About This Issue
Through clothing, Gabrielle articulated a series of ideas that reshaped women’s freedom: releasing the body from corsets, introducing trousers and tailored suits into women’s wardrobes, and replacing ornate decoration with clean, practical elegance. After centuries of constraint placed upon women’s bodies and lives, Gabrielle’s vision became a resilient seed—one that took root and flourished across the world.
During the same era, Taiwan—then under Japanese colonial rule—also encountered this seed of liberation. Women who had once been bound by foot-binding were finally able to reclaim their bodies and their mobility. They gained healthy, natural feet that could walk long distances and even climb mountains. Education, once reserved for men, gradually became accessible to women. Beyond marriage and motherhood, women began to enter the workforce. They could choose whom to love, learn makeup techniques from magazines, wear Western dresses, step into high heels, and perm their hair in fashionable styles.
In this 13th issue of Xunfeng, we return to the period between 1895 and 1945. Through family photo albums preserved by gentry households, matchboxes carefully collected by enthusiasts, portraits of entertainers and café waitresses captured by photographers, and images of Indigenous women taken by international photographers, a vivid panorama emerges. We encounter literary women who moved between letters and politics, Taiwan’s first female beauty entrepreneur, musicians who shone on international stages, working women commuting between Taiwan and Xiamen, spirited young women with gold teeth and beer in hand, and elegant geisha-like entertainers in long gowns gracing teahouses.
In an age without smartphones or beauty filters, these women left behind more than just poses. They dismantled the fragile, submissive image traditionally associated with feminine beauty and redefined what it meant to be a “beauty.” Much like Gabrielle herself, who sought to rewrite her destiny, she also gave herself a new name—Coco Chanel.
Beauty may fade with time, but the women who blossomed during Taiwan’s Japanese era have never withered. They remain vivid, expressive symbols of their age. As we admire their beauty, we also celebrate the precious freedom that era made possible.
ISBN 9772518947009 07