Research and Application of Chinese Auspicious Animal Images in Contemporary Clothing Design—Take “The Classic of Mountains and Seas” as Research Example

This thesis aims to investigate the auspicious animal images in “The Classic of Mountains and Seas”, exploring the profiling features and evolution of the auspicious animal patterns through cross verification of images, literature and cultural relics, and based on the research, the images are applied on the China-Chic clothing design. Ancient Chinese took the auspicious animals as things of blessing, which were endowed with many beautiful meanings to express our ancestors’ longing for a better life. Based on the concept of innovative design derived from the traditional culture, this thesis takes the images of auspicious animals in “The Classic of Mountains and Seas” as its research object to analyze their origins and evolution in China-chic fashion and, together with the case study of modern clothing design and a certain extent summary, to promote the inheritance, development and application of traditional culture in modern social life. The thesis will delve deep into the cultural connotations and aesthetic characteristics of the auspicious animal images, analyze and investigate the types, characteristics and implied meanings of such image to extract representative visual element symbols, which are then integrated into the modern fashion design, fulfilling the inheritance, development and application of traditional culture in modern social life.