Mamianqun

Mamianqun, is a type of traditional Chinese skirt. It is also known as , but is sometimes simply referred as 'apron ' , a generic term in English to refer to any Chinese-style skirt, or 'paired apron ' in English although they are not aprons as defined in the dictionary. The Mamianqun is a type of  a traditional Chinese skirt worn by the Han Chinese women as a lower garment item in    and is one of the main representative styles of ancient Chinese-style skirts. It originated in the Song and Liao dynasties and became popular due to its functionality and its aesthetics style. It continued to be worn in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties where it was a typical style of skirt for women and was favoured for its unique aesthetic style and functionality. Following the fall of the Qing dynasty, the continued to be worn in the Republic of China, and only disappeared in the 1920s and 1930s following the increased popularity of the cheongsam. As a type of, Chinese opera costumes, the maintains its long tradition and continues to be worn nowadays. In the 21st century, the regained popularity with the emergence of the Hanfu movement. The has experienced various fashion changes throughout history. It was typically paired with, Chinese trousers and Chinese jackets, typically either the  or.

Etymology
The term  is composed of three Chinese characters: 《》, which literally means 'horse'; 《》, which literally means "face"; and 《》, which literally means "skirt".

In some 19th century French publications, the were sometimes described as "deux jupes plissés". The name Paired apron has sometimes been used in English literature to refer to the due to its construction of using two overlapping panels of fabric tied to a single waistband forming a single wrap skirt which is tied around the waist,  like an apron. The term Paired apron was coined by John Vollmer in the second half of the 20th century and can be found as early as the 1980s.

Cultural significance and functionality
The represents an important aesthetic and cultural concept in the life history of Chinese women as it is representative of the Zen aesthetic concept of "despising structure, emphasizing decoration, implicitly natural, and releasing the body"; this concept differs from the Western concept of emphasizing the structure and draping of the human body. These skirts were only worn by Chinese women and were not worn by the Manchu women of the ruling class during the Qing dynasty.

In the Qing dynasty, the were also decorated with auspicious ornaments and patterns; these auspicious ornaments and pattern reflected the appropriate situational context and the social occasions in which its wearer partook; the colours and ornaments used in the  also had to be appropriate for the occasion and sometimes even reflected the interpersonal relationship between people during an important event, such as a wedding, and/or the social hierarchy between women in a household; e.g. a principal wife of the head of a household would wear a red skirt decorated with a Chinese dragon while a secondary wife was not allowed to wear red and had to wear green instead as red colour was an exclusive right for the first wife according to the legal code of the Qing dynasty.

Due to the unique overlapping construction of the skirt, there were openings at the front and back of the skirt which facilitated horse-riding;  this characteristic would also allow for greater freedom of movement when walking, which was necessary for Chinese women who had bound feet who were walking with small and shuffling steps; the need for this kind of functional skirt when walking did not arise until the Song dynasty when foot binding became popular. The pleats of pleats in Chinese skirts and its association to foot biding practice also appeared in European literature, such as in Intimate China: The Chinese as I Have Seen Them of 1899 by Mrs. Archibald Little:

"'Their skirts [referring to the skirts of Chinese ladies] are very prettily made, in succession of tiny pleats longitudinally down the skirt, and only loosely fastened together over the hip, so as to feather round the feet when they move in the balancing way that Chinese poets liken to waving of the willow'."

Moreover, the fullness of the skirt created by the side panels provided enough space to accommodate the traditional loose garments of Chinese women.

Construction and design
There are also many records of the in European publication dating approximately mid-19th century which described the skirts of Chinese women, such as in La revue des deux mondes: volume 71 dating from the 1846, which describes the  as being a "deux jupes plissés", which is covered with luxurious designs; its skirt length is above the ankle-level allowing for the exposure of the large embroidered , Chinese trousers; the skirt is tied around the waist of its wearer. Similar descriptions were found in the Voyage en Chine of 1847.

Main characteristics
The is composed of two overlapping panel of fabrics which wrapped around the lower body. Each of these two panels were identical and formed half of the skirt, which were then sewn together a single waistband creating the overlapping front. A is a total of four flat and straight panels are known as   or  ; there are two flat panels at the right and left side of each panel of fabric. When worn, only two out of the four flat panels are visible on the wearer's body; the visible panels are seen located at the front and back of the skirt; The  were typically tied with ties which extended beyond the skirt's width at the waistband.

Skirt length
The historical was made long enough to cover the, Chinese trousers, which were worn under the skirt. However, variations in skirt length may have existed during the Qing dynasty as European accounts prior to the 1850s have sometimes described it as being above the ankle level and allowed the exposure of the trousers in 1846s while others have described it as being long enough to cover the feet in 1849s.

