The topic "Caoxian sold 300 million horse-faced skirts and the demand still exceeds supply" has become a hot search topic
Why is the “New Year jersey” horse-face skirt so popular?
In the eyes of the person in charge of the Shanghai Hanfu Copyright Center, "Hanfu" has always been a hot social phenomenon. There are three reasons for this: First, the profound Chinese culture and colorful Chinese stories are a treasure trove of creating "Hanfu" fashion topics; second, it has not become popular. The prediction of trends is limited, and there is no benchmarking by international brands, which gives a broad cultural space for the creation of a unique "Hanfu brand"; third, the rich clothing of past dynasties and the mature clothing industry chain have greatly reduced the "Hanfu design" and "Hanfu design". Entry threshold for "Hanfu Industry"
This Spring Festival, the Hanfu horse-faced skirt known as the "New Year's jersey" is very popular.
In Caoxian County, Shandong Province, sales of New Year clothes for the Year of the Dragon, mainly horse-faced skirts, exceeded 300 million yuan. Topics such as "Caoxian County sold 300 million horse-faced skirts but still in short supply" became hot searches.
On e-commerce platforms, the number of searches for horse-faced skirts has skyrocketed, and horse-faced skirts are also seen at major Spring Festival parties.
There are so many styles of Hanfu, why is only the horse-face skirt "out of the circle"?
When the horse-faced skirt became a fashion item, Hanfu enthusiasts, merchants and traditional culture scholars called in interviews with reporters not to let the horse-faced skirt become a temporary fashion, but to let the "horse-faced skirt craze" drive the public into a new era. The vast world of Hanfu.
Accumulation but little success
Horse-faced skirts have become popular, and the first people to feel this are Hanfu merchants.
Since December last year, He Chengyong, the owner of Qibo flagship store, has ushered in the peak sales season for his original children's clothing and Hanfu store.
He is from Taizhou, Zhejiang. He started to get in touch with e-commerce around 2014 and came up with the idea of starting a business.
"I started with children's cheongsam. In 2018, the rise of short video platforms made Hanfu popular, but there were relatively few children's Hanfu products on the market."
In the minds of many consumers, the earliest "horse-faced skirt" "out of the circle" originated from the "plagiarism of horse-faced skirt" incident in July 2022 by an international brand.
On the streets of Paris, France, many Chinese and international students wore Hanfu and held signs to protest, calling on the international brand to stop cultural appropriation.
"It was from this incident that I started to understand the horse-faced skirt. It looks like a pleated skirt for daily wear. It has the flavor of traditional Hanfu. It is not too exaggerated and can be matched with many daily clothes." Yu Can, who works in Shanghai He said that since last year, more and more girls can be seen wearing horse-faced skirts on the streets of Shanghai.
She believes that after the "plagiarism of horse-faced skirts" incident, many Hanfu bloggers and enthusiasts took it upon themselves to popularize knowledge about horse-faced skirts and provided daily matching plans for horse-faced skirts, "awakening the traditional cultural blood in more people's bones." .
During the Spring Festival this year, she chose two horse-faced skirts, one red and one black, as New Year's greeting dresses.
Meng Yuecen, a "post-90s" designer who runs an independent Hanfu brand, graduated from Donghua University and started making Hanfu in 2019.
Although the store does not specialize in horse-faced skirts, horse-faced skirts are still one of the best-selling items.
She believes that horse-faced skirts did not suddenly become popular, but developed over time.
"In the Hanfu circle, Ming-made Hanfu has always been the most popular. Firstly, because it is relatively close to the contemporary era and has more unearthed cultural relics for reference. It was promoted as the 'orthodox' Hanfu from the beginning. At the same time, it It is also the most 'wearable' Hanfu, and the Ming Dynasty horse-faced skirt is the best bottom to match the Ming Dynasty Hanfu top."
Nowadays, some stores specializing in horse-faced skirts have a huge business volume, and it is not uncommon to sell hundreds of thousands of pieces in a live broadcast.
Mass production lowers selling prices.
"The presence of large merchants will also lower the prices of other stores." Meng Yuecen is also paying attention to the horse-faced skirt market. In her opinion, this market still has a lot of room for a complete explosion, and its peak may be far away. Not reached.
On the first day of work after the holiday, Hu Xiao, who is responsible for art work in the Chinese costume restoration team, was busy until after 23:00 before he had time to be interviewed by reporters.
On the stage of Henan Satellite TV's Year of the Dragon Spring Festival Gala this year, the costume restoration team made three sets of restoration costumes for actor Yang Mi in the program "Dream of Beauty", one of which was a "Golden Gui Color Xiangyun Land Moon Palace Fairy Jade Rabbit Pattern Horse Face Skirt" A "green brocade edge dark floral satin collared cardigan", the name is already poetic just by looking at it.
"This horse-faced skirt was restored based on fabric fragments from the Ming Dynasty. The brocade, dark flower craftsmanship and overall tailoring all have a strong late Ming style - slender and long. This is a silhouette that modern people prefer, and it also fits the wearer's personal temperament. and appearance characteristics." Hu Xiao said that it took half a year to complete the entire garment from research and development to production, and the difficulty was mainly in the craftsmanship.
The brand "Sang Vale" owned by the Chinese Costume Restoration Team pays attention to provenance and style, and has high requirements for traditional craftsmanship. The price of horse-faced skirts is more than 1,000 yuan.
Hu Xiao told reporters that a horse-faced skirt usually refers to a two-piece skirt with a skirt shaped like a "horse face" on a city wall and pleated on both sides.
The popular horse-face skirts on the market are different in craftsmanship from ancient times, but they can still be regarded as the evolution and inheritance of traditional clothing in the contemporary era.
"Horse-faced skirts took shape in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, reached their peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and are still popular in modern times. Moreover, its style and frame have been basically fixed since its birth, but the cutting, volume, and decorative techniques have changed with the popularity of different eras. Something has changed.”
It can be said that the horse-faced skirt has a strong heritage and also has fashion attributes. This may be the cultural gene that makes it a fashionable item today.
However, Hu Xiao also believes that the horse-faced skirt can "break out" because of the right time, place and people, and other Hanfu styles may be difficult to copy.
Improvement is not a bad thing
With the rise of traditional culture, more and more traditional costumes appear in party programs.
In CCTV's Year of the Dragon Spring Festival Gala program "Nian Brocade", four actors, Liu Tao, Liu Shishi, Li Qin and Guan Xiaotong, performed in costumes from different dynasties of Han, Tang, Song and Ming dynasties to convey New Year blessings to the audience.
"Since 2021, we have really begun to increase our efforts in making horse-faced skirts. In the early days, we developed one or two styles per quarter, and now we will launch more than ten original styles of horse-faced skirts in a quarter." He Chengyong observed that in the past, only the main products Traditional clothing stores will launch Hanfu styles such as horse-face skirts. This year, some general clothing stores have also begun to sell horse-face skirts.
He believes that another reason why the horse-faced skirt can become a "New Year's jersey" is that it is more everyday-oriented. "Compared with traditional Hanfu, the horse-faced skirt is less picky and looks good on everyone. In some work scenes, Some shapes of Hanfu may be too exaggerated, but horse-faced skirts are more everyday."
Meng Yuecen believes that compared to other Hanfu skirts, the horse-faced skirt is more recognizable. "The horse-faced skirt is a two-piece skirt, with two skirts at the front and back. The structure is very prominent, and you can feel its 'difference' as soon as you see it." However, this "difference" limits the practical wearability of traditional horse-faced skirts to a certain extent.
Meng Yuecen said that many of her friends know about the horse-faced skirt, but they haven’t made up their mind to buy one because they are intimidated by the relatively complicated way to wear it.
Currently, many of the best-selling horse skirts on the market are improved models, and some have zippers installed on the sides instead of traditional waist ties.
He Chengyong said that in the past few years since he started his business, he has witnessed the expansion of the children's Hanfu market.
While retaining traditional elements, designers also introduced new production techniques. For example, all small-sized children's horse-faced skirts are made elastic to make it easier for children to wear. These are all designed to make traditional clothing more everyday.
In the Hanfu circle, the shape and style of Hanfu have always been issues of great concern.
Will the improved horse-faced skirt cause any formal controversy?
Meng Yuecen discovered that during the first two or three years of making Hanfu, the Hanfu market was still a niche market. Hanfu enthusiasts had very high requirements for form and shape, and they must study it clearly.
In the past two years, the Hanfu market has developed at a speed visible to the naked eye. As sales have increased, consumers have become more and more open-minded. “More and more people are interested in Hanfu, and there is more demand for improvements. . Take my store as an example. Some consumers who wear Hanfu to work and commute to work have more and more daily needs. At first we made big sleeves, then Pipa sleeves, and then bow sleeves. They asked if it could be shorter next year. a little?"
"While putting on Hanfu, you can learn about Hanfu. Many people don't understand Hanfu because they don't have access to it. If you are interested in understanding it, you may be able to have a general understanding in half a day. As a Chinese, you should have an understanding of traditional Chinese clothing. As we all know, you can wear improved Hanfu, but it is best to know which areas have been improved, so that you can better spread and promote traditional Chinese culture in international exchanges. When I do live broadcasts, I will talk about the improved and traditional styles. Difference, why these improvements are needed." For example, a popular elastic-waist pleated horse-face skirt without slits solves the problem of sharp pleated horse-face skirts that are difficult to take care of and difficult to iron, and you don't have to worry about the skirt. The slits in the door can easily "leak out", but you can still tell at a glance that it is the silhouette of a horse-faced skirt.
In Meng Yuecen's view, improvement is not a bad thing. "If the understanding of Hanfu is too restricted, many people will not be able to get in, let alone wear it."
