The current trend circle has been "captured" by horse-faced skirts.
If the last plagiarism scandal involving big foreign brands was a large-scale outing of horse-faced skirts, then with the recent cultural boom, more and more people are wearing this simple skirt style.
The "Speechless Bodhisattva" with both form and spirit, the "awkward but polite smile" on the bronzes of the Shang Dynasty, the "Angry Birds"-like pottery pig in the Sanxingdui Museum... More and more cultural relics are descending to earth, and horse-faced skirts are even more popular. No exception.
"You have to wear a horse-faced skirt once to realize how elegant the Chinese style is!" Young people's love for horse-faced skirts comes suddenly and passionately. More and more young people began to wear horse-faced skirts on the streets, only to find that they can be perfectly suitable for a variety of occasions - commuting, traveling, and shopping.
Put on a horse-faced skirt and experience it once
The feeling of "the ancient moon shines on today's people".
The low-key yet gorgeous horse-faced skirt soon swept the fashion industry with an unstoppable trend and became a fashion item sought after by celebrities, fashion bloggers and ordinary people. In 2023, the horse-faced skirt entered the top three searches on an e-commerce platform twice within a week.
In the past, the horse-faced skirt could only lie quietly in the museum, but now it is "popular" and "live" worn by young people.
01 Wearing a horse-faced skirt, does it smell so good?
firstShiyi was a little nervous about wearing a horse-faced skirt to go shopping: “I don’t want to attract too much attention, but I also want to try it out.” In order not to become a “conspicuous bag” on the street, Shiyi specially picked a dark-sleeved dress. A patterned black horse-faced skirt with only a hint of gold woven pattern on the hem.
Facts also proved that Shiyi was overly worried. After spending an afternoon shopping in the mall, her return rate was basically zero. In fact, to passers-by who are not familiar with Hanfu, this may just be a black skirt with a unique shape.
It is both everyday and unique, ordinary yet slightly gorgeous. Perhaps this is the "nirvana" of the horse-faced skirt to make it out of the fashion industry. However, in Hanfu, the horse-faced skirt is very recognizable because the distinctive feature of "horse-faced" has never gone away with time.
As long as you pay attention, you will find a lot
Horse-faced skirts in film and television works.
Horse-faced skirt, also known as "horse-faced pleated skirt", is a type of Hanfu. It was developed from the spiral skirt of the Song Dynasty and formed into a horse-faced skirt with a relatively fixed structure in the Ming Dynasty. There are four skirt doors at the front and rear, each of which overlaps. The sides are pleated, and the skirt door in the middle overlaps to form a smooth surface, commonly known as "horse face".
The design of traditional Chinese clothing has always emphasized both practicality and beauty, and horse-faced skirts are no exception. The horse-faced skirt was born in the Liao and Song Dynasties. It was originally made to facilitate riding. After the Ming Dynasty, it became a mainstream garment and could be worn by ladies from the imperial dynasty to common people.
The flat rectangular skirt doors on the front and back of the horse skirt make the wearer dignified and upright when standing and not easily wrinkled when sitting down. The fine pleats on both sides can be opened during activities, making it easy to ride when riding, and it also has a flowing aesthetic when walking.
The outside of the city wall in the Ming Dynasty,
In order to avoid visual blind spots,
An outward protrusion is set
The platform is called "horse face".
And the skirt door of the horse-faced skirt,
It is very similar to the design of this city wall
They are similar, hence the name "horse-faced skirt".
Compared with a complete set of customized Hanfu that often costs several hundred yuan, the price of a horse-faced skirt ranges from tens of yuan to hundreds or even thousands of yuan.
"Nowadays, it costs more than 100 yuan to buy an ordinary, better-quality T-shirt, but for the same price, you can buy a horse-faced skirt woven with gold or brocade. Don't you think it's worth crying for?" In an era where "cost-effectiveness" is important, horse-faced skirts have become a "may as well give it a try" choice for young people.
What makes young people obsessed with horse-faced skirts is that they look good and are very versatile. Whether paired with a white shirt that everyone has, or paired with a cardigan, suit jacket, coat, etc., the horse skirt can be perfectly matched and rarely "fall over".
