Styles from the Steppes: California Steppes Photoshoot (Esther)
Nav: Photoshoot Duo/Esther/Tara // Shoot & Styling Background // Macaron Design Background // Ferghana Design Background
"Call her briar rose or smth tho bc those 12 ft long braids kept picking up thorns on the hills" - Yulan
Pt. 2 of our AAPI series: Meet Esther, our model for the Macaron set! 🍬
A Bay Area native of Chinese-Mongolian heritage aptly born in the Year of the Horse, Esther works in software engineering and enjoys baking, thrifting, and bouldering in her free time. We chose Esther for this look to help represent the bridge between Mongolian / northern steppe heritage and the Central Plains influences that shaped this style of hanfu.
Our Macaron set is named after a Chinese horse pun: “馬卡龍” is the transliteration of “macaron,” but literally reads “horse-card-dragon.” Keeping with the dessert theme, we designed this set in pastel confectionary colors and styled Esther with pastel eyeshadow shades to match! 🍭
Historically, this outfit draws from Northern Dynasty dress and the legacy of the “胡服騎射” policy — “wearing Hu (non-Han) clothing and shooting from horseback.” During the Warring States period, King Wuling of Zhao promoted the adoption of cavalry-friendly clothing elements associated with non-Han horse-riding peoples of the northern steppes, many connected to the lands of present-day Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. Over time, these styles became integrated into Hanfu. The pants in the Macacron set, for example, are a hybrid of hundred-pleat skirt and lantern pants, literally “百褶燈籠褲” or hundred-pleat lantern pants. The belt is made of imitation Songjin brocade, and features a pattern of golden horses galloping through waves, humorously titled “馬上有錢” 🧧
For styling, we gave Esther dramatic 12-foot-long twin carabiner braids, a modern nod to braided hairstyles long associated with many nomadic steppe cultures for beauty, identity, and practicality on horseback. And if you catch a glimpse of her nails, they’re hand-painted press-ons featuring horse artwork from a small studio in Inner Mongolia!
For AAPI Month, we’re celebrating the many ways heritage moves: across borders, across generations, and across the stories we choose to wear. 🐎
CREDITS
Model: Esther Sue (ig: @/esthers_ue)
Hair: 糖糖 Tangtang (me, ig: @/tang.tang.mm)
Makeup: 玉藍 Yulan / Chlobalt Blue (ig: @/chlobaltblue)
Photography & Editing: Hong Majaya (ig: @/hongwithcamera), Sylvia Gong (ig: @/sybiashoots)
Horses: Giddyup Productions (ig: @/giddyup_productions)
Weapons: Christabel Choi (ig: @/christabel_choi), Haydon Fu (ig: @/fuhaydon), Kevin Wong (@ktw-shu)
Additional Assistance: Faye Sun
Location: Sunol, California, USA
Clothing: Cloud9 Hanfu 九雲閣 (ig: @cloud9hanfu), 馬卡龍 Macaron LNY26
Earrings: 金马贺岁 by 黛组学DaiStudio
Braid extensions: 梦想成真假发
Shoes: 清欢阁
Nails: 蒙古马 by TanghesNail 指尖造物
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