Chinese Clothing Circles "Tear" Constantly, But For Fashion Circles Is Business Opportunities.

In Lv Xiaowei's plan, 20 stores will be opened in different cities this year. This means that her business is coming to an end: as of the end of 2018, the total number of stores that had been established for 13 years was only 16, but in 2019, the total sales volume of Tmall flagship stores and physical stores in the first quarter was unchanged from that of last year.

Lv Xiaowei is the founder of "back to the Han and Tang Dynasties". She believes that more offline stores can better show consumers this emerging clothing category. The popularity of Chinese clothing in the mass market, especially among young people, has given her the confidence to speed up shop opening. More and more young people wear Hanfu in the streets in big cities, and the consumption of Hanfu clothing is rapidly moving from the small circles to the mass.

There is no official definition of Hanfu so far. Wikipedia interpreted it as a general Chinese dress. It is a concept of Chinese costumes and a general term for ancient Chinese costumes. Zhou Xing, a professor and anthropologist at Aichi University in Japan, found that the word "Hanfu" is not commonly used in ancient times. Modern Hanfu is actually a traditional costume imagined by participants of Hanfu. Zhang Xian, a professor at China Youth University for Political Science, has expressed the same view. He has published an article that the concept of Hanfu does not exist in Chinese traditional culture or modern Chinese. It is a kind of "concept" formed by advocates of Han costume movement to publicize their own ideas and concepts, and summed up the tradition of Han costume before the Ming Dynasty.

The Hanfu in this "concept" usually presents the characteristics of the cross, the big, the ribbon, the buckle and so on. According to the wearing scene, it is also divided into dress, gowns, regular clothes, casual clothes and so on. Historically, from the pre Qin period to the Ming Dynasty, there were different demands and regulations in different times. Therefore, different patterns appeared, namely the style of clothing. Until the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty, the rulers demanded "shaving and easy clothes", that is to say, the Han, Mongolian and other ethnic minorities in the South were shaving Manchu hairstyles, changing Manchu costumes, and the inheritance of Hanfu was also interrupted here.

Hanfu became a cultural phenomenon in modern times. It entered the public view in 2003. In November 22nd, an electric worker named Wang Letian walked on the streets of Zhengzhou wearing his own Hanfu suit, claiming that he wanted to revive Hanfu culture. Wang Letian not only provoked passers-by to ridicule, but was even thought to be wearing kimono.

This story was later regarded as the starting point of the Hanfu revival movement. Compared with the initial public understanding, more than ten years later, more and more young people dressed in Hanfu to take pictures of scenic spots appeared, and even dressed as young people in Hanfu clothes. Especially from 2018, Han clothing category entered the outbreak of sales growth.

Tmall clothing category Xiao 2 policy month observed that before 2018, Hanfu has been showing a "steady growth" momentum, and from last year, the "Hanfu" keyword search volume in Tmall has exceeded the "shirt", and the number of Chinese clothing purchased compared with 2017, an increase of 92% over the same period, of which 95 accounted for 48%, and 90% accounted for 24%.

Moreover, in social media, the frequency of Hanfu has been increasing. On micro-blog, "Hanfu" has become a super topic with 1 billion 730 million reading volume. In early April, the tag of the Han Fu fairy costume was micro-blog hot search, and it was also called Han Han Fan's "dispute between the Han and the Han". So far, it has read 94 million 364 thousand.

"Revival" Hanfu

Tracing the source of the popularity of Hanfu is probably based on the revival of Chinese culture. Compared with today's commercialized Sinology craze, this spontaneous revival of Chinese classics is still a minority culture before 2010.

Most of the early Chinese fans were mixed up with the lonely Han Net. Lv Xiaowei remembered that around 2004, there were a group of users who wanted to revive the Chinese culture. In the process of collecting historical materials, they found that Hanfu was not a natural extinction, but a policy coercion of "shaving and easy clothes". "Then there was the slogan of" revival of China, first dress, "she told the first financial magazine." why? Because there is a cognitive threshold in the dissemination of ideas and culture. As long as you like it and are willing to wear it, it spreads out. "

Micro-blog's 4 million 70 thousand blogger history blogger Luomi Sheng contacted Han network early. She believes that the revival of Hanfu is based on the question of "such a simple concept" of "why other ethnic minorities have clothing but Han nationality does not exist", but behind it is a kind of "cultural crisis sense", that is, with the development of the Internet, historical information gradually inspires the public about "who am I?" Response to this question.

