By purchasing our Hanfu, you can not only own beautiful clothes, but also participate in the protection and dissemination of Chinese traditional culture.

7, Dec
Hanfu makeup fanbingbing

Girl with flowers in hair animated gif animation character animation drawthisinyourstyle dtiys girl hairstyle illustrationA few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to dress up in traditional clothing attire. Hanfu (meaning clothing of the Han people) is a name for pre-17th century traditional clothing of the Han Chinese, which are the predominant ethnic group of China. We were told about an upcoming Chengdu street activity that we would participate in. Madi (another intern on the PMSA program) and I, work for the same NGO albeit in different departments. It involved walking around the bustling Kwanzhai Alleys and taking pictures at designated spots with the activity card and then sharing it with our WeChat friends. On the day before the activity we joined some of the other Chinese girls working at other projects and went to a traditional clothing hire store. I’m not entirely sure what the objective of the activity was but one of them was to keep the traditional clothing alive and merge that culture into the current context. Choosing our own attire to wear was mixed with both enthusiasm and trial as we didn’t know where to start and, there was an intricate process involved in dressing up. There was a variety of clothing from the different dynasties and they ranged from soft silk to brocade silk styles with long flowing sleeves and with overcoats with fur hoodies covering all of the attire in a majestic way. Although going through the colours and styles was fun, it was pretty disappointing as well as most of the tops and bottoms were mismatched and we were finding it difficult to choose something elaborate that would actually be beautiful and a good fit! We were allowed to try on a minimum of three garments and choose one of them for hire. There was a long sleeved, white undershirt that crossed over on the front and got tied to the sides. Then the skirt went on and there was a choice to tie a bow and leave the ends hanging or tuck and loop the remaining long ends into the belt bit. The top was cream coloured and silk with long flowing sleeves and came down almost three-quarter lengths. I feel that there was supposed to be an overcoat to go above all this but we weren’t given one. Nonetheless I couldn’t complain as the outfit was simple but so elegant and oh so comfortable! The skirt was navy and gold made of brocade silk and was beautifully designed and that was my best part of the costume! Later on, that night, heart window cheongsam I googled images and found out that they were from the Ming Dynasty era 1368-1644 AD. Some even took sneaky photos of us! We did get some looks from the locals as we got on the metro from our apartments and made our way to the office and then to the activity centre at Kwanzhai Alley. It was very unusual for foreigners to dress up in Hanfu dresses. At the end of the day I think I blended right in and felt really authentic and graceful. I reflected on that era 300-600 years before and pondered on what it would have felt like for those princesses and empresses that adorned these dresses daily. China has a rich and charming culture and I was so honoured and humbled to experience the Hanfu dressing.

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