It’s called gao ji (高髻), meaning “the high hairstyle”, which refers to any hairstyle that emphasizes piling your hair into a full and tall arrangement.
The Fire Nation’s iconic top knots appear to be inspired by the top knots worn during China’s Qin Dynasty (秦朝), 221 to 206 BC. Like the soldiers of Qin, the people of the Fire Nation tend to knot their hair into looped and somewhat loose buns.
Among the many periods of Chinese history, the stereotype of the Qin Dynasty is that it was very militant and expansionist so it’s a fitting inspiration for the Fire Nation.
Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^
The fancy dress that we see Toph wearing in “The Blind Bandit” is called a heziqun (诃子裙). A hezi is a strapless garment, somewhat like a tube top, that is meant to be worn over a qun, a flowing skirt. The final component of the dress are the silky sleeves called zhai xiu (窄袖) or “narrow sleeves” (as opposed to wide, draping sleeves). A ribbon is tied under the bust to hide the seam between the hezi and qun, as well as to further secure the garments to the body. The long, thin scarf that you see wrapped around the arms and behind the back is called a pibo (披帛). Overall, combined with her glamorous Gao Ji bun, Toph’s home look would’ve been considered the cutting edge of fashion during late Tang Dynasty China. I really like the inclusion of the flower embroidery on Toph’s hezi, it really stays true to the style of these dresses.
This particular design actually has a very special place in my heart because it was the catalyst for the creation of this blog last year. I was genuinely impressed by the historical accuracy of Toph and her family’s clothes and home that it motivated me to do further research on the other elements of the show. I can honestly say that the deeper I dig into the series, the more I get out of it. I’ve learned so much from researching a children’s cartoon I used to watch as a teenager. ^_^;;;
If you’d like to see what heziqun look like in motion, click here and here.
Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^
Toph’s yellow tunic has always been a bit of a mystery to me. It vaguely resembles a changshan, but it’s cut way too short. To be honest, what it looks like most to me is a Manchu horse-riding vest (magua), but with slits added to the sides.
Maybe Toph’s tunic was originally an old riding vest that belonged to her father? Since Nicholas CageLao is rather tall and Toph is quite short, his vest on Toph becomes a dress. Add some slits for ease of movement and you have the Blind Bandit’s iconic robe.
The low collar on her tunic is also reminiscent of the style of collars popular in late 19th-century China. Perhaps the vest was originally a Ba Sing Se import?
listen there are more doodles. but i am agonizingly slow and well…overthinking things.
big shoutout to @/atlaculture for theanalysis on my last posthonestly simply amazing because i went through it like ‘oh gosh i am so glad i got it right!’
AKA “The Secret Tunnel Hippies”. I did not expect one-off joke characters to have such interesting cultural origins behind their designs, but Avatar always finds a way to hit me with wonderfully unexpected cultural details.
Now on to Chong’s equally-as-spacey wife, Lily! The first thing that struck me about her design is the turban-like head wrap she wears. Although there was an event in Chinese history known in English as the “Red Turban Rebellion”, turbans have never been a staple of Han Chinese fashion, especially not for women.
However, there is an ethnic group originally from China that is known for wearing dark head wraps that resemble turbans: Hmong Daw or White Hmong. Specifically the Hmong Daw from Xieng Khouang, Laos. Once I realized where Lily’s “turban” came from, the rest of her outfit suddenly made sense. The predominantly black color scheme always seemed out of place for such a carefree and easygoing character, but it makes sense if it’s inspired by the look of traditional Hmong Daw clothing.
Note the predominantly black shirt with colorful trim, the elbow-length sleeves, the waist-high sash, the bell-shaped skirt, the flats, and the head wrap. Pretty much the only major accessories that Lily is missing are the apron and the jewelry.
One can’t help but notice that both Chong and Lily’s design influences are from cultures/ethnic groups that have been pushed out of of their ancestral homelands by Chinese expansion.
I’m so so so late to the party but, as a Hmong person myself her turban is actually one of the only parts of her outfit that’s traditionally White Hmong. She actually seems to reference multiple Hmong communities all over Asia. Her skirt actually more resembles Green Hmong, Same with her jacket that resembles the styles of Green/Blue Hmong and Black Hmong in Vietnam known for their shoulder and arm embroidery like the jacket she’s shown wearing. Hmong Dawb are called white Hmong due to the fact that they don’t decorate their skirts leaving them a pure white while other Hmong do. But I don’t blame you at all for the confusion. Today Hmong people mix and match the various cultures together just because it looks pretty but because of that traditions and histories have been lost. The irl pictures you used are an example of that too. But anyways sorry for rambling about my culture like a bajillion years late, I’m just kinda excited to know we were represented somehow in popular media lol.
