#fouryearsofshades

[fouryearsofshades]

[fouryearsofshades]

I wanted to make this post since a couple of months ago. As proper summer is coming, Song and Tang style might make a come back in another couple of months.

[fouryearsofshades]

Some Chinese fashion styles

Disclaimer: The following styles and their definitions were observed by me and are not authoritative. I am only familiar with Hanfu and if I made mistakes and picked the wrong photo examples or fraud shops, please let me know. Also, this post focused on women's fashion because 1. I am not into men's fashion so I don't know much about them. 2. The algorithm also knew that so I don't really see them.

汉服/Hànfú

传统服饰/Chuántǒng fúshì （传服/chuán fú）

清汉女/Qīng hàn nǚ

旗装/Qí zhuāng

旗袍/Qípáo

新国风/Xīn guó fēng、新中式/Xīn zhōngshì 汉元素/hàn yuánsù 茶艺服/Cháyì fú or 茶服/chá fú 唐装/Tángzhuāng 中山装/Zhōngshānzhuāng.

汉服/Hànfú

The ethnic clothing of Han Chinese (not the Han Dynasty).

There was a prohibition of Han clothing and hair styles in Qing dynasty, i.e. the 剃发易服/Tìfā yìfú qu Queue Ordinance, so modern hanfu is an on-going revivalist moment.

Modern hanfu are based on archeological evidences with minor twists to suit modern like, such as the type of fabric used and cut.

As a result, there are many types of garments and sub-styles. The figure above shows some examples.

While which style should be included and promoted is a constant debate, but in general, the cutout line is the Qing dynasty (however small accessories such as purses are alright).

传统服饰/Chuántǒng fúshì （传服/chuán fú）

No example because I am not sure who identified with this label.

The Chinese traditional clothing.

This either referred to historical clothing restorers (regardless of ethnicity) or people who promoted that the traditional clothing of Han people should be in the late Ming dynasty style, since "people should get up at where they had fallen".

They might be agreeable with the hanfu movement or not.

清汉女/Qīng hàn nǚ

The clothing of women of Han Chinese in the Qing dynasty.

Since the Queue Ordinance wasn't that strictly enforced on Han women, the Han women clothing in the Qing dynasty had quickly absorbed Manchurian's elements while retaining the characteristic two-piece silhouette. (Manchurian women wore a one-piece robe.)

I believed it appeared around 2019 when the styles of hanfu had moved to fully embroidered surface to a more tone down brocade or weaved patterns.

旗装/Qí zhuāng

The ethnic clothing of Man people (Manchurian).

The women's clothing are generally in round collar opened on the left (youren) with straight sleeves.

The most basic item is a 衬衣/chènyī, which doesn't have vents.

However, the most common item I have seen on the street is a 氅衣/chǎng yī (probably rented), which should be worn on top of 衬衣, since they have side vents.

They usually have no standing-up collar but in some cases a fake collar could be worn.

On top of changyi they could wear a 马褂/mǎguà、坎肩/kǎnjiān、褂裥/guà jiǎn.

旗袍/Qípáo

The Chinese clothing of women originated from the Minguo era, known in English as qipao or cheongsam.

The male equivalent is 长衫/chángshān.

Currently in style is the retro-cut, while uses the traditional flat cut (no shoulder seam) instead of the more body-hugging modern draping style.

There are also many variations and cuts, but the overall silhouette is similar.

新国风/Xīn guó fēng、新中式/xīn zhōngshì

Innovative clothing that was inspired by Chinese traditional aesthetic.

It is an umbrella term.

汉元素/hàn yuánsù refers to clothing inspired by hanfu specifically, while xinguofeng could be inspired by qipao and other ethnic clothing. In addition, hanyuansu is a term more familair to hanfu-ers, so the target audience is slightly different between hanyuansu and xinguofeng.

茶艺服/Cháyì fú or 茶服/chá fú,i.e tea dress, which aimed to convey a zen and rustic aesthetic could also be considered a sub-style. They are often worn by retirees, artists or workers in tea shops, calligraphy shops, Chinese spas, Chinese traditional medicine clinics etc.