"At the beginning, Hanfu was not particularly specific. We just want to find a dress that can represent the Han nationality and wear it out without thinking of the follow-up development. Lome said to the first financial magazine.

At that time, if you want to make a suit of traditional Chinese clothes, you have to go quite custom-made, and you can choose fewer styles. In the era of online shopping, Lv Xiaowei's first Hanfu suit could only be selected from the pictures of the tailor's film and television drama, and waited for nearly 3 months to receive it. When she wore Hanfu to Chengdu Wuhou Temple, Du Fu Thatched Cottage and other scenic spots, she often aroused the curiosity of the surrounding tourists and asked them whether they came from the drama group and took photos with them.

In 2006, Lv Xiaowei sprouted the idea of opening a Hanfu store. "Hanfu revival must be commercialized and accessible to the general public." But this idea soon met with the objection of some Chinese fans. "They think the revival of Hanfu is a very sacred thing in their hearts. They are talking about ideals, but I want to commercialize them to make money, as if I should not do so." She said.

However, Lv Xiaowei did not take this into consideration and set up the first Chinese clothing store in Chengdu. She specifically chose shops located in the urban area and on the street. "I want to make Hanfu store in the public view, like a normal clothing store, with a fixed business day." In the same period, the Taobao shop that returned to the Han and Tang dynasties also went online.

The first Hanfu clothing store in China is located in Manjusri square, Chengdu. Photo source: YiMagazine

Most of the Hanfu styles that early consumers can choose comes from movies and TV plays. In the memory of luomeishan, "the early Hanfu production is very rough. After all, the Han costume has been out of such a long time, the relevant information has not been sorted out, and there are not enough cultural relics. Many people have vague ideas about it. So many of the materials used by businessmen to do Hanfu are derived from ancient costume dramas, such as" Hanwu emperor "and" Daming Palace ".

Lv Xiaowei business at this time is also general, in order to get the turnover, she even started the Hanfu rental photography business, but unexpectedly led a group of businessmen who are also interested in the commercialization of Hanfu, customizing Taobao shop. In the consumer side, with the post-90s "touches", the commercialization of Hanfu has the channel of output and the market expansion.

In the summer of 2007, Tong Lin, 13, learned about Wang Letian's news through the Internet. After reading the information, she was attracted by Hanfu, and began to learn Hanfu culture through reading professional books. "The reason why we just like Hanfu is very simple, because it looks good and looks like the clothes in the costume drama." In the same year, she had the first set of Hanfu in her life. The style was modeled in the shape of "Han Wu Di". "After all, there were few businessmen who made Hanfu at that time. Now it seems that the shape is not very formal." At that time, Tong Lin would not wear Han clothes out of the house, "because people will think I am different, I am not willing to accept such gossip, and now there is no burden to wear out."

This year, Yao Kexin, 25 years old, came into contact with Hanfu in a group work in high school and began to purchase it for the purpose of "inheriting Chinese clothing culture". Now, she is a part-time Chinese costume designer.

In 2012, Yao Kexin bought the first set of Hanfu in a physical store in Nanjing and went out to see his relatives on holidays. She also encountered the same trouble with Lv Xiaowei. "In the street, someone will ask me if I came across, but I still feel that I want to develop the Hanfu culture, so I can resist the pressure and continue to wear it." Yao Kexin said.

The business of Han clothes shop has been very mild. Lv Xiaowei realized that he must cultivate the Hanfu market. "The market itself does not exist. There is no Hanfu industry and no Hanfu consumers. If there is no market demand, I will create demand. Every special festival, she will organize some offline activities and send the material to the Chinese Internet. What impressed her most was the Dragon Boat Festival in 2009. At that time, 200 people came to take part in the offline activities. "Since someone came to participate in the activity, someone came to buy Hanfu." She said.

As sales increased, and two tailors were unable to meet their needs, Lv Xiaowei thought of finding mass production. But at that time, it was not easy to find a factory.

First of all, the volume of her order is not up to the factory's benchmark. "Each garment needs only a few dozen sets, but the factory's production requires at least 1000 start ups." Secondly, the factories at that time mainly produced modern clothes and lacked the experience of producing Hanfu. "The other side looked at the pictures and complained that the dress was strange and the design was very complicated. Later, I found a factory that processed cheongsam but the business was not good enough to pick up my list."