Unlike a full set of exaggerated and gorgeous Hanfu, which is inevitably incompatible with the surrounding environment, the low-key and distinctive horse-faced skirt is more everyday and can be worn in a wider range of occasions. Some netizens joked: "Wear a beautiful horse-faced skirt to take photos in scenic spots during the day. When you catch a train at night and take a sleeper, you can use it as a bed curtain, which is both beautiful and practical."
"Use" the horse-faced skirt.
The high-waisted horse-face skirt is not as flattering as the cheongsam. It covers the flesh and can make you taller, slimmer and longer at the same time. It is especially friendly to pear-shaped figures. Many people who wear it are "falling into it". : "There are only zero and countless times to wear a horse-faced skirt."
Of course, from the perspective of convenience and comfort of modern clothing, horse-faced skirts still have many "disadvantages".
Hanfu skirts are generally worn in a wrap-around style. Traditional horse-faced skirts are tied up at the waist with ties. The wearer needs to go through certain exercises.Only when you wear it "right" - make sure the skirt door is facing straight, the skirt waist is flat, the skirt hem is even, and the waistband is beautiful. Moreover, for modern people who are accustomed to elastic bands and belts, they will feel obvious discomfort if they are strangled by the laces for a few hours.
In addition, horse-faced skirts have also been criticized for being easy to "disappear". Originally, horse skirts were designed to facilitate riding. The non-closed skirts will open when the wind blows, walking or sitting down. Ancient people usually wore horse skirts with petticoats and underpants. Nowadays, in order to facilitate daily wear, people add anti-exposure stickers, magnetic buckles and other designs on the front and rear skirt doors to prevent the skirt doors from being opened.
The horse-faced skirt "shows off".
There are many similar "modern transformations" - retaining the characteristics of traditional horse-faced skirts while incorporating modern fashion elements, such as changing the laces of horse-faced skirts into buttons or elastic bands, or using modern fabrics such as leather, lace, and patchwork yarn. , you can also add popular textures and three-dimensional tailoring.
However, this has triggered another hot topic: is the modified horse-face skirt still a horse-face skirt?
02
The "eliminated" horse-faced skirt,
Why is it so popular again?
As horse-faced skirts become popular, controversies abound: How should horse-faced skirts be worn? How to match? Can boys also wear horse skirts? On what occasion can a horse-faced skirt be worn? In the final analysis, this all stems from the fact that among Hanfu enthusiasts, there are many "factions" with different opinions.
For most newcomers to Hanfu, the horse-faced skirt corresponds to the half-length skirt in modern fashion. In their view, convenience and comfort are very important considerations, and it is very necessary to "modernize" the horse skirt. Fashion should adapt to the development of the times and integrate the aesthetic characteristics and practicality of this era.
However, the "fundamentalists" believe that the horse-faced skirt, as an ancient costume that has been passed down for a long time, must be worn in accordance with the ancient system of "upper coat and lower skirt". It can be worn with a shirt, a coat, or with hair disheveled. Damage the cultural value of the horse-faced skirt.
On top of this, the more conservative "Tomb Sect" has even formed. They are obsessed with the study of unearthed cultural relics orThe researcher studies the shape of clothing in ancient paintings and strives to popularize extremely accurate knowledge of Hanfu and restore Hanfu to the public.
Horse Face Skirt contains a historical questionnaire of design methods.
In the eyes of many loyal fans of Hanfu, the popular "new Chinese style" or the so-called "daily style of Hanfu" is just a replacement of one or several Hanfu elements within the aesthetic framework of modern fashion. In essence, it is still a kind of being replaced by others. Cultural aesthetics, traditional clothing culture inheritance is out of the question.
From a practical point of view, the horse-faced skirt is indeed an old thing that has been "eliminated" by the times. With the end of the Ming and Qing dynasties when horseback riding was an important means of transportation, as well as the development of modern society and the popularization of new clothing trends, the slit horse skirt with riding functions has gradually become a complicated and useless clothing structure, and a more fitted apron The skirt slowly replaced it.
During the one hundred years between the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, Western clothing customs were introduced into China, which had a devastating impact on traditional clothing such as horse-faced skirts. Since then, only in grand and rare occasions such as elementary school and wedding ceremonies, can we get a glimpse of the degraded horse-faced skirt elements. In recent years, the revival of horse-faced skirts is a "top-down" popularization process.
Red satin butterfly love flower horse face skirt.
