WHAT’S old is new again. This time it’s a centuries-old skirt design that’s proving popular in China. The horse face skirt (pinyin: mǎmiànqún) is being worn in cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu as young people in China are giving the attire a modern twist, with unconventional pairings and choice of fabrics. While once the sole purview of hanfu (the clothing traditionally worn by ethnic-majority Han Chinese before the Qing Dynasty) enthusiasts and reserved for special occasions, the pleated often brocade skirts have become a part of everyday wear. The popularity of the skirt has been wrapped into a broader trend being dubbed neo-Chinese style — which merges all manner of contemporary design with traditional Chinese aesthetics, applied to everything from clothing to furniture. On Chinese social media platforms Weibo and Xiaohongshu, searches for “neo-Chinese style” and “neo-Chinese style outfits” hashtags exceeded 100 million in early April, according to Xinhua. Besides fashion, the posts show everything from stuffed leather armchairs with the curves of traditional Chinese wood furniture to mobile phone wallpapers of ink paintings. The China National Textile and Apparel Council estimates the market size of neo-Chinese style clothing reached 1 billion yuan (US$138 million) in 2023. On Xiaohongshu, a 33-year-old user, who identified herself as Momo, frequently gives tips on how to style Chinese clothing. In one post, she demonstrated how you can top an oversized pink sweatshirt with a black horse face skirt, pairing it with a matching baseball cap and sneakers. “More and more young people are willing to use traditional culture as a new way to express their attitudes. That’s a good thing and cool,” she said. It’s mostly young people following the trend, agrees Huang Weizhe, a 32-year-old designer and manager of local fashion brand Longfuji. On social media, Huang shares ways to dress in this style, and in one post wears a loose silk shirt with jeans. “There is no set rule in the neo-Chinese style trend that you must follow, so it is more inclusive. This is the style that young people like now,” he said. Fashion designers like Samuel Gui Yang, whose collections have long taken inspiration from Chinese heritage, are seeing an increasing number of clients from the Chinese mainland due to the trend. For Yang, the aesthetics and themes of filmmaker Ang Lee’s 1994 movie “Eat Drink Man Woman” represent his idea of what neo-Chinese style should be. The film has provided him with a lot of inspiration, which he draws from the 80s and 90s Asian dressing style. There’s the Lee denim jacket inspired by Hong Kong martial arts and film star Bruce Lee and the Ailing dress, named after Shanghai-born novelist Eileen Chang. At Shanghai Fashion Week this March, he showcased a long-sleeved bias cut cheongsam with roll-up sleeves, giving the classic silhouette a fresh update. For designer Ian Hylton, neo-Chinese style is a misnomer. His eponymous menswear label draws heavily on Chinese dress styles and design motifs – think elegant loose silk mandarin collar shirts, Tang puffer jackets and cashmere coats with button knots. “I’m kind of not a fan of this term, because there’s nothing new. There’s a new way to approach it, but it’s somehow being treated like a trend, like short or long skirts. They’re part of a culture, they’re the fabric and makeup of a culture.” Hylton’s wife, Liu Min, launched her own Chinese-aesthetics inspired label Ms. Min in 2010. Hylton is the company’s president. Hylton, who moved to China in 2005 as the creative director of fashion label Ports 1961, remembered things as different when he first arrived. Models featured on the billboards were always foreign faces at that time. The tides have turned in the last decade or so with young Chinese becoming more aware and confident of their place in the world, and embracing China’s culture and history. Douyin released a report in March showing an 841% increase in the sale of the horse face skirts that typically retail for around 200 yuan, on its e-commerce platform compared to the year before. (SD-Agencies) | 