In order to persuade the factory to take orders, Lv Xiaowei had to lock the first batch of production style into the middle garment. It is also known as Li Yi, often worn in Han clothing, playing a role of collocation and foil. "Even if I sell for 3 years, it will not be out of date," she explained. But in actual sales, 1000 pieces of clothing were sold out in only a year. Sales promotion has also led to the expansion of the cooperation scale between Lv Xiaowei and the factory. "Some of the 100 styles have also been made for me, and at the most, I will press the inventory first."

In 2014, Lv Xiaowei opened second stores. She felt that the key reason for "business improvement" was that after 2013, Hanfu appeared more and more in the official media.

Among them, the first 3 day Xitang Hanfu culture week, which was initiated by the lyricist Vincent Fang in November 2013, has been held for the sixth time. In the same year, Xi Jinping also delivered a speech in the hometown of Confucius, Qufu, to carry forward the fine traditional culture of the Chinese nation. Since then, the people's daily, the Communist Youth League and Xinhua net have been actively involved in the popularity of Hanfu knowledge, and the information intensity of Hanfu is getting higher and higher.

Hanfu routine

Let the public concern that Hanfu is only the first step. If we want more people to wear Hanfu, or from a commercial perspective, more people will buy Hanfu, we also need to solve the problem of daily wear of Hanfu.

Luo Mei Sheng believes that the rejection of Han clothing group's argument is that Han clothing is too old, looks like ancient clothes, is not suitable for everyday wear, "if you want to be a realistic consideration of clothing, will inevitably go to the daily." Therefore, many people began to have urgent thoughts, hoping to link the Hanfu to life again.

Hanfu operator has become the most active promoter of Hanfu routine. In 2015, Lv Xiaowei officially registered the company, expanding the recruitment of designers, operations, logistics and other teams, to "return to the Han and Tang" positioning as a middle end, fast fashion line Hanfu shop. The customized items in the store almost disappeared, replaced by "high price performance", "new weekly" and "spot", and "mid price products with price ranges between 100 and 300 yuan".

Lv Xiaowei admitted, "this is learning the sales mode of fast fashion brands such as H&M and ZARA. We find that the demand for Hanfu is getting larger and larger, and young people are constantly pushing for delivery. At the same time, from the factory's manufacturing end, sales channel to marketing promotion, the industrial chain of Hanfu has gradually improved and matured.

Under the pressure of new change frequency every week, Lv Xiaowei expanded the number of design team to 20 people. Similar to the development rhythm of ZARA, to return to the Han and Tang Dynasties, we need to plan the styles to be developed six months in advance, confirm the new month, theme and so on, and then repeat the proofing samples.

These designers often graduate from universities, have no experience in designing Hanfu, and have not learned in schools. The cost performance is the first requirement Lv Xiaowei put forward to them. "When designing, we must control costs, and let young people between 15 and 25 years old afford to buy them. If they exceed the price area, the fabric should be changed for fabric, and the compression embroidery will be compressed."

"All things must be developed by themselves," Lv Xiaowei explained. This is another difference between Hanfu and traditional clothing industry. For example, if a sample of a cowboy garment is given to the factory, the factory can skillfully select the cloth according to experience, then tailor and sample the garment. However, in making Hanfu, it is necessary for the businessmen to debug the color of the printing and dyeing, design the tailoring method and determine the position of the embroidery. It takes 3 months to complete a Hanfu from final to mass production.

The good news is that more and more factories are willing to take orders for Han clothing compared to 2010. "Orders in traditional clothing industry are declining, and Hanfu is a new trend," Lv Xiaowei said. However, there is no equipment for producing Hanfu in the factory at present. For example, a garment may spread from 1.5 meters to 2 meters long.

In the Hanfu circle, according to the degree of handiwork, there are many circles, such as the tangible school, the neutral faction, the reformist school and so on. The school of design believes that Hanfu should strictly follow the historical materials and ensure that the Hanfu should be combined with shapes, materials and patterns on the basis of understanding Hanfu's form. Neutrals can distinguish Hanfu's form but retain their reservations. The reformist's view is that if we improve the direction of Hanfu's routine and fashion, and promote Hanfu's propaganda, we can not blame it.

