For Yang, the aesthetics and themes of Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee’s 1994 movie “Eat Drink Man Woman” represent his idea of what “new Chinese style” should be. The film about the lives of a master chef and his three daughters navigating the tensions between modernity and traditions, personal freedom and family. Yang said, “subtly reflects the lifestyle of Chinese people, especially the direct connection between a dinner table and interpersonal relationships.” The film, he added, “provides us with a lot of inspiration for our design journey,” and that he always 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 American novelist Eileen Chang. At Shanghai Fashion Week this March, he showcased a long-sleeved bias cut qipao with roll-up sleeves (pictured top), giving the classic silhouette a fresh update.
For Ian Hylton, designer and decades-long China resident, “new 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 ‘new Chinese style,’ because to me that’s like saying new French clothes, new Italian clothes,” Hylton told CNN over the phone. “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, Min Liu, launched her own Chinese-aesthetics inspired label Ms. Min in 2010, a reaction, he said, to the fact that most people in the country weren’t wearing Chinese clothes. Hylton is the company’s president.
“When I arrived in China…there was not a billboard, there was not an advertisement, there was not an anything that featured a Chinese person,” said Hylton, who moved to China in 2005 as the creative director of luxury fashion label Ports 1961. “Everything was a foreign face…everything that was foreign was good and everything that was local was disrespected.”
The tides he believes 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. Domestic fashion labels also saw a boost during the pandemic, as strict travel restrictions prevented mainland Chinese from buying luxury goods abroad.
Meanwhile Momo, the Xiaohongshu user, said the popularity of “new Chinese style” has been down to “serious commercialization,” which she doesn’t necessarily buy into.
Douyin, China’s TikTok released a report in March showing a 841% increase in the sale of the mamianqun skirts that typically retail for around 200 yuan (roughly US$28), on its e-commerce platform compared to the year before. State broadcaster CCTV reported that Cao county in Shandong province, which it said accounts for around half of the country’s mamianqun production, sold 550 million yuan (almost $76 million) worth of skirts in the first two months of the year, a surge attributed to the run-up of the Lunar New Year holiday.
Social media users post their 'gross outfits' on platforms like Douyin, China's TikTok.
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But some of the “new Chinese style” products are “shoddily made” she said, though she thinks that their designs will improve with time.
Regardless of trends, Momo said she will continue to teach her 33,000 followers how to wear traditional clothing as much as possible – out and about, to study and to work.
“Whenever we wear ‘new Chinese style’ or hanfu and mamianqun, it’s a way we can invite more people, including those around the world, to understand (our) culture.”
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