The topic "Caoxian sold 300 million horse-faced skirts but still in short supply" became a hot search topic
Why is the "New Year's Jersey" horse-faced 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 the wonderful Chinese stories are the " "Hanfu" is a treasure trove of fashion topics; secondly, there are no restrictions on the prediction of fashion trends, and there is no benchmarking and suppression by international brands, which gives a broad cultural space for the creation of a unique "Hanfu brand"; thirdly, there are rich costumes from past dynasties and mature costumes. The industrial chain has greatly lowered the entry threshold for "Hanfu design" and "Hanfu industry"
This Spring Festival, the Hanfu horse-faced skirt known as the "New Year shirt" has become popular. In Caoxian County, Shandong Province, the sales of Year of the Dragon New Year clothes, mainly horse-face skirts, exceeded 300 million yuan. Topics such as "Caoxian County sold 300 million horse-face 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 galas.
There are so many styles of Hanfu, why is only the horse-faced skirt “out of the circle”? When the horse-faced skirt became a fashionable 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.
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 Province. 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 are relatively few children's Hanfu products on the market."
In the minds of many consumers, horse-faced skirts The earliest "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 began to understand the horse-faced skirt. It looks like a pleated skirt worn daily, with the flavor of traditional Hanfu. It is not too exaggerated and can be matched with many daily clothes. Yu Can, who works in Shanghai, 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 doesn’t think horse-faced skirts suddenly became popular.Fire, but accumulation. "In the Hanfu circle, Ming-made Hanfu has always been the most popular. Firstly, because it is relatively close to the present day 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-made horse-faced skirt is the best bottom to match the Ming-made Hanfu top."
Nowadays, some shops specializing in horse-faced skirts have a huge business volume. It’s not unusual for a live broadcast to sell hundreds of thousands of units. Mass production lowers selling prices. "With big merchants, the pricing of other stores will also be lowered." Meng Yuecen is also paying attention to the horse-faced skirt market. In her opinion, this market still has a lot of room to fully explode, 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 the entire garment took half a year from research and development to production, and the difficulty was mainly in the craftsmanship.
Sang Vale, a brand owned by the Chinese Costume Restoration Team, pays attention to provenance and style, and has high requirements for traditional craftsmanship. Horse-faced skirts sell for more than a thousand 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-faced skirts on the market are different in craftsmanship from those in ancient times, but they can still be regarded as the evolution and inheritance of traditional clothing in contemporary times. "The horse-faced skirt took its prototype in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, reached its peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and is 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. There have been changes.”
It can be said that the horse-faced skirt has a strong heritage and also has fashion attributes. This may be the cultural gene for it to become 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, conveying 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 those who focused on traditional clothingStores will launch Hanfu styles such as horse-face skirts. This year, some general clothing stores also began 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, The shapes of some Hanfu skirts may be too exaggerated, but the horse-faced skirt is more everyday." Meng Yuecen believes that compared with other Hanfu skirts, the horse-faced skirt is more recognizable. "The horse-faced skirt is two things. The skirt has two skirt doors at the front and back, and its structure is very prominent. You can feel its 'difference' at first sight. "However, this "difference" limits the practical wearability of the traditional horse-faced skirt 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 have 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 controversy over its shape? 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 for commuting to work have become more and more regular every year. At first we made big sleeves, then Pipa sleeves, and then bow sleeves. They asked if we could make them shorter next year. A little bit?”
“Wear Hanfu while learning about it. Many people don’t understand Hanfu because they don’t have access to it. If you are interested in understanding it, you may have a general understanding in half a day. As a Chinese, you should be aware of traditional Chinese clothing. You can wear improved Hanfu, but it is best to know what has been improved, so that you can better spread and promote Chinese traditional culture in international exchanges. When I do live broadcasts. , will talk about the differences between the improved version and the traditional version, and why these improvements are made. "For example, a hot-selling horse-face skirt with elastic waist and pleats without slits solves the problem that the horse-face skirt with sharp pleats is difficult to take care of and iron." It's difficult to iron, and you don't have to worry about the slits in the skirt being easily exposed, but you can still tell at a glance that it's 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. havePeople 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 sparked heated discussions. Some Hanfu enthusiasts suggested that the way she dressed was incorrect and that "the skirt door 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 insteps. 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. Also have confidence in yourself.
Promote the formation of an industry
On the sales platform, "Golden Cinnamon Colored Auspicious Clouds 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 that he could not 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 "Later' is the main thing." At the same time, problems such as copycats and plagiarism also always exist. "As soon as the original styles come out, the best-selling ones will soon have imitations at cheaper prices."
As far as Hanfu design is concerned, the overall shape is regarded as the soul, which is the core of traditional clothing culture Elements; patterns and patterns are entities and the essential 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. Restricted, 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 a designer, which is design-centered, and it takes a long time to polish; the other is a clothing company, which is based on the above new rhythm, and the designer’s time is limited. Relatively average styleMedium moment. "Meng Yuecen said that there are only a handful of merchants in the current Hanfu circle. From design to publicity, operation, and sales, the upstream and downstream resources are relatively sufficient. "Small stores without so many resources will be a little embarrassed at this stage of development: Where should we focus more energy, on design, live streaming, or expanding production scale? "However, the expansion of the Hanfu market, represented by horse-faced skirts, is "a good thing" for businesses big and small. "There are no shortcuts in design. I hope the market will be more diversified and produce more distinctive craftsmanship." Engaged in clothing restoration For more than ten years, Hu Xiao is happiest when he sees that traditional crafts have "supported" many people. They are looking for inheritors of crafts from all over the country. The economy of many places may not be that developed, but the traditional crafts are relatively well preserved. Young people don't have to go out to work, they can make money with their own crafts in their hometown. "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 to let more people know that there is more than one style of Hanfu, and the popularity of horse-faced skirts can drive other styles." Clothing It 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 curved train. Only when consumers have a menu of constant choices can long-term benefits be achieved. ”
Jiefang Daily reporters Zhong Han, Zhang Yi, Shi Chenlu
(Source: Jiefang Daily)