Pleats, gores, and trims
The historical is typically decorated with pleated side panels,   gores, which can also vary in styles and types. The use pleats, gores, and sometimes godet on the left side of the skirt allowed greater ease of movements when walking, allowing Chinese women to swing gracefully as they walked. The trims which decorated of the Qing dynasty did not only impacted the overall appearance of the skirt, but also influenced the way it would move as the wearer takes walk. For example, depending on how the each trims were sewed to the edge of the pleats, the pleats may move independently from each other or create "ripple effects".

Types of pleats
Types of pleats used in the historical : narrow pleats in honeycomb pattern or in fish-scale pattern, knife pleats; and box pleat.

The pleats could also be a combination of knife pleats which radiate outwards to the left and right of a central box pleat located at the middle region of side hips. These types of pleats used in the contrasted from the pleats used in the wide skirt of Western ladies as described by Samuel Wells William in 1849: "'One of the prettiest parts of a Chinese lady's dress is the petticoat, which appears about a foot below the upper robe covering the feet. Each side of the skirt is plaited about six times, and in front and rear are two pieces of Buckram to which they are attached; both the plaits and front pieces are stiffened with wire and lining. Embroidery is worked upon two pieces, and upon the plaits within and without in such a way that as the wearer steps, the action of the feet alternatively opens and shuts them on each side, disclosing the part or the whole of two different colored figures. The plaits are so contrived, that they are the same when seen in front or from behind, and the effect is more elegant when the colors are well contrasted. In order to produce this, the plaits close around the feet in just the contrary manner to the wide skirt of western ladies."

History: evolution and style variations
Wrap-around skirt artifacts worn by Chinese women, known under the generic term, appeared as early as the Zhou and Han dynasties. Pleated skirts also appeared early on in China; according to the popular story, in the Han dynasty, pleated skirts became in vogue as women imitated the ripped skirt of Zhao Feiyan (? – 1 BC), a legendary dancer who later became an empress, who had her skirt ripped when she was saved from a fall by Feng Wufang. The term Mamianqun first appeared in the "History of the Ming Palace": "The drag and drop, the rear placket is continuous, and the two sides have swings, the front placket is two sections, and the bottom has horse face pleats, which rise to both sides. "But the history of the Mamianqun can be traced back to the Song Dynasty, because the skirt of the Song Dynasty already had the Mamian's shape of the Mamianqun. However, the prototypes of the originated in the Song (960 –1279 AD) and Liao dynasties (916 – 1125 AD). The experienced several changes of style, colours, fabric materials, and patterns over the dynasties. The tailoring of the side panels, construction, and decoration of the skirt reflect changes in social and economic conditions during the time in which the skirts were made.

Song and Liao dynasties
During the Song dynasty, the first appeared and apparently could have absorbed some influences from the clothing worn by China's nomadic neighbours. There are two forms of wrapped skirts which are related both to the early prototypes of the and to the  which continued to be used in the Qing dynasty. Those two forms of wrapped skirts were found in the Song dynasty tomb of Huang Sheng in Fuzhou, Fujian Province.

The first prototype skirt found in the Tomb of Huang Sheng was made of plain silk with a reinforcing layer at the centre of the skirt and patterned borders on one side, on the hem, and also on one side of the central panel. It was made of 2 pieces of fabric which overlapped at the central region at the front and the back; the openings of the skirt allowed horseback riding. It also had a wide waistband and was closed with ties; the waistband was made from fabric which was different from the one used in the skirt. However, the skirt was similar to a wrap-around skirt and had no pleats, thus restricting movement when compared to the pleated of later centuries; this form of skirt is known as , also known as the  , or whirling skirt in English. According to the 《》of the Song dynasty: "'Women did not wear broad trousers [宽裤] and apron [襜], and for the convenience of donkey riding, the whirling skirt [xuanqun, 旋裙] must have openings at both the back and the front [必前后开胯]. This style was popular among female performers in the capital but it was admired and imitated by female members of the literati families, which was indeed a shame'." Horse riding and donkey riding was common in the Song dynasty as means of transportation; according to Wen Yanbo of the Northern Song dynasty, "upper-class families in town and countryside [...] all raised horses and rode them instead of walking" while in the History Narrated at Ease, volume 3, it is also recorded that "donkeys were for rent in the capital, and thus people often meet each other in the street on donkeys". Donkey riding was not uncommon for Chinese women in this period. For example, Chinese women rode donkeys while playing, which was variation of the ancient version of polo, ; the  was a popular form of physical activity in the Song and Tang dynasties, and was often played by women and children as they perceived donkeys as being smaller, less violent and more manageable than horses. Illustration of two elderly women riding donkeys and wearing veiled-hat, known as, can be found in the Song dynasty painting《Along the River During the Qingming Festival》. Similarly, a design of two-panel skirts worn by imperial concubines of the Southern Song dynasty during the reign of Emperor Lizong, known as, can be found in the. The was also recorded as   in the 《》of the Ming dynasty and   in the 《》of the Qing dynasty. The was also derivative of the. Due to the novelty design of these skirts compared to the contemporary ordinary skirts of this period, they were considered as " ".