In the beginning, it was driven by film and television dramas and star power. In the costume drama, the actors look heroic in horse-faced skirts, which makes people sigh that "the aesthetics of the ancients are amazing." Various evening parties and award events, the stars competing for beauty on the red carpet no longer only pursue brand symbols, but also begin to try national style clothing and "roll" design concepts, and horse-faced skirts have become their new attempt.
This has to mention the "walking horse-faced grass-planting machine" - Xu Jiao, on the 2023 Huabiao Awards red carpet, she wore a white cross-collar shirt with a red floral jacquard horse-faced skirt, which was noble and relaxed. She also likes to wear horse-faced skirts when visiting cafes every day. A white puff-sleeved shirt is paired with a black horse-faced skirt with flowers and birds, and a straw hat is uniquely added. It is a ready-made template for wearing horse-faced skirts every day.
In 2022, Dior's suspected "plagiarism" incident also added fuel to the emergence of horse-faced skirts, causing many people who had not previously understood horse-faced skirts to "plant grass." Among Dior's autumn works that year, there was a black pleated long skirt and a horse-faced skirt that had a high "duplication check rate" and sparked heated discussions.
Regarding whether Dior copied the horse-face skirt,
There is still controversy.
Some bloggers pointed out that back then
Dior autumn series
There are a lot of Scottish elements throughout,
And this black pleated long skirt
From the appearance, it also looks like a Scottish skirt
very close.
Through repeated attempts and controversies, more and more people have rediscovered the beauty of the horse-faced skirt and the traditional clothing culture behind it. In the cycle of "continuous understanding-discovery-correction-perfection", the horse-faced skirt has achieved a breakthrough in communication, gradually entering our fiery life from the cold museum.
In shopping malls with people coming and going, in front of museum exhibits, and at lively carnivals at annual parties, more and more people are beginning to try wearing horse-faced skirts on different occasions. The rediscovered horse-faced skirt is bursting out and belongs to this era. of brilliance.
03The revival of Hanfu,
It's a "miracle"
According to statistics from the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, China's Hanfu market will reach 9 billion yuan in 2021, and the number of Hanfu fans has surged from 693,000 in 2016 to 7 million, achieving a more than 10-fold increase.
Traditional materials in ChinaAccording to cultural researcher Meng Hui, the sudden rise of the Hanfu movement in the past two decades is a "miracle" in itself. "Several generations of Hanfu youth not only pay attention to the clothing itself, but also pay attention to the entire history of Chinese civilization. They are reviving traditional clothing with the passion of re-understanding and affirming Chinese traditional civilization."
The revival of Hanfu allows today's people to break away from the shackles of modern fashion aesthetics, rediscover the connotation and aesthetics of traditional Chinese clothing, and build confidence and perception of their own clothing culture.
More and more people are falling in love with Hanfu.
Looking back at the journey of the horse-faced skirt, you will definitely lament what a difficult journey it was. Horse-faced skirts with fixed horse-face pleats were formed in the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, pleated skirts with unique pleats, fish-scale skirts, langan skirts, moonlight skirts, phoenix-tail skirts and other names appeared. The inheritance history of horse-faced skirts is very complete. , has been used until modern times, and there are many remains among ethnic minorities.
This fully reflects the powerful power of daily social life. Scholar Qi Ziyu pointed out: "The changes in horse-faced skirts in the Qing Dynasty show that political isolation cannot prevent the integration of Manchu and Han aesthetics in daily life. This point was reflected in the Tang and Song Dynasties. It can be seen between the Yuan and Ming dynasties: Although the adjacent dynasties were politically opposed, material cultural heritage such as horse-faced skirts spanned thousands of years, and the overall trend was continuous integration."
Xu Jiao often shares on Weibo
Horse face skirt outfit.
This coincides with the current "slogan" for reviving horse-faced skirts - "The best way to protect yourself is to wear it out." When the horse-faced skirt returns to life and becomes practical, it can overcome all kinds of prejudices and obstacles and continue to be passed down.
Therefore, when it comes to wearing horse-faced skirts that are currently popular, you might as well have fewer restrictions and try more. Don’t forget, in today’s era of freedom in dressing, nothing is more important than being happy with what you wear.
As a Hanfu review blogger at Station B who has been involved in Hanfu evaluation for more than ten years said: "Wearing Hanfu should not be a burden for you. I wish you happy wearing it."
