Can I wear a Chinese black hanfu dress? Many new hanfu enthusiasts will often wonder about this question. Yes, it’s always right to be careful when not understanding the meaning behind a thing.
Let’s take a look at the brief history of black hanfu dresses.
3 Tips to Learn about the Black Color of Hanfu
The long history of fabric dying and symbolism associated with specific colors adds to the ancient Chinese rich cultural legacy and provides fascinating insights for Hanfu lovers.
There are really so many patterns and colors of hanfu costumes nowadays, and a large number of young people who are super obsessed with them. In particular, there’s a much richer variety of designs now, at least compared to the ancient hanfu, which before were at least not so colorful, simple and plain!
1. Black Hanfu History and Meaning
Would you feel differently wearing a black hanfu now, knowing that historically it belongs to the King?
Associated with dignity, royalty and formality, black is considered an appropriate color for a formal outfit. In history, black hanfu has symbolized power, wealth, and social status, and it was also associated with the highest rank during the ‘color and rank’ system.
Because black is considered to be the power of God and nature, the black hanfu is deemed suitable for the robes of the emperor. It is also used for sacrificial ceremonies and funeral attire.
2. When to wear Black hanfu?
Did you know that different colors of hanfu are worn on different occasions? The hanfu dress worn during a wedding and the one for a traditional festival activity is different. Also, young girls wear a different type of hanfu while married ladies another type.
So, before choosing your hanfu, let’s have a look at some of the colors available. Make sure you are wearing the correct one for the next ceremony.
If you’re looking to track back the earliest, most traditional, original black hanfu, then shenyi hanfu is the answer to your prayers.
Shenyi style has a pattern covering the entire hanfu but with a particular direction or layout.
They are decorated with colorful patterns that cover the whole garment fully. The longer, wider the sleeve is, the more formal it is. It is the most formal clothes for ancient people to wear in special occasions, including the coming of age ceremony, wedding, and tea ceremony.
There are two kinds of formal colors, except black, another is red color, black is the more traditional. Guests may wear black & red hanfu at some events like weddings.
Of course, in modern times, there aren’t many restrictions on wearing black hanbok; you can even wear black every day.
3. Can I wear Black Hanfu?
As we all know, although Hanfu is a traditional Chinese dress with a long history, as for now, most people only superficially acknowledge and appreciate it.
When they actually meet those people who wear hanfu as ordinary or everyday clothes, they are in fact very unsupportive in their minds.
This is because in the eyes of the public, these distinctive dress styles are odd outfits, like cosplay costumes.
From the China’s costume history, especially during the Qin, Han Dynasty, black was still a revered color because people felt that it represented dignity.
Nowadays, the biggest problem is that some aged people think that black clothes, which look like funeral dresses, they can’t accept, especially in the northern areas of China.
But fashion trend comes and goes, the same as hanfu colors. According to modern clothing trends, black is also the standard color for most professional clothing. The market is very popular gothic clothing, lolita dress, and other dark style clothing, which are young people’s favorite.
In many fields, red and black are a classic pairing, and we can see lots of red and black items in our daily lives. If calculated, this match of colors is still the most commonly used in the field of clothing, especially at important events, there will be more red and black suits.
So just follow your preferences, because there will always be a few people who can’t change their opinions, and whether you wear black, white, or blue, they will always have an excuse to be nasty.
Fortunately, the female han fu has become a new trend in recent years, not only among the China mainland, but many foreigners are interested in trying it once in a lifetime.
Hopefully, this blog post has helped to describe somewhat the complex and culturally significant relationship China has with black hanfu.