The second prototype also comes from the Tomb of Huang Sheng; it was made of thin silk printed all over with large dots; this skirt was densely pleated except for the two sections at both edges of the skirt and the waistband was made of the same fabric as the skirt. The pleats like the present-day were also found on the two sides of the skirt. This form of skirt is currently referred as.

Yuan dynasty
In the Yuan dynasty, the which was made of two fabrics and which could be found pleated appeared. The waistband was made from fabric which was different from the one used in the skirt.

Ming dynasty
In the Ming dynasty, the was made of two fabrics and was deeply pleated. The waistband was made from fabric which was different from the one used in the skirt. The style of the was considered as being pure and free of vulgarity. Some women in the Ming dynasty also preferred light colours or white skirts as their favourite colours; this characteristic would later be transferred in the used on stage in Peking opera. It could also be decorated with a single or double, horizontal pattern, at the knee-level or at the hem of the skirt.

Qing dynasty
In the Qing dynasty, Han Chinese women were allowed continue the dressing customs of the Ming dynasty and were not forced to adopt the hairstyle and dress of the Manchu rulers under the policy. Therefore, Han Chinese women in the Qing dynasty continued to preserve features in their dress and styles. During this period, the was a fashionable garments. The style, however, progressively changed and the became more luxurious. The panels of fabric were decorated with embroideries; however, they were typically only embroidered to where the Chinese jackets would meet the skirt. Compared to the skirts worn in the Ming dynasty, the skirts worn in the Qing dynasty also had a more structured appearance.

The tailoring of the did not show significant changes except for the side panels which started to show some variations in terms of width and number of gores and the pleats techniques. Style variations of the in the Qing dynasty included the , which was also known as the 'moonlight skirt' and 'rainbow skirt' in English; the  , the  , and the  (also written as《》), which gained their names based on their main characteristics and features differentiating them from other styles.

The waistband of the in this period was larger than those worn in the previous dynasties. The wide waistband was without decoration; it was also made of different materials than the main skirt. It was typically made of cheaper fabric than the rest skirt as it was hidden by the upper garments. The main material used in the making of the skirt was typically silk while the choice of fabric for the waistband was usually cotton or hemp; the use of such cheaper fabric over silken fabric was also functional as it prevented the skirt from slipping from slipping down its wearer's body. The were also held by loops and buttons which were found inside the waistband. Ties could also be used instead of loops and buttons. Several historical in its variant styles are stored in museums in and outside of China.

The  was one of the most popular form of  style variant in the Qing dynasty;  It appeared at least since the 17th century where it was recorded by Li Yu :

"'Recently in Suzhou the fashionable 'hundred pleated skirt' (baijianqun;百襇裙) is considered very beautiful.… but there is a new style, the so-called 'moonlight skirt' (yuehuaqun; 月華裙) – with many colors set within each pleat, as if reflecting the light of a brightly lit moon'."

The was a skirt made of 12 gores, in which each gore consists of a different coloured fabric. It was sometimes decorated with ribbons and small bells.

The  appeared in the Qing dynasty during the Qianlong (r. 1735–96) period no later than 1750. According to author, Shaorong Yang, embroidered with gold threads and made of damask was worn at the end of the Ming dynasty and at the beginning of the Qing dynasty. It became the most popular style during the Kangxi (r. 1661–1722) and Qianlong period. The was mostly worn by women who came from wealthy families, but women from less wealthy families may have possibly worn the  as a wedding skirt. This style continued even in the Republic of China period.

The was characterized by long and narrow strips of fabric with sharp bottom ends which could be sewn to the waistband of the skirt. The strips of fabric could be made of silk and satin and embroidered with different patterns. The edges of these fabric strips could also be decorated with gold threads or lace, which would make the skirt appear very luxurious. It was sometimes decorated with ribbons and small bells.