Most of them entered the Han costume circle earlier. Now, Tong Lin can judge from one hand, material and pattern whether a Hanfu is particular about shape. She used to buy Weijin style Hanfu, but now she will only buy the Ming system because the "Ming Dynasty is the most recent and preserved historical material, and the more the years go, the more unaware it is."

Yao Kexin called herself a "Ming Dynasty party", and she only went to several old shops with the same shape. In her observation, every two or three years, the Han costume circle will trigger a controversy about the Han costume pattern based on the latest unearthed relics. "The concept will be attacked at the stage, and suddenly it is said that the Wei Jin style is not a Han costume, nor is it a chest dress. She said.

In the face of rather harsh consumers, businesses are being tied up with the form, and they need to try to close Hanfu to practicality and practicality, and strive for more consumers. The principle of Lv Xiaowei's design is: "we are reviving Hanfu, not restoring, nor restoring ancient ways." Some of them think that the ability of ancient existence can not be done or done, but also must be done in the same way as in ancient times. But my theory is that unearthed can only prove that there are ancient things and can not prove anything else. "

She told the first financial magazine that in the Hanfu circle, there were a number of "grass roots" Hanfu fans who had studied Hanfu historical materials. They were not from academic backgrounds, but they would upload the latest research results to social media. These contents will become the weathervane for businessmen to design Hanfu, and even make the material of "exploding money".

Although the style of unearthed cultural relics can be directly used for reference, usually the size can not be copied directly. Artifacts usually have only one size, and businesses need to consider how to design the same amount according to the size of the modern people. For example, according to a new code of 5 centimeters or 3 centimeters, Lv Xiaowei calls this process "volume". "As a business, we must study and experiment repeatedly to give a size and style that can be standardized and mass produced, but some consumers criticize us because of the different sizes we have made and unearthed cultural relics."

"Volume" is only the most basic operation of Hanfu routine. Businesses must constantly try to inject more fashionable elements into Hanfu, which may be achieved by modifying colors, patterns, fabric materials and even version. To this end, back to the Han and Tang Dynasties in 2015, for Han clothing improvement and fashion, the sub line brand Hua Xiaoxia was specially launched, and at the end of April this year, a new apron skirt was handed over. The design team shortened the lower part of a Hanfu dress, replacing the ordinary cuffs with the current popular bubble sleeves, plus the braces elements. There is also a man's daily jacket. The design team used the fabric of the suit instead of the original material to achieve the effect similar to wearing a windbreaker. "We are not trying to replace the present fashion with Hanfu, but we want to provide consumers with more choices. There are various attempts in Hanfu, such as small refreshing, classical or cool style." Lv Xiaowei said.

Since Hanfu is just beginning to wear everyday clothes, businesses have to shoulder the task of helping consumers to wear them. Lv Xiaowei's designers usually need half a year's training, including the design of the scenic spots, the style of the models, and what kind of bags, shoes and other props to be made according to the style of the design. Even the page publicity copywriter is also responsible for the design.

In some Chinese clothing brand posters, models may stand in the concave shape of the gardens, and may also be in front of the fashionable office buildings. Lome is right to say "fashion fashion". "Taking pictures and videos that are similar to the advertisements of fashion magazines to make clothes look beautiful is actually stimulating consumers' desire to buy and wear them."

She does not exclude the development trend of Hanfu's routine or even fashion. She thinks fashion needs to retain its original form, but it can make some changes in its collocation, such as matching modern accessories such as high heels or sun visor. "What's the point if we turn the Hanfu into the western aesthetic standard? I would rather have a Hanfu suit that is not very good-looking but has a correct shape. As long as the shape is right, there are countless ways to beautify it. "

In the process of making Hanfu routine, businesses will have to face the loss of old customers while acquiring new customers.

Yao Kexin was concerned about the change of "going back to Han and Tang Dynasties". She found that most of these shops were custom made before, and they never sold or did not take part in any rebate activities. But now, in order to adapt to the needs of the masses, they have become a normal Taobao businessman. They have participated in Taobao activities. Hanfu has become a commodity that many people will buy as modern clothes.

The more vague the concept is, the easier it is to arouse controversy, especially for Chinese clothing with uncertain shape and cultural significance. In the Hanfu circle, different positions have different views on the routine of Hanfu.

　 Standard difficulty

The development of Hanfu to the present stage is also a controversial issue whether to define the form, or to give a definite definition to the pattern of Hanfu.