Oh, and I forgot to mention some facts about some of the articles of clothing. The striped ribbon on Hmong turbans actually signified the wearer’s availability to marry (kinda like a Furisode) lily has a pink one that realistically wouldn’t stay on quite well without pins as there’s a certain way to wrap it on lol. Traditionally unmarried women would wear the ribbon then take it off after marriage but today that has been turned into an aesthetic rather than a practical thing and now prettied turban style hats mostly come with it already on. Also the missing Apron and Necklace would’ve been a nice detail too as one serves as a practical clothing item and the other as a symbolic item. Hmong skirts traditionally were made of a bolt of fabric as long as 7 meters (22 feet) and were dyed/embroidered then pleated by hand taking at least 3 months to finish one skirt. Being wrap skirts there’s usually access unfinished fabric at the end that would stick out in the front looking messy, or if the skirt was too short it would open in the front when you walked or sat down so the apron known as a Sev was worn over the front as extra protection/modesty and to hide anything else lol. Moving onto the missing necklace, Hmong necklaces called sauv (translates to lock) were once the chains and shackles/identifiers used on the Hmong during the Chinese persecution and oppression of the Hmong and other ethnic people of china. Nowadays it serves as a reminder of the lives that suffered and were lost long ago, taking that pain and making something beautiful of it.
Really wanted to highlight these replies. I’ll add these corrections to the original post. This is also a perfect example of why first-hand sources are so important. My post was made based on what I saw growing up near the Hmong community. However, because my observations came from an outsider’s perspective, I didn’t understand the evolution of the current Hmong dress or the nuance of why the traditional dress is constructed as it is.
The part about Hmong necklaces is especially interesting, because the jewelry of Miao people (the Chinese government’s label for Hmong and other related ethnic groups) is currently popular with the Hanfu community in China, necklaces included.
Hi! Your blog is a real help for me since I'm working on a bunch of redesigns for ATLA characters. I have a question, do you happen to know if the painted lady's dress is based off anything in particular or is it just rule of cool. I personally can't find anything but I want to be sure. Thank you.
Sadly, the Painted Lady’s outfit isn’t based on any particular culture or time period. When it came to humanoid spirits in ATLA, it was all about the rule of cool. However, the Painted Lady’s veiled hat is inspired by historical fashion:
In Japan, the veiled hat (ichimegasa) is one component of a mushi no tareginu or [noblewoman’s] “traveling attire” outfit. So it might be helpful to try leaning into those design elements:
I love reading your posts! They're very informative.
I don't know if you've answered this yet, but what sort of eating utensils would they use in each of the four nations and what would their dishes be made of?
Within ATLA, we’re shown that the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom meals are eaten with chopsticks while traditional Water Tribe feasts are eaten with your hands. We never see a proper Air Nomad meal depicted in the original series, but Korra shows that Air Temple Island meals use chopsticks so I’m assuming that’s a long-held tradition within Aang’s culture. We also see spoons used for Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom soups/stews so I’m assuming this is probably the norm in their world.
As for what their flatware and dishware would be made from, I’m going to be doing a post for each nation.
For this post, we’re covering the Water Tribe. There are a few different materials that flatware and dishware can be made of in the poles: Wood, bone, stone, clay, and ice.
Wood
Cookware and utensils made from driftwood are very common in the Water Tribes. The advantages of wood are that it’s readily available, easy to work with, and creates relatively lightweight tools. The drawbacks are that it’s less durable and receptive to rot. The Water Tribe’s wooden tools come in two different styles: Carved and Bentwood. Carved tools are created through whittling down the wood and bentwood tools are the results of using steam to bend the wood into the desired shape. Since wooden cookware is flammable, stone boiling is the norm; this is when stones are heated and placed directly into a pot of water for boiling or steaming purposes. Pictured above are two examples of Arctic wooden dishware: The tall-rimmed one is a 19th-century Yupik bentwood bowl and the shallower bowl is a 19th-century Yupik carved bowl.
