Ming Dynasty Hanfu and the Mamianqun: The Horse-Face Skirt China Can't Stop Wearing
If you've spent any time browsing modern hanfu, you've probably seen a mamianqun (马面裙) without knowing its name — the pleated skirt with a flat panel front and back, flanked by sharp knife pleats. The name is architectural, not equestrian: the flat panels and pleats were said to resemble the mamian, the stepped sections of a Chinese fortress wall.
The earliest known depiction predates the Ming dynasty — 11th-century murals from the Baisha Song tombs show a similar pleated skirt. But it was the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) that made the mamianqun a defining piece of everyday women's fashion, and it survived in modified form into the Qing dynasty. In daily wear it was paired with an ao (a fitted top) — the two together known today as aoqun.
The mamianqun has also become one of the pieces most successfully adapted into ordinary, non-costume clothing — shortened, paired with a plain top instead of a full ao, worn with sneakers instead of embroidered shoes. It's arguably done the most to move hanfu from themed-photoshoot territory to something you could plausibly wear to work.
Full piece with the fashion-historical detail on wearhanfu.com.