Just after the Spring Festival holiday, on February 19, a group of nuns dressed in horse-faced skirts "catwalked" in Chengdu Wangjianglou Park. To the accompaniment of music, the group of them walked on the stage wearing red, dark blue and navy horse-faced skirts. According to reports, last autumn, maids also wore horse-faced skirts and took photos under the ginkgo trees in some parks and other places in Chengdu.
Red Star News reporters learned that horse-faced skirts, as a type of Hanfu, have quietly "entered" the wardrobes of young people and even middle-aged and elderly people in recent years. During this year’s Spring Festival, topics such as #马面skirtJackie Chan’s New Year’s Spring Festival Outfit Hot Style#even #caoxian sold 300 million horse-faced skirts are still in short supply#and other topics became hot searches.
According to big data from multiple e-commerce platforms, the search volume for Hanfu has skyrocketed since January this year. Among them, the horse-faced skirt has become the most popular item in the Hanfu category, with sales of many hot-selling items exceeding one million. Yuan. In Wenshufang, Chengdu, a Hanfu store's horse-faced skirt sales increased by 20 to 30% during the Spring Festival this year compared with last year, becoming the store's "star item."
Chengdu maids "catwalk" in horse-faced skirts in the park
"Great for taking pictures"! The maids love to wear horse-faced skirts
On the afternoon of February 19, the sun was just right. Retired Lin Qing (pseudonym) took photos with her sisters and friends in Chengdu Wangjianglou Park. Setting up mobile phone holders, the ladies walked along the stage in a row, accompanied by music. The horse-faced skirts they wore were the most eye-catching.
Among the seven people in Lin Qing's party, the horse-faced skirts in red, dark blue, and navy made the maids look swaying and full of charm.
At the scene, several ladies revealed that horse-faced skirts have become popular among Chengdu ladies in the past year or two. There are as few as one or two, as many as three or four. Almost everyone owns a horse-faced skirt. It can promote traditional culture, be beautiful, and look good in photos, which are all the reasons why they choose horse-faced skirts.
Chengdu maids "catwalk" in horse-faced skirts in the park
"I bought it last year, specifically thinking about wearing it during the Spring Festival. It's beautiful and easy to take pictures." Lin Qing wore a white top to match this red horse-faced skirt, which looked very elegant.
42-year-old Chengdu Mermaid (pseudonym) is a Hanfu enthusiast and has more than ten horse-faced skirts at home. "In 2017 and 2018, I would receive strange looks when I wore a horse-faced skirt. The public didn't understand and thought I was like an opera singer. Now when I wear a horse-faced skirt, many people think it looks good and ask me where I am. Where did you buy it?"
Ziyu lives near Shengxian Lake. During the ginkgo season last autumn, many Chengdu nuns wore horse-faced skirts when taking photos under the ginkgo trees. "They are fashion-matching versions of horse-faced skirts, and they look very good. I am still a little proud of making traditional Chinese costumes known to more people."
Horse-faced skirts, which have become very popular recently, are being accepted by more and more people. Last winter, Ziyu wore a horse-faced skirt when she went to the Forbidden City in Beijing. Many people came to take photos and group photos.
Ziyu, Ms. Wang and their friends put on horse-faced skirts and walked on the streets of Chengdu. Photo provided by the interviewee
The "niche" in Hanfu has become a hit product
According to CCTV reports, horse-faced skirts have become a "hot trend" in Spring Festival wear. The sales of New Year's greetings clothes based on horse-faced skirts in Cao County, Shandong Province have exceeded 300 million yuan. Luo Ruyan Hanfu brand is one of the largest manufacturers and sellers of horse-faced skirts in Cao County. Brand manager Li Zilei told Red Star News reporters that last year, more than a thousand horse-faced skirts were produced every day, and the products were mainly sold to Henan, Shandong, and Jiangsu. and many other provinces, among which Sichuan customers account for about 6%.
“The sales of horse-face skirts are mainly among people aged 25 to 40 years old, and they are also loved by middle-aged and elderly people. 5Groups over 0 years old account for 20%-30% of the total purchases. "Introduced by Li Zilei.
"Return to the Han and Tang Dynasties" located in Wenshufang is one of the earliest offline Hanfu stores in Chengdu and even the country. In the view of store manager Aqiu, horse-faced skirts have transformed from a niche product in Hanfu stores to a top-selling product. "Horse-faced skirts have always been a Hanfu product. In the past, they were bought by Hanfu enthusiasts, but now they are bought by ordinary people, such as children, aunts, etc. In the past two years, the sales of horse-faced skirts in the store have increased significantly. During the Spring Festival this year, the sales volume is compared with last year. An increase of two to three percent."
Not only that, in Aqiu's impression, horse-faced skirts are often purchased for teenagers' coming-of-age ceremonies and brides' wedding toasts.
Horse-faced skirts also have some advantages. “On the one hand, compared with other types of Hanfu, horse-faced skirts are more concise and neat, less eye-catching to wear, and easier to match. On the other hand, there are more and more affordable Hanfus, starting from It cost thousands at first, but now it costs more than 300 yuan. Coupled with the development of the Internet, more people know about horse-faced skirts. The more they understand, the more they like it," Aqiu believes.
In 2017, Ms. Wang, a native of Chengdu, came into contact with horse-faced skirts and quickly fell in love with this kind of clothing. "This is a skirt made in Ming Dynasty. It is convenient and beautiful." So far, Ms. Wang has bought more than 20 horse-faced skirts. "Everyone loves horse-faced skirts more and more, which shows that the promotion of Hanfu is getting stronger and stronger. Horse-faced skirts fit more closely with the styles of modern skirts and are easier to match." At an event last year, Ms. Wang brought My sixty-year-old mother also wore a horse-faced skirt. “She thought it was very beautiful to take pictures.”
Ms. Wang and her sixty-year-old mother put on a horse-faced skirt together. Photo provided by the interviewee
Hanfu companies, with horse-faced skirts as their representative products, are also growing. Tianyancha data shows that as of now, there are more than 5,700 Hanfu-related companies in my country, of which more than 2,600 will be newly registered in 2023, an increase of 353.6% compared with 2022. In terms of geographical distribution, Shaanxi leads the way with more than 1,500 related companies. From the perspective of registered capital, nearly 80% of Hanfu-related companies have registered capital of less than 1 million yuan, highlighting the attributes of small and micro enterprises.
To promote the "daily-style" Hanfu, the horse-faced skirt is one of the selected items
"From an industry perspective, there are advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that the horse-faced skirt has brought Hanfu out of the circle, which is a good cultural phenomenon. However, the public still has a long way to go to understand the culture behind the horse-faced skirt. We have to go." Shi Qian, executive director of the Hanfu Culture Committee of the Sichuan Traditional Culture Promotion Association, said that the correct way to wear the horse-faced skirt, the people it is suitable for, the patterns of the skirt, etc., all need to be further popularized.
Shi Qian believes that the reason why the horse-face skirt can "break out of the circle" is because of the characteristics of the horse-face skirt itself: it is easy to match and full of fashion sense. "Five years ago, we began to promote the daily use of Hanfu, hoping that Hanfu could be integrated into everyone's lives as daily clothing and accepted by more people. One of the items selected at that time was the horse-faced skirt, whether paired with a white T-shirt or Shirts are all good-looking." Shi Qian used an analogy. If you buy a wedding dress, you may only wear it when you get married. If you buy a horse skirt, you can wear it more often and it will naturally enter everyone's wardrobe.