Bone
The second most common material in the Arctic for flatware is bone. As you can imagine, a culture oriented around hunting means their society has a surplus of different animal bones, from walrus tusk ivory to velvety moose antlers. Due to the narrowness of most animal bones, they’re typically carved into eating utensils like spoons and chopsticks. While chopsticks aren’t traditional to the Water Tribe, they were popularized after the 100-Year War with the invention of seaweed noodles. Walrus ivory flatware also fetches a high price in foreign markets. Pictured above: Handcrafted ivory Inuit spoons.
Stone
Stone is another potential material for cookware and utensils. Unlike wood, it’s much more durable and retains heat well, meaning it can be used directly over a fire. The drawbacks are that it’s very heavy and difficult to carve into something useful. As such, stone cookware and utensils are rarer than wood & ivory and have a “manly” connotation amongst the Water Tribes. Sokka and Katara eat stewed sea prunes using what appear to be stone bowls and spoons owned by Bato, for example. Stone has also traditionally been used by Inuit peoples to make oil lamps for cooking and heating their homes. The most common stone used would be soapstone, which conducts heat well, although slate would probably be good for plates. Picture above: An Inuit soapstone lamp.
Clay
Compared to the above materials, clay is the rarest type of dishware in the Water Tribes. For one, in the absence of a very skilled waterbender, clay can only be be dug up in the summer, when the snow is low and the ground is soft. Secondly, the ease with which they can crack makes them even more fragile than wood. However, unlike wood, clay cookware can actually be heated directly over a fire. Their ability to cook food with a better texture and richer flavor makes them highly coveted and a bit of a status symbol in the Water Tribe. Pictured above: ~1000 year old Bering Strait clay bowl and ~1700 year old Thule (ancestor to Inuit people) bowl.
Ice
Flatware and dishware made of ice actually has a rather poor reputation within the Water Tribe. Given that ice-based utensils are cold, fragile, and prone to “stickiness” when they make contact with mouths and moist food, it’s an understandable reputation. However, their novelty and crystalline appearance makes them very popular with non-Water Tribers. As such, creating elaborate cups and bowls of ice is common hospitality for waterbenders looking to impress guests from other nations. Picture above: An ice bowl.
hi! just wanted to say thank you so much for your amazing work in exploring the cultures making up atla! it’s beautifully written & has helped me a lot with my writing in terms of the characters! sorry for rambling & i hope you have a great day ! :D
I’m glad! I think cultural context allows us to appreciate our favorite characters more and can help us to better understand their motivations/psychology.
This post turned out to be far longer than I expected, so I’ll split it into four parts by nation. For these posts, I’m just going to link to the respective Wikipedia article of each section. I don’t want to encourage drinking by showing people where they can buy this stuff. Besides, if I can’t drink (on account of turning into a tomato) than neither can you. ;P
The only alcoholic drink native to the Water Tribe is kumis aka milk wine. This drink is really only available in the Northern Water Tribe, where buffalo-yaks are readily available for their milk. The drink itself is tart and fizzy, like yogurt crossed with champagne. Since there aren’t any grains and few starches to ferment in the poles, kumis only has an alcohol by volume (ABV) content of 0.5% to 2.5%. As such, there really isn’t much of a “drinking culture” in the Northern Water Tribe, as you’d have to drink a nauseating amount of kumis to get drunk from it. Instead, it’s viewed as a seasonal drink appropriate for most ages that’s only available when the buffalo-yaks are lactating.
The milk wine can also be distilled to create a milk vodka called arkhi in Mongolian. It has an alcohol content between 3%-10%, so still quite low when compared to grain and starch alcohols.
While there isn’t much of a drinking culture in the ATLAverse’s arctic, there is definitely one the closer you get to the equator. Denizens of the Foggy Swamp combined the Water Tribe’s surprisingly high alcohol tolerance with the Earth Kingdom’s culture of liquor production to create a drink that’s uniquely theirs: Snake wine! It’s an alcoholic beverage produced by infusing whole (usually venomous) snakes in rice wine or grain alcohol. The snake venom proteins are unfolded by the ethanol, making the completed beverage safe to drink, usually. The snake is sometimes also paired with a scorpion.
Given the Foggy Swamp’s cultural inspiration and their canonical adventurousness when it comes to food, this seems like a drink they’d proudly enjoy. Plus, the swamp is likely full of venomous snakes and scorpions, so turning them into wine allows them to be consumed without anything going to waste. Fun fact: My parents used to display bottles of snake wine in our dining room and would even offer it to guests. I refuse to drink it. ^_^;;
Just learned about arkhi so I’m adding it to the post.
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