The, also known as the  ,  appeared in the late 19th century and became popular. It was especially popular in Beijing in the 1860s during the Tongzhi era. The continues to be worn by actors in Peking opera.

The has two overlapping flat panels and side pleats;  its main characteristic is the use of hundreds of tiny pleats which are then secured with an overlay of horizontal stitches in a wave pattern dividing these pleats into sections; the overlapping of these pleats would then give the impression of fish scales patterns. The impression of fish scale-like is where the name skirt gained its name.

The pleats can also be secured to the skirt through the use of hand-made basting stitches on the inside in an alternating pattern; this would then create a honeycomb effect; this form of pleat effect were also referred as fish-scale pleating.

The ( or ) was characterized with sharp trims (typically black in colour) in the shape of.

Traditional wedding skirt and official attire for women
The continued to be worn by Chinese brides who were allowed to follow the Ming dynasty clothing customs; there wedding attire were in the style of the Ming dynasty's women court attire. The was also worn on formal occasions along with, Chinese trousers, and other forms of Chinese jackets. They were also used on festive occasions, such as family sacrificial rites and birthdays.

The might have been worn by women who came from less wealthy families as a wedding skirt on their wedding day.

The, also known as  in English,  could appear in the form of a  (and its variants). The formed part of the traditional Chinese wedding dress attire. It was either red or green in colour; it was worn together with the, which is a loose , a Chinese jacket. This skirt would be first worn on the wedding day of the bride; and following the wedding, she would have to wear it for any formal occasions.

The  was embroidered on the skirt; the  was a creature which looked similar the , Chinese dragons, except that it had four claws instead of five and thus did not meet the contemporary definition of a.

Republic of China
In the Republic of China, the was still being worn by Han Chinese women even at the time when the cheongsam was created in the 1920s. However, the style also changed, and the eventually became unadorned and became shorter in length. In July 1912, the Senate published clear regulations on women's clothing known as  which had to continue the wearing  tradition of the late Qing dynasty and did not break women dressing in : "'The upper garment is knee-length. It has collar, front opening, vents on the right, left and back hemline, with brocading ornaments on the whole body. The matched skirt has qunmen [which is also called mamian in Chinese, namely skirt panel, the surface with no pleats] at the front and the back. The right and left sides are pleated with ribbons on the top hem.'"

People's Republic of China
In the 21st century, the Ming-style became a popular form of skirt for  enthusiasts.

Modified, modern style
Ever since the beginning of the Hanfu movement around the year 2003, more modified, modern-style variations of the based on the Ming dynasty design, such as shorter  (e.g. above the knee, mid-calf, and ankle length),  with pockets, have been developed over the past years by Chinese Hanfu designers and Hanfu enthusiasts.

Some Hanfu enthusiasts sometimes combined the wearing of with a T-shirt or blouse, and other contemporary garments, as an alternative to daily outwear and in opposition to the complete traditional style which looks more formal in style.

In Chinese opera
The used as a type of, Chinese skirt, in , Chinese opera costumes. In Chinese opera, the is often worn with a  or a ; this combination reflects one of the most common style of  attire in the Ming dynasty consisting a knee-length,   over a pleated skirt.

Styles of pleats used in the show the combination of a central box pleat with knife pleats radiating outwards at the right and left side of the central box pleats; the pleats are not found on the grain-line, allowing the creating of a slight flared skirt. The size of the pleats, as well as its depth, reflect the different roles types of the actors and are used as distinguishing indicators. For instances, with relatively few pleats and/or wider pleats could be worn by. If tighter pleats were used, it was an indication of a person with a high status as tighter pleats requires more fabric.

In, a traditional form of used is the  of the Qing dynasty. It also inherited characteristics of the Ming dynasty through its usage of light colours or white skirts, which were the preferred colours in the Ming dynasty.

The  is a two-pieces garment set of attire which was designed to look like a traditional Chinese wedding dress; it was developed in modern China and became popular in 2001 when it was popularized by when Zhou Xun, the actress who played the role of Xiu He, in the Chinese television drama 《》, thus gaining its contemporary name from name of the television drama character.

The is a modern recreation version of the Qing dynasty wedding  which was worn by the Han Chinese women,  composed of a lower and an upper garment. The used in the  is influenced by the historical  of the Qing dynasty, especially those used in the late years of the Qing dynasty in the 1910s, which was used as part of the bridal attire. This wedding skirt is also called.

