Laurence Wen-Yu Li

Framing Devices: The Production and Consumption of Woven Ribbon Borders in Late Qing Women’s Clothing

I am an AHRC and Taiwan Ministry of Education funded PhD student in the V&A / RCA History of Design Programme. My research centres around cultural studies of ribbons on late Qing (1860-1911) Chinese women’s clothing. Other interests include the use of reconstruction as a methodological approach in the field of historic Chinese dress. I hold a BA from National Taiwan University and a MS in Textiles and Clothing from Fu Jen Catholic University. I am particularly interested in making research on historic Chinese dress more accessible to a global English-speaking audience and have written and presented a series of publicly-available videos titled Chinese Clothing Through the Ages. 

My supervisors are Dr Sarah Cheang, RCA, and Dr Spike Sweeting, V&A.

Selected publications

Chinese Clothing Through the Ages (video documentary series)

Li, L. W., ‘The Bilingual Project: Challenges and Rewards of Presenting Reconstruction of Chinese Dress to an English-Speaking Audience’, conference presentation delivered at Making Historical Dress Network Workshop, Chawton, UK, 2023 

Li, L. W., ‘Reconstructing Late Qing Han Chinese Women’s Dress through Making and Wearing’, paper presented at IFFTI Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand, 2023 

Ho, Z. H. (Eds.), Wang, T. Y., translated by Li, L. W., ‘Decoding the Secret of Miao: Splendid clothing and embroidery samplers in Geyi style’, New Taipei City: Chinese Textiles and Clothing Culture Center, Department of Textiles and Clothing, Fu Jen Catholic University. 

Li, L. W., Ho, Z. H., Wang, T. Y., ‘From Collar to Hem: Comparison and Analysis of Construction Methods used in 6 Late Qing Dynasty Hakka Blouses’ [從領口到衣襬：六件晚清臺灣藍衫的服飾細節比較初探], paper presented at the Orange Beneficence International Conference, New Taipei City, 2021 

More about me

My personal website & my Instagram account: @laurencewenyuli