CNN
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What’s old is new again, and this time a centuries-old skirt design is becoming popular in China. “Mamenqun” or “horse face skirts” are worn in cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu, and young people in China are putting a modern twist on the attire with unconventional combinations and fabric choices.
Once the preserve of enthusiasts of “Hanfu” (a revival of ancient clothing traditionally worn by the Han Chinese majority before the Qing dynasty) and reserved for special occasions, pleated brocade skirts have become a part of everyday wear.
The skirt’s popularity is caught up in a broader trend called “new Chinese style,” or “new Chinese style,” which blends all kinds of modern design with traditional Chinese aesthetics, applied to everything from clothing to furniture.
Yanamoto/Chugoku Shimbun/VCG/Getty Images
Caoxian County, Shandong Province, is one of China’s major Hanfu production and sales centers. There are various theories about the origin of the name Mamenqun, or “horse face skirt,” but one is that the front panel resembles a long horse’s face. With pleated sides and openings, the garment was well suited for horseback riding.
meanwhile The idea is not new and was once considered outdated, but the broad term has been embraced as a marketing tool on China’s lucrative e-commerce platforms, with retailers quickly trying to capitalize on Gen Z’s patriotic and sometimes nationalistic sentiment.
On Chinese social media platforms Weibo and Xiaohongshu, searches for the hashtags “new Chinese style” and “new Chinese style clothing” exceeded 100 million times in early April. Besides fashion, posts include everything from leather armchairs featuring the curves of traditional Chinese wooden furniture to landscape mobile phone wallpapers, according to state news agency Xinhua.
The state-run China National Textile and Apparel Association estimates that the market for “new Chinese style” clothing will reach 1 billion yuan (about $138 million) in 2023.
On Xiaohongshu, a 33-year-old user who goes by the handle Momo and doesn’t reveal her real name to protect her privacy frequently offers advice on how to dress in Chinese style. In one post, she shows how to pair an oversized pink sweatshirt with a black mamiankun and a matching baseball cap and sneakers.
Momo/Courtesy of Xiao Hongshu
Xiaohongshu user Momo shows her followers how to style her mamianqun.
“More and more young people are trying to use traditional culture as a new way to express their views, and that’s a good thing, and a wonderful thing,” she told CNN in a text message.
Huang Weizhe, 32, designer and manager of local fashion brand Longfuji, agreed that it is mainly young people who are following the trend.
On social media, Huang has been sharing how to dress in the “new China style”, including in one post wearing a loose silk shirt paired with jeans.
“The ‘new China style’ (trend) is more inclusive because there are no set rules that have to be followed. This is the style that young people today prefer,” he told CNN in a phone interview.
Fashion designers such as Samuel Gui Yang, who has long drawn inspiration from Chinese tradition in his collections, see the “New China Style” trend attracting more interest from mainland China.
But unlike Mamiankun, a mass-produced tribute to the past that is a literal celebration of the past, the brand he has been running for nine years has aimed to bridge the gap between “Shanghai and London” and enrich what it means to be Chinese in China and abroad.
“I think my broad audience really likes this ‘Chineseness,’ the way we’re incorporating traditional details in a more subtle way,” he said in a phone interview.
Courtesy of Samuel Gui Yang.
Chandless.
Courtesy of Samuel Gui Yang
Lee’s jacket.
For Yang, The aesthetics and themes of Taiwanese director Ang Lee’s 1994 film “Food, Drink, and Love” are This is what the “new Chinese style” should be like. The film depicts the life of a top chef and his three daughters as they navigate the tension between modernity and tradition, individual freedom and family. “It subtly reflects the Chinese lifestyle, especially the direct connection between the dining table and human relationships,” Yang said. He went on to say that the film “provides a lot of inspiration for our design journey,” adding that they are always inspired by “Asian clothing styles from the ’80s and ’90s.”
Collections include the Lee denim jacket, inspired by Hong Kong martial arts and film star Bruce Lee, and the Ai Ring dress, named after Shanghai-born American novelist Eileen Chang. At Shanghai Fashion Week in March this year, the brand showed a long-sleeved bias-cut cheongsam with roll-up sleeves (pictured above), providing a fresh update to a classic silhouette.
Courtesy of Ian Hilton
A look from Ian Hilton’s Fall/Winter 2024 collection.
For designer Ian Hilton, who has lived in China for decades, “New Chinese Style” is a misnomer: His eponymous menswear label borrows heavily from Chinese dress styles and design motifs: elegant, loose-fitting silk mandarin-collar shirts, Tang-style puffer jackets, buttoned-up cashmere coats.
“I don’t really like the term ‘new Chinese style,’ because to me it’s like saying new French or new Italian,” Hilton told CNN in a phone interview. “There’s nothing new about it. There’s a new way of approaching it, but somehow it’s been treated like a trend, like short skirts or long skirts. They’re part of the culture, the fabric and the fabric of the culture.”
Mr. Hilton’s wife, Ming Liu, launched her own brand, Ms. Min, inspired by Chinese aesthetics, in 2010 as a response to the fact that most people in the country don’t dress in Chinese style. Mr. Hilton serves as president of the company.
Provided by Min
Ming’s dresses expertly combine contemporary tailoring with Chinese aesthetics.
“When I got to China, there were no signs, no advertisements, nothing that featured Chinese people,” said Hilton, who moved to China in 2005 to work as creative director for luxury fashion brand Ports 1961. “Everything was foreign. Everything foreign was good, everything local was looked down upon.”
He believes the tide has turned over the past decade or so as young Chinese have become more aware and confident of their place in the world and have begun to embrace Chinese culture and history. Domestic fashion brands have also grown during the pandemic as strict travel restrictions prevented mainlanders from purchasing luxury goods overseas.
Photo credit: Azhe/Xiaohongshu
Designer Huang Weizhe, known online as Azhe, frequently posts ideas on how to incorporate the “new Chinese style” trend.
Meanwhile, Xiaohongshu user Momo doesn’t necessarily believe the popularity of the “New China Style” and says it’s due to “full-scale commercialization”.
Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, released a report in March showing that sales of Mamiangkun skirts, which normally retail for 200 yuan (about $28), had increased 841% year-on-year on its e-commerce platform. State-run CCTV reported that Caoxian county in Shandong province, which is said to account for about half of the country’s Mamiangkun production, sold 550 million yuan (about $76 million) worth of the skirts in the first two months of the year. The surge was said to be due to the early start of the Chinese New Year holiday.
However, she said some of the “new China-style” products were “poorly made” but she believed designs would improve over time.
Momo said she would continue to teach her 33,000 followers how to wear traditional attire whenever possible, whether going out, studying or working, regardless of trends.
“Whenever we wear ‘New China Style’, Hanfu or fox masks, more people can understand our culture, including people all over the world.”