Type | Fastening made of fabric |
---|---|
Material | Diverse, including silk |
Place of origin | At least the Song dynasty (960–1279 AD), China |
Pankou | |||||||
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Chinese name | |||||||
Traditional Chinese | 盘扣 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 盤扣 | ||||||
| |||||||
Huaniu | |||||||
Chinese | 花纽 | ||||||
Literal meaning | Flower buttons | ||||||
| |||||||
Panhuaniu | |||||||
Chinese | 盘花纽 | ||||||
| |||||||
English name | |||||||
English | Frogs/ Frog closures/ Frogging/ Decorative toggles |
A frog, pankou (simplified Chinese: 盘扣; traditional Chinese: 盤扣; pinyin: pánkòu), Chinese frog closure or decorative toggle[a] is a type of ornamental garment closure. Made from braiding, cord, fabric, or covered wire, they consist of a decorative knot button (a Chinese button knot for a traditional Chinese style[6]) and a loop; it is used to fasten garments without creating an overlap.[1] Its purpose is to act as a fastener as well as providing a decorative closure for the garment.[1] It is especially used on the cheongsam, where the pankou represents the cultural essence of the dress.[7] The frog was first developed in China; the origin of its later spread, into Europe and beyond, is uncertain.[6]
Loop-and-knot fasteners may have developed independently in other cultures. In Western Europe, military uniforms adopted a similar decorative fastener from Hungarian Hussars (who possibly had adapted them from earlier Chinese or Ottoman styles,[8] or may have independently developed an analogous fastener) which then began to appear on the civilian clothing of both genders, such as overcoats, spencers, and pelisses.[1][9][10]
Frog fasteners are usual to garments of Asian design, such as a shirt or coat with a mandarin collar, which features frog fasteners at the shoulder and down the front of the garment. In the design of a garment, frogging is the use of braided frog fasteners as a detail of the overall design of the garment.[2]
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