Fateful Fashions

Abstract

In the early medieval period, a number of mantic texts were produced which discussed the issue of portents expressed through fashions in clothing. It was the contention of these authors that changing fashions served to predict the decline of dynasties, the deaths of emperors, and foreign invasions. This article explores this tradition in the context of apophenia, which occurs when individuals over-interpret random pieces of information, seeking to establish patterns that do not in fact exist. Such fateful fashions (fuyao) provide a clear example of the way in which apophenia was crucial for shaping omenological literature, in particular the “Wuxing zhi” (Treatises of the Five Phases) chapters of the dynastic histories.