The older "Chinese style" generally refers to 唐装/Tángzhuāng and 中山装/Zhōngshānzhuāng.

Tangzhuang (Tang Suit) was a men suit characterized with a mandarin collar with a row of 盘扣/pán kòu frogs in the middle. There are two pockets at the bottom front of the suit. It was a well-known looked worldwide due to the 2001 APEC summit. However, other clothes resembled a 马褂/mǎguà could also be called a tangzhuang.

Zhongshanzhuang was designed and named after Sun Yat-sen but was often known in English as the Mao Suit. Mao Suit was characterised with a 关门领/Guānmén lǐng（“closed-door collar", but also known as Mao collar in English) with a row of round buttons. There are four pockets at the front of the suit.

中华lolita/Zhōnghuá lolita

A sub-style of the lolita fashion inspired by cheongsam/qipao, hanfu or other Chinese artistic elements.

The same item could appeared in different styles, but with different cut and accessories. The following examples showed a mamianqun used in different styles.

THE END

[fouryearsofshades]

I had been thinking about making this post but only have time during the new year holiday. I am always so late in reporting the latest hanfu trend.

[fouryearsofshades]

漳缎Zhangduan is a kind of velvet/satin blend that gained popularity in 2024 in hanfu fashion.

[fouryearsofshades]

When people say “Let's go get milk tea." nowadays it generally refers to getting some sort of beverage. It is not just limited to milk tea, but it could also refers to fruit tea, fruit juice, milk shakes, yogurts or even coffee. The most popular drink is Mixue’s lemon tea or bubble tea because they are generally the cheapest. Bubble tea with boba are not as common nowadays because I think they are not trendy anymore.

In the cities and especially around shopping districts, there are beverage shops in every corner. Competition is high so instead of coming out with new drinks frequently, accessories such as delivery bags, cup sleeves, straw wrappings and toys are released to stimulate purchase. As a result, there grows collectors who collects those limited release.

A word of caution:

This is a consumerism trap.

Milk tea are not healthy. Sugar is added when they are making the tea concentrate so even “no-added sugar” option does not guarantee no additional sugar in your tea.

Milk tea are highly caffeinated, sometimes even more than coffee.

[fouryearsofshades]

Some PSA on wearing a mamianqun

Wear a petticoat or trousers underneath. Please. It is never meant to be worn by itself. With two big openings, wardrobe malfunction could happen easily. In addition, a lot of brocade are not comfortable enough to rub against the bare skin.

Don't wear a mamianqun and bike or ride a motorbike/scooter. Because it is dangerous. Mamianqun was originally developed for donkey/horse riding, but those long fabrics could easily entangle with the chains. Not only it would ruin the skirt but it would also cause an accident. If you must, then either remove the skirt completely or tuck all the pieces (the ties and the hem) securely onto the waist (or other methods of securing the pieces) before riding.

The flat parts of the skirt goes to the front and back of the body, not the side. Of course no laws or rules banned one from wearing them on the side of the body, but please only do that with conscious.

[fouryearsofshades]

hello, do you why we say hanfu for all dynasties when hanfu means han clothing ?

Hi. "Han" in "hanfu" refers to the ethnic group, Han people. Han people also referred to themselves as "Hua" or "Huaxia".

Modern Hanfu movement aims to reclaim the ethnic clothing of Han people, after it was forcefully banned in the Qing dynasty with the Queue Order. It is like Scots started wearing kilts again after the lifting of kilt ban imposed by the English.

Currently (2024), people who seemed to be wearing hanfu may be: 1. people who are into historical clothing only; 2. people who are into hanfu as a concept of ethnic clothing; 3. people who like alternative fashion; 4. people who are just dressing up as part of the tourist experience. A person maybe into all four things at once, or only into one of these four categories.

It is still a relatively young movement (~20 years) so the concept is still building. On top of that, this is a grass root movement so no one has a ultimate power to define the boundaries of "hanfu". Hence, within the movement, there are many schools of thoughts of what should be included and what shouldn't be. With archeological discoveries and fashion trend shifting, the hanfu fashion is changing rapidly as well.

We'll see.