I feared judgement if I didn’t get it right.
Air was hard, because air is transparent. So, unless I wanted to post a blank image and declare it an Air dress, I needed to come up with some way to give Air some form. So, I went with flowing garments and soft drape. Her staff references a bird’s wing and the swirls on her dress are meant to be the breeze.
Traditional Chinese dress from the Tang Dynasty influenced this paper doll gown. I saw things like this and and this being labeled as Tang Dynasty. Now, I realize these have about as much in common with actual Tang Dynasty dress as this does with actual Italian renaissance dress. Intrigued by these outfits, I did a little more research and found this painting and this painting. Again, I have no idea how accurate most of this is. My knowledge of Chinese clothing is distinctly Qing Dynasty. And even that era, I know only the most surface of facts.
Still, I love the shape and the drape of these garments, so they heavily influenced today’s paper doll gown.
The chose to use colors I associate with the sky at dawn. I didn’t know exactly what colors would symbolize Air, but I thought pale pastels made the most sense to me.
As always, I love to hear what people think in a comment.
Need to get a Bodacious & Buxom paper doll to wear these fabulous clothes? Pick one out here.
So pretty! I made a wizard’s staff that looked like that once but sold it years ago. 🙂
This dress is amazing! I love the use of pastels and the whole dress “feels” very soft in my mind.
I think this is my favorite dress so far, with the earth one being a close second.
This is my favorite, I confess. I feel like I shouldn’t have favorites, but this is my favorite.
This whole series is wonderful. The gowns are all great and your color choices for each are just about perfect.
I love this series. Was there ever a Summer outfit to go with it? I looked for one, but couldn’t find any.
Keep up the good work. I’ve enjoyed your work for many years.
There is no summer dress. Never happened, but feel free to draw your own.