There is a consensus in this area that "when the standard is not yet reached," Lome said, "the development of clothing needs time to solidify it. Why do we feel that kimono and Hanfu are well inherited? They also take a long time to accumulate.

Chen Shiyu, a researcher in traditional costume history, expressed the same view. Compared with kimono and Hanfu, he believes that the development of Hanfu is in a "chaotic stage". "A clothing culture is not so easy to pick up and rebuild again, it needs a period of time to eliminate combing and precipitation, so that a large-scale consensus can be formed." His suggestion for the routine of Hanfu is that it can be changed in detail, but the elements that need to be observed will certainly reach a certain consensus. "Popularity may change all the time, these are allowed, but in details or design, they must not violate basic principles."

However, due to the fact that there is no uniform standard for the Hanfu pattern, there is no reference to the standard of Hanfu clothes. Most of them refer to unearthed cultural relics or fragmented historical materials, which are not enough to support the mass production of merchants, plus consumer demand and market occupation. Many Hanfu designs are far from the culture that the original enthusiasts want to revive.

In the face of many young people's practice of matching Hanfu and high-heeled shoes and hats, Chen Shiyu's attitude is relatively tolerant. He feels that young people first need to ensure that Hanfu is formally dressed in some open formal occasions. If it is used as a daily garment, it may still need to take care of the needs of convenience and convenience.

Han costume performance on the sixth Xitang Hanfu culture week. Photo source: YiMagazine

In the process of controversy over Hanfu standard, Hanfu fans formed their own circle culture. In the Han costume circle, the Han costume lovers call each other "gown", while the young people who have just entered the circle call it "Xiao Meng Xin". This is similar to the Lolita dress trend in recent years in China. The crowd dressed in Lolita is called Lo Niang or Lo Han. The young people in these circles show the pursuit of a kind of inner satisfaction and cultural identity through the external dressing style, and Hanfu or Lolita dress become their external labels.

But not all "Robe" have a sense of identity towards Hanfu culture. They may just dress for "good-looking" or "novelty". They will wear Hanfu as a way of looking for themselves and flaunting their own uniqueness, and will not have a deep understanding of the cultural origin behind them. In their eyes, Hanfu is sometimes only a kind of clothing prop, which is different from modern clothes, and even acts as cosplay, that is, the role playing.

Even if it is already the "old man in the circle", Tong Lin does not deny that he sometimes has such a "Cosplay like mentality". Due to work reasons, she is not very likely to wear Hanfu everyday, but once she has the chance to go to some historic spots, she will put on Hanfu. "At this time, wearing Han clothes is actually pursuing her inner feelings. She wants to put herself in the mood to experience the feelings of the ancients. Standing on the side of the scenic spots, she will imagine what people will do here if they wear this dress."

Luo Mei Sheng recently discovered a video of 95 boys wearing Hanfu clothes to attract many netizens to watch. She believes that this is related to the subculture that is currently prevailing in China. "In fact, some young people are not interested in Hanfu, but because of the need of role playing, it is regarded as a dress or a costume, but this has no meaning for the development of Hanfu. He may wear it today and throw it away tomorrow."

Through the exchange with Xiao Meng, Yao Kexin discovered that some young people who were 95 or even 00 years later only thought that Hanfu itself was carrying the meaning of cultural inheritance. It was independent of the crowd dressed in modern clothes. However, the problem was "they do not understand the culture. The so-called" Hanfu "for cultural significance is just an excuse for wanting to wear Han clothes. Some young people will go to extremes in the future development, despise people who do not agree with people who do not understand it, and even think they are much more noble than those wearing Cosplay or other clothes.

Lv Xiaowei feels that many people do not care why they want to revive Hanfu, nor can they ask everyone to inherit the culture. "In particular, teenagers may not have a clear understanding of the true appearance of society. It is good to ask them to pass on culture, and ordinary people can appreciate beauty. There are many of them who do not like to inherit culture, but they also like to inherit.

Whether it's a continuation of traditional purposes or just to publicize individuality, the diversity of clothing and the more inclusive social environment relative to more than ten years ago are good signs. "The reason why Hanfu can develop today is that many people, no matter what purpose, have formed such a phenomenon and culture together." Lome said. But after such diversification, how to continue the tradition and continue the tradition in modern life is a more complex and problem to be solved.