I say this as a “casual fan/admirer” of hanfu and with having less knowledge about other traditional garb of other cultures: I think it’s incredibly interesting to see what versions of ethnic/traditional clothing are “fossilized” as “the model”/standard. When I say “fossilized” I mean the standard is chosen from a specific era - like, [southern] germanic people didn’t all wear lederhosen since time immemorial.
In regards to hanfu, there’s more of an element of “un-fossilizing” in the hanfu movement:
Chinese national garb used to be cheongsam and tang suit and recognized such internationally (there’s also a clade of hanfu/traditional clothing enthusiasts who focus on more historically accurate/republican era cheongsam/qipao). However those clothing is more regionally[manchu origin][->southern adaptations] and temporally locked, and carries a lot of the connotation and context of the century of humiliation which is one of the reasons why hanfu and its wider history/varieties has taken over in popularity (no I won’t let people who just say it’s all because of ““han supremacy”” although there definitely is a minority of hobbyists who would fall into that category of chauvinism) ANYWAY it’s really nice that hanfu/however stylized is getting taken seriously outside of historical or costume dramas, and it’s making its way to acceptable formal wear. It used to be only western suits and dresses accepted as formalwear, with the occasional cheongsam.
There’s several millennia of history for what’s considered “hanfu” and many hobbyists prefer x or y forms from specific eras, as well as the emergence of “modern hanfu” where sometimes the style (depending on the designer) radical mixes with modern western clothing or anachronistic elements… sometimes this range of style blends into inspiration from video game/cartoon, and gets into “cosplay” territory.
(expand) None of these pictured below are traditional in the sense that anyone wore stuff like this historically, but have elements borrowed from different eras and/or different styles (like lolita):
mixing that collar and brocade buttons looks nice and definitely “chinese” but… it’s a bit like wearing a cowboy bolo tie on top of rococo waistcoat and shirt, instead of a frilly cravat
kind of lolita-cut (which generally is ahistorical, skirts rarely cut short like that without also wearing pants underneath), to say nothing of the shoes. the gossamer layers evoke popular “regular” hanfu feminine trends, as does the long sleeves and brocade neck clasp.
fantasy costume drama-core, “yin-yang daoist cultivator sect” variety. NOTE: This is masculine
I’d consider this cosplay-core, heavily inspired by Nezha
mixture of western and fantasy
There’s hundreds of trends and even microtrends within hanfu specifically. I’m sure there are literally fiber purists out there, rejecting modern and synthetic fibers for pure historical recreations and construction methods… there’s “modern” hanfu pictured above. One trend/style I’ve seen that I enjoy is “commoner” garb and I suppose would also be described as “costume drama NPC”.
expand for pictures
oh and last note about hanfu specifically. Tang era stuff gets confused for Japanese, and Ming era gets confused for Korean. There’s a lot of discourse about the historicity of why that is, but I’ve already typed a lot and I’m getting lazy… I think this blog post on the topic is decent.
5. um. I really like yuanlingpao (round collar robe) especially not fastened. (expand)
I say this as a “casual fan/admirer” of hanfu and with having less knowledge about other traditional garb of other cultures: I think it’s incredibly interesting to see what versions of ethnic/traditional clothing are “fossilized” as “the model”/standard. When I say “fossilized” I mean the standard is chosen from a specific era - like, [southern] germanic people didn’t all wear lederhosen since time immemorial.
In regards to hanfu, there’s more of an element of “un-fossilizing” in the hanfu movement:
Chinese national garb used to be cheongsam and tang suit and recognized such internationally (there’s also a clade of hanfu/traditional clothing enthusiasts who focus on more historically accurate/republican era cheongsam/qipao). However those clothing is more regionally[manchu origin][->southern adaptations] and temporally locked, and carries a lot of the connotation and context of the century of humiliation which is one of the reasons why hanfu and its wider history/varieties has taken over in popularity (no I won’t let people who just say it’s all because of ““han supremacy”” although there definitely is a minority of hobbyists who would fall into that category of chauvinism) ANYWAY it’s really nice that hanfu/however stylized is getting taken seriously outside of historical or costume dramas, and it’s making its way to acceptable formal wear. It used to be only western suits and dresses accepted as formalwear, with the occasional cheongsam.
There’s several millennia of history for what’s considered “hanfu” and many hobbyists prefer x or y forms from specific eras, as well as the emergence of “modern hanfu” where sometimes the style (depending on the designer) radical mixes with modern western clothing or anachronistic elements… sometimes this range of style blends into inspiration from video game/cartoon, and gets into “cosplay” territory.
(expand) None of these pictured below are traditional in the sense that anyone wore stuff like this historically, but have elements borrowed from different eras and/or different styles (like lolita):
mixing that collar and brocade buttons looks nice and definitely “chinese” but… it’s a bit like wearing a cowboy bolo tie on top of rococo waistcoat and shirt, instead of a frilly cravat
kind of lolita-cut (which generally is ahistorical, skirts rarely cut short like that without also wearing pants underneath), to say nothing of the shoes. the gossamer layers evoke popular “regular” hanfu feminine trends, as does the long sleeves and brocade neck clasp.
fantasy costume drama-core, “yin-yang daoist cultivator sect” variety. NOTE: This is masculine
I’d consider this cosplay-core, heavily inspired by Nezha
mixture of western and fantasy
expand for pictures
5. um. I really like yuanlingpao (round collar robe) especially not fastened. (expand)