马面裙mǎ miàn qún

The 马面, the “horse face”, is the flat panel at the front and the back of the skirt. The sides are pleated. The skirt is two overlapping panels of cloth sewn to one waistband.

It is part of 汉服, the traditional clothing of the Han Chinese, but people now wear it with ordinary clothes too.

The rush cooled in the second half of 2024, and many sellers who had jumped in left the trade, according to The Paper. The skirt stayed: it is now a normal item of women’s clothing, worn for the New Year, for photos and on ordinary days.

Makers have adapted it for daily wear, with shorter, mid-calf versions for summer and zippers in place of ties.

Wrap skirts like it existed in the Song dynasty, and the pleated form was common in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The modern trend took off around the Spring Festival of 2024, the Year of the Dragon, when young women bought the skirts as New Year outfits.

Most of the skirts came from Cao County (曹县) in Shandong, a center of 汉服 makers; the head of its 汉服 association told the paper Time Weekly that eight of every ten 马面裙 were made there. The same report gives more than 300 million yuan in Cao County sales of New Year outfits, mainly 马面裙, over the holiday.