In general, the design and construction of the is not bound by any traditional clothing making rules. The used in the  can either be an A-line, pleated skirt or a pleated circle skirt. It has panels of flat fabric, which is embellished with decorative designs which uses an embroidery technique known as. Compared to the historical which has   or   created by the overlapping characteristics of the skirt, the flat and straight panels of fabric used in the  are added on top of the pleated skirt, like a pendulum; it can also have more than two visible flat panels.

20th century
The Qing dynasty made its apparition in the magazine Vogue published on the 15th December 2011 where it was presented as forming part of the "Boudoir Set" along with the Qing dynasty-style  and Chinese shoes; Vogue also recommended that people shopped in Chinatown for the "Boudoir" set where it was a common place for Chinese women to wear the.

Princess Diana's
A red, mid-calf Qing dynasty -style with chrysanthemum embroideries was worn by Princess Diana on the 23rd February 1981 prior to their official engagement announcement when she posed with Charles III (then Prince Charles) at Clarence House. The use of auspicious red colour was in line with Chinese wedding tradition; however, the skirt was not considered fully auspicious according to Chinese beliefs and traditions as it lacked the presence of a white belt and instead a red one was used. A with a white coloured belt was usually worn by Chinese brides to symbolize "to grow old together", following the Chinese idiom   which literally means, which Princess Diana's skirt lacked of. As a result, based on the Chinese wedding beliefs, the of Princess Diana did not conform to the established rules  and was instead considered an inauspicious omen.

21st century
Following the Hanfu movement, the re-appeared in several fashion magazines, including the Women's Wear Daily published on 25 November 2020, in Vogue published on the 8th March 2021, in the Harper's Bazaar on 16 July 2021,

The also appeared in the animated film Turning Red (2022) by Domee Shi.

2022 Dior controversy
In 2022, French luxury fashion house Dior fell under heavy public criticism in China after the release of a new black flared, pleated midi-skirt for its Fall 2022 collection which was officially branded as its "hallmark silhouette". This new skirt appeared earlier in an April 2022 runaway in Seoul, and according to the post-show notes of Maria Grazia Chiuri, Italian fashion designer and Dior's art director, the design of Fall 2022 collection was inspired by school uniforms and aimed to pay homage to women who contributed to the success of Christian Dior, which included his own sister Catherine Dior. The new Dior skirt bore close resemblance to the. It was a wrap-around skirt, which was made of two panels of fabric which was sewn to the waistband of the skirt; it featured four flat panels with no pleats (one at each side of each panel of fabric) and pleats; it was constructed in an overlapping fashion such that there was two overlapping flat surface at the back and front and side pleats when worn. On its official website page, this skirt was described as "a hallmark Dior silhouette, the mid-length skirt is updated with a new elegant and modern variation [...]". On its official website page, this skirt was described as "a hallmark Dior silhouette, the mid-length skirt is updated with a new elegant and modern variation [...]" in English.

In July 2022, Chinese netizens and Hanfu enthusiasts took notice of the skirt and observed that the new Dior skirt had the same construction of the historical of the Ming dynasty with only its length as its main difference from its orthodox version being a midi-skirt. However, the 21st century modern-style based on the Ming dynasty design can also be found in mid-calf length. Dior was thus accused of plagiarism as the new skirt was deemed to be "a copycat of a traditional Chinese garment" and of cultural appropriation by Chinese netizens and official media outlets, such as the Global Times and the People's Daily, for not acknowledging the (possible) Chinese origins of the new Dior skirt. According to the Journal du Luxe, a French news media, the adoption of the cut and construction design by Dior was not the main issue of the debate and critics but rather on the absence of transparency surrounding the origins of the inspirations behind the skirt design. Some Chinese netizens also criticized Dior on Weibo with comments, such as "Was Dior inspired by Taobao?" while another Instagram user commented on the official Dior account: "'Les références culturelles à notre pays [Chine] sont plus que bienvenues mais cela ne signifie pas pour autant que vous pouvez détourner notre culture et nier le fait que cette jupe est chinoise !' [transl. 'Taking cultural references from our country [i.e. China] is more than welcomed; however, this does not meaning that you can appropriate our culture and deny the fact that this skirt is Chinese !']."Under these accusations, Dior did not immediately respond to a request for comment and decided to stop this sale in the Mainland China's website to avoid controversy. On July 23, about 50 Chinese overseas students in Paris made a protest in front of a Dior flagship store at Champs-Élysées, they used the slogan "Dior, Stop Cultural appropriation" and "This is a traditional Chinese dress" written with a mixture of French and English, and call for other overseas students from the United Kingdom and the United States for relay, the Communist Youth League of China also expressed support for this protest. Similar protests are expected to take place worldwide, such as in New York, United States, and London, United Kingdom.

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