What happened: This is not your grandfather’s closet: Once considered garments worn by older generations or reserved for special occasions, Tang suits and qipaos are having their moment. Local fashionistas are taking these traditional pieces and combining them with modern clothing such as fishnet tights and combat boots to create a new style called “neo-Chinese fashion” (新中式穿魵). Unlike hanfu, this hybrid aesthetic ditches formality for a casual, contemporary vibe.
Although it is not a new phenomenon, searches for “New Chinese Style” have increased recently, increasing by 15,945 percent. Xiaohongshu since June 2022 compared to the previous six months. This is translated into sales: a recently released Tmall report found that over the past three years, the gross merchandise value (GMV) growth of apparel-related products has exceeded 100 percent. Following the release of the report, the hashtag “Why Neo-Chinese style has gone viral?” started trending on Weibo, taking off 230 million views.
Chinese fashionistas put a contemporary twist on traditional Chinese clothing. Photo: Xiaohongshu
Taking Jing: So why there are Neo-Chinese style become so popular now? Driven primarily by Gen Z and millennial consumers (ages 18 to 34), this fashion trend speaks to the staying power of guochao. As young people continue to develop a strong sense of national pride, they are incorporating traditional culture back into their daily lives—in this case, mixing and matching elements of Chinese clothing such as frog buttons and mandarin collars with ready-to-wear Western. .
Aesthetics has also received a boost from the local media. In the last season of Sisters making waves, contestant Yu Wenwen caught the attention of netizens with her qipao and skirt ensemble. And famous like Song Zu’er, Victoria Song and Gong Jun have all been seen putting their own spin on traditional Chinese clothing. Dramas of the period as A dream of brilliance have similarly led to increased searches for hanfu and modern styling hacks.
Celebrities like Victoria Song and Simon Gong have been seen in the neo-Chinese style. Photo: Xiaohongshu
Typically, international luxury brands will create China-specific designs for special collections, such as Chinese New Year or Valentine’s Day. Adding more culturally inspired clothing to their regular collections could be the next step in localization; after all, “today’s Chinese consumers like [products] with a ‘Chinese feel’,” stated Adidas CEO, Kasper Rorsted, where the company went wrong in the market. Offering guides on how to mix luxury pieces with traditional country wear is another option.
But before global houses jump in, they need to be careful about crediting culture. As the Weibo blogger @电影小王子 pointed out, “recently some luxury clothing in the West has repeatedly borrowed and appropriated traditional Chinese cultural elements, which raised the alarm for us: China’s excellent traditional culture must be protected, inherited , to develop. and we continued on our own.” As neo-Chinese style seems to be here to stay, labels must be careful not to cross into cultural appropriation territory.
Take Jing reports on some of the top news stories and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product declines and mergers to heated debates on Chinese social media.
