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Hanfu photoset via Coser小梦, Part 10/?

immortal husbands + their immortal daughter

Hi, thanks for the question!

Old women would wear the same type of hanfu as any other adult women. As far as I know, adult women did not have to change their hanfu style once they reached a certain age. Plus, there’s also the fact that average life expectancy was shorter back then. 

All the current hanfu models seem young because the hanfu customer base is young. As I mentioned in this post, the average age of hanfu devotees is 21 years old (as of 2019), so hanfu brands use younger models to appeal to their main clientele. This is the same reasoning behind why there’s more women’s hanfu available compared to men’s hanfu.

However, things seem to be improving as we are seeing more older women participate in hanfu photoshoots and fashion shows. For example, there’s an article here about a 76-year-old grandmother (and former Beijing opera actress) who loves wearing hanfu and has walked in several hanfu fashion shows. Here are some photos/gifs of her:

As you can see from the photos, Ming dynasty-style hanfu is the hanfu style most commonly associated with elderly folks nowadays because of its relatively more conservative design. I personally would love to see them rocking other styles of hanfu as well!

For more photos, please see my senior hanfu tag. And if any followers have additional information/resources, do share!

Hope this helps!

【黑鱼】 Black Fish

Hi, thanks for the question! I think the more pertinent question is, which styles of Hanfu aren’t unisex? One of the great things about Hanfu is that many of its styles are not limited to a specific gender, to the point that couples can go out wearing exactly identical clothes if they wish. Examples below - 1) Ruqun/Yichang, 2) Zhiju:

Common Hanfu styles considered to be unisex include the following (note: see posts here and here for Hanfu definitions): Ruqun (known as Yichang for men), Beizi, Banbi, Bijia, Pifeng, Zhiju, Quju, Yuanlingpao (technically men’s Hanfu, but became popular with women during the Tang dynasty), Shuhe, and Doupeng. These are just some of the most basic styles; there are many more. Examples below - 1) Banbi, 2) Beizi, 3) Yuanlingpao, 4) Shuhe:

Meanwhile, Hanfu styles considered exclusive to women include: Chest-high Ruqun, Daxiushan, Aoqun, Chang Ao, and U-Collar; while styles considered exclusive to men include: Dachang, Daopao, Zhiduo, Lanshan, Tieli, and Yisan/Yesa (again, these lists are by no means exhaustive).

Nowadays, of course, people are free to wear any style of Hanfu they want, regardless of its assigned gender code. As in Western fashion, women are freer to experiment with men’s Hanfu than the other way around. Example below - Couple wearing Song dynasty-style Lanshan, which is a formal style of Hanfu worn by male scholars and students since the Tang dynasty: