5 Facts on Ming-Style Hanfu in 2025

Ming-style Hanfu, renowned for its elegant Mamian skirts and ornate jackets, is a cornerstone of traditional Chinese fashion. A common question among enthusiasts is whether Ming-style Hanfu can be worn with the skirt covering the top, diverging from the typical top-covering-skirt style of the Ming Dynasty. This blog explores the historical context, practical scenarios, and modern adaptations of this wearing method in 2025, offering insights into how to style Ming-style Hanfu today.

Ming-Style Hanfu Evolution: Hanfu Wearing Styles Across Dynasties

Hanfu has evolved significantly across Chinese history, with distinct wearing styles in each dynasty. During the Western Han, Shenyi was prevalent, while the Eastern Han and Wei-Jin periods saw a resurgence of ruqun, often styled with the skirt covering the top. By the Eastern Jin, pottery figurines show tops worn outside skirts, a trend that gained popularity in the Song Dynasty with short beizi layered over chest-high undergarments. In the Ming Dynasty, the jacket-skirt combination, typically featuring Mamian skirts with intricate embroidery or woven gold, predominantly used the top-covering-skirt method. However, historical evidence suggests flexibility in wearing styles based on practicality and context. For more on Hanfu’s evolution, visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s China exhibitions (https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2023/china).

Skirt-Covering-Top in Ming Dynasty Scenarios Although the top-covering-skirt style dominated in the Ming Dynasty, the skirt-covering-top method was used in specific contexts. Scholar Xie Fang notes that women tucked tops into skirts or wore aprons for convenience during labor-intensive tasks. Artworks, such as the Q Version Illustrated Guide to Ming Dynasty Clothing, depict women at banquets wearing one-piece wrap-around skirts—likely for dance performances—using the skirt-covering-top style. In war scenarios, as illustrated in Ping Wo Tu, men also adopted this method for practicality. Among commoners, clothing rules were less strict, with paintings like Ding Yuchuan Fishing Joy Picture showing varied styles, including both skirt-covering-top and top-covering-skirt, depending on daily needs.

Practicality in Ming Dynasty Clothing Choices The Ming Dynasty’s climate, marked by the Little Ice Age, influenced clothing design. Historical records from Emperor Xiaozong’s reign describe extreme cold, necessitating thicker, ornate tops worn outside skirts for warmth. However, in scenarios like performances or labor, the skirt-covering-top style offered greater mobility. Paintings like Tang Yin Court Ladies of the Shu Palace Picture show diverse styles, reflecting how clothing adapted to specific activities, from casual to ceremonial, highlighting the versatility of Ming-style Hanfu.

Modern Adaptations of Skirt-Covering-Top In the 2025 Hanfu revival, the skirt-covering-top method aligns well with modern needs. Unlike the Ming Dynasty’s focus on warmth, today’s warmer climates and lighter fabrics make this style practical, especially in summer. Pairing Mamian skirts with lightweight, short-sleeve tops or shirts creates a cooler, more comfortable outfit. The skirt-covering-top approach also accentuates the Mamian skirt’s exquisite embroidery or painted gold designs, which might be overshadowed by ornate tops. Additionally, high-waisted Mamian skirts visually elongate the figure, enhancing the wearer’s proportions when the waistline is revealed, making this style both aesthetic and functional.

In his work Q Version Illustrated Guide to Ming Dynasty Clothing, it also shows the skirt-covering-top wearing method, as shown in the upper right figure.
At banquets and gatherings, the clothing of the two women on the left clearly adopted the skirt-covering-top wearing method.

From the image, the skirt should be a one-piece wrap-around skirt, not a horse-face pleated skirt, belonging to a type of music and dance clothing, with a performance nature.
In war scenarios, men also adopted the skirt-covering-top method.

In addition, in the daily life of the commoner class, the requirements for clothing were not very strict, clothing could be chosen according to the needs of life scenarios

As shown in the left figure, among the women, some wore vertical-collar long shirts, some wore open-front beizi, and some wore cross-collar ruqun. Skirt-covering-top and top-covering-skirt were also chosen according to different forms, with no uniform requirement.
The wearing method of clothing needs to serve daily life, not fixed and unchanging

Therefore, although in the Ming dynasty, the top-covering-skirt wearing method was mainstream, in different life scenarios, for reasons of convenience, aesthetics, and so on, skirt-covering-top also existed.
Second, in the current Hanfu revival process, adopting the skirt-covering-top method to wear Ming-style Hanfu is more suitable for current usage scenarios.
As shown in the figure, the Ming dynasty was in the Little Ice Age, its coldness exceeded that of any other dynasty, therefore, the application demand of its clothing was mainly for warmth.
Historical records state: “Emperor Xiaozong Hongzhi eleventh year summer, Lin’an had strong winds and extreme cold, many people froze to death, birds and sparrows also froze to death in large numbers.”

The fabric of its tops was usually thicker, and the patterns were more ornate, often worn outside. This is why top-covering-skirt was generally popular in the Ming dynasty.
However, nowadays, the need for warmth is no longer as strong as in the Ming dynasty. On the contrary, in summer when wearing Mamian quns, the temperature is higher, usually pairing the Mamian qun with plain short-sleeve tops or shirts, which is cooler and more comfortable.

And the fabric of these tops is light and thin with less volume, adopting the skirt-covering-top method appears more neat and sharp.
In addition, the top-covering-skirt method highlights the ornateness of the top, conversely, the skirt-covering-top method can fully display the exquisite embroidery and painted gold on the Mamian qun.

Balancing Tradition and Innovation While the top-covering-skirt method remains true to Ming Dynasty aesthetics, adopting the skirt-covering-top style in modern Ming-style Hanfu injects new vitality into traditional Chinese fashion. This approach respects historical practices while adapting to contemporary scenarios, such as casual outings or summer festivals. By showcasing the Mamian skirt’s craftsmanship and prioritizing comfort, the skirt-covering-top method offers a fresh perspective. For styling inspiration, explore Vogue’s guide to traditional fashion trends (https://www.vogue.com/article/traditional-chinese-fashion-trends-2025).

Therefore, nowadays adopting the skirt-covering-top method to wear Ming-style Hanfu has its unique advantages, it is not impossible to try as a new attempt, injecting new vitality into it.
The choice of wearing method should respect the original historical methods while also making new choices according to different application scenarios, only then can new vitality be added to Hanfu in the new era.