Faced with the wide variety of horse-faced skirts on the market, many consumers have difficulty choosing.
On social platforms, posts such as "How to buy a horse-faced skirt without being deceived" attracted the attention of netizens.
Someone introduced the taboos of wearing a horse-faced skirt, such as the skirt length should not be too short, and "if you expose too many legs, you need to change it."
Previously, photos of Yang Mi wearing a horse-faced skirt while traveling caused heated discussions. Some Hanfu enthusiasts suggested that the way she dressed was incorrect and that "the skirt was crooked to the side."
In recent years, the Chinese costume restoration team has been taking orders non-stop, matching traditional costumes for party programs, and spreading the beauty of traditional costumes on large and small screens.
"We have more than 700 styles to choose from in our warehouse, and we will tailor them according to the wearer's personal characteristics and the different requirements of the program." In Hu Xiao's view, ordinary customers can also tailor their clothes when choosing horse-faced skirts, so as not to drag them out. The ground, just right, etc. can have a better wearing effect.
There is no fixed requirement for the length of horse-faced skirts. Horse-faced skirts unearthed from different tombs in ancient times have different lengths, number of pleats, and patterns. Some reach to the ankles, some to the calves, and some to the tops of the feet.
There are also no restrictions on matching. Traditional short coats, long coats, crossed collars, vertical collars and other styles available at the time can be matched.
"Ancient people were very free in this regard, and contemporary people are more able to make choices based on their own preferences and occasions. Clothing serves people, and the most important thing is to be decent." Hu Xiao said that choosing a horse-faced skirt is not only culturally confident but also Also have confidence in yourself.
Promote the formation of industry
On the sales platform, the "Golden Cassia Colored Auspicious Cloud Land Moon Palace Fairy Jade Rabbit Pattern Horse Face Skirt" is labeled as "original".
Design is an important factor in clothing. The popularity of horse-faced skirts has once again highlighted the design issues of Hanfu.
Since styles need to be constantly updated, He Chengyong was worried about not being able to recruit good designers.
"We moved from Taizhou to Hangzhou a few years ago. The main reason was that we couldn't recruit good designers locally. Even though we have been in Hangzhou for so long, it is still difficult to recruit really good designers. Now, the designers in the team are 1995-95 The latter is the main one." At the same time, problems such as copycats and plagiarism also always exist.
"As soon as the original style comes out, the best-selling style will soon be copied, and the price will be cheaper."
As far as Hanfu design is concerned, the overall shape is regarded as the soul, which is the core element of traditional clothing culture; patterns and patterns are the body, the substantial carrier of innovation and creativity.
In order to promote original design innovation, in 2021, the Shanghai Copyright Bureau established the country's first Hanfu copyright comprehensive service platform-Shanghai Hanfu Copyright Center.
In the eyes of the relevant person in charge, "Hanfu" has always been a hot social phenomenon. There are three reasons for this: First, the profound Chinese culture and colorful Chinese stories are a treasure trove of creating "Hanfu" fashion topics; second, there are no predictions of fashion trends. Limited, there is no benchmarking suppression by international brands, which gives a broad cultural space for the creation of a unique "Hanfu brand"; third, the rich clothing of past dynasties and mature clothing industry chain have greatly reduced the "Hanfu design" and "Hanfu industry" entry threshold.
"In the current Hanfu market, one is a store opened by designers, which is design-centered and takes a long time to polish. The other is a clothing company, which is based on the new rhythm. The designer's time is limited and the styles are relatively satisfactory." Meng Yue Cen said that there are only a handful of merchants in the current Hanfu circle, and their upstream and downstream resources are relatively sufficient from design to publicity, operations, and sales.
"Small stores without so many resources will be a little embarrassed at this stage of development: Where should they focus more energy, whether it is design, live broadcasting or expanding production scale?" However, the Hanfu market represented by horse-faced skirts Expansion is "a good thing" for businesses big and small. "There are no shortcuts in design. I hope the market will be more diversified and more distinctive craftsmanship will be produced."
Having been engaged in clothing restoration for more than ten years, Hu Xiao is happiest when he sees traditional craftsmanship "feeding" many people.
They are looking for inheritors of craftsmanship from all over the country. The economy of many places may not be that developed, but the traditional craftsmanship is relatively well preserved.
"Now, some young people can make money from their craftsmanship in their hometown without going out to work." Hu Xiao believes that nowadays horse-faced skirts are often used as fashion items, and the concept of traditional clothing needs to be more popularized and let more people know about it. There is more than one style of Hanfu. The popularity of horse-faced skirts has led to other styles.
"Clothing is the external expression of culture. Today it is a horse-faced skirt, the day after tomorrow it is a round-neck robe, and tomorrow it is a skirt. Only when consumers have a menu of constant choices can long-term benefits be achieved."
Liberation Daily reporter Zhong Han, Zhang Yi, Shi Chenlu