[Image Description: Image 1 is 2 images, where the top image is an Asian woman, sitting down and holding a Chinese fan with both hands and looking down. The bottom image is the same woman sitting on a chair and her left hand is resting under her chin, while she looks pensively to the right. Image 2 is an Asian woman sitting on a chair and looking at the red envelopes she is holding. Image 3 is an Asian woman sitting on a chair and her chin is resting on her left hand. Her right arm is crossed over and resting on her legs to the left side. The background shows a Chinese divider panel and at the bottom right is a table with a Chinese fan. Image 4 is an Asian woman sitting on a chair and her hands are on her knees. She is looking in the direction of a table in front of her legs. Image 5 is an Asian woman sitting on a chair and her right arm is tucking her hair behind her ear and her left hand is resting in her lap. Image 6 is an Asian woman sitting on a chair, with her hands crossed and resting in her lap, and she is looking intently into the camera. However a piece of transparent red fabric is thrown into the frame, acting like a red filter.]
Bruce would totally accompany Cass to a hanfu photoshoot (I am projecting so hard rn bc I've wanted to do a hanfu photoshoot for YEARS but then pandemic and I couldn't go back to China so :(( )
Putting Cass in the pretty outfits I'll never have 💅 (my qipao is kinda pretty but it's oversized asf HELPPPP)
Secondly, I have heard that as traditional fashion gets more and more popular, there is an increasing amount of fake/knockoff clothes sold online, is there a way to distinguish between them, so we can buy hanfu from official brands and support the designers and dressmakers for their hard work.
Hi, thanks for the question, and sorry for taking ages to reply!
Yes, that's correct -- knockoffs (known as 山寨/shanzhai in Chinese) have long been, and still are, a huge problem for hanfu vendors. It's often difficult and confusing to tell the difference between original hanfu and shanzhai hanfu.
I highly encourage everyone to do some research before buying hanfu to make sure that your purchase goes towards supporting the original brand/designer, as opposed to a counterfeiter. Without that financial support, it's very likely for original brands and designers to close shop, especially in the extremely competitive hanfu market.
Based on personal observation, below are some red flags that may signify that a hanfu shop or item is a knockoff - or at least not from the original brand/designer. Note that these refer mainly to Taobao shops because Taobao is the platform I'm most familiar with:
Examine the merchandise. Shops that offer an assortment of non-hanfu related products (e.g. mainstream contemporary fashion, household items) in addition to hanfu, are usually not original hanfu brands. Authentic hanfu brands typically only sell hanfu and related items such as modified hanfu & hanyuansu, hanfu accessories, and occasionally other types of Chinese clothing (e.g. qipao/cheongsam, Qing dynasty-style clothing).
Examine the photos. If a shanzhai shop doesn't outright steal product photos from the original brand, it may retake photos of the clothes using different models. These models and photos are usually very generic and low-effort. Original hanfu brands typically put more creativity and effort into styling models and designing photoshoots for promotional photos.
Examine the prices. If a hanfu's price seems too good to be true, it usually is. It's likely to be a knockoff - or at least of lower quality than expected. This isn't always the case, as some original hanfu are hugely discounted, and some knockoffs inflate their prices. However, you get what you pay for, and I'd avoid super cheap hanfu if you want to ensure authenticity.
More tips from @bamboocounting: "you can check the storefront to see if the store has been running for a time that matches when it’s founded, for older famous stores, and check the number of reviews for some more popular items (like Shisanyu regularly has hundreds of reviews for some sets)."
In addition, @fouryearsofshades mentioned here that there's an official account on WeChat called 汉服安莉 that can be used to check if a shop is authentic. My dms are also open if you need assistance with checking whether something is authentic - I'll do what I can to help ^^
Well now I’m curious about what your LEAST favorite keeley outfits are/outfits you just disliked
here's top 5 least favs as they popped immediately to mind, lol.
5. i hate everything about this. her hair looked especially bad here. why did they dye it SO blonde. the silver jacket is...interesting. Altogether, I think it's giving Zenon Girl of the 21st Century except that Keeley is a 32 yr old adult woman living in the year 2023.
4. Putting Keeley into a second qipao was certainly a choice. This pink is shockingly bright. in a bad way. the styling leaves a lot to be desired. i also have a personal beef against it because of all the outfits THIS is what they decided to dress the keeley jones barbie doll in... the least memorable Keeley Jones look of all time. 0/10.
3. what's that? a hat! crazy funky junky hat. overslept, hair unsightly, trying to look like keira knightly. we've been there, we've done that, we see right through your funky hat!
(also...the fact that this was paired with BRIGHT YELLOW pants... the wardrobe people woke up that day and chose violence)
2. nipple ring extreme push up bra top! top ten crime of the show is how they were dressing Keeley for her big break professional career defining ceo job. HELLO? what is this mess. it's like they were trying to make her subversive and campy but didn't know how to do that in an actually realistic way and so they flopped miserably. keeley is NOT traditional in any way but she's also NOT wearing nipple piercing tops to work. i'm sorry that i know her better than the wardrobe department but...
I've talked about this before but s2 Vanity Fair photoshoot Keeley is the worst look of anyone on the whole show. an absolute and complete mess. whatever was happening in the hair and makeup chair that day deserves to be trialed and charged. the outfit itself here isn't that bad honestly but the atrocious styling from the horrible collar necklace and earrings and bracelet (so many locks???) to the terrifyingly hairsprayed hair ruins any possibility of it working. I cannot believe they did her this dirty....
To celebrate, here are a select few of my D&D OCs in like Hanfu/older Chinese dress. Yes, all my OCs so far would be represented by this because its their culture. Yes I wanted to draw this. No I didn't have time, so we're going to have to settle.
Hailang (Hai) Saangbiar:
Paladin needs her sleeves tight to her wrist. Blue colorscheme.
And also everything in this link lowkey I want to buy it now HAHA
For example:
So good so good, first is more "historical" take of this outfit, the second is more of a fantasy take.
Luxury (Lux) Quartz:
Fantasy-esque style with of course added accessories. Can also do both gender's styles. BIG SLEEVES it's part of the drama!
Obviously, the fan comes along with the outfit. They fucking love the loud sound the fan comes with when opening.
Post Timeskip Lux (future campaign):
Also! Lux is a drama king so of course they'd rock a Shanghai style modernized qipao. Especially because it was see as a "showy" sensual modern clothing item anyways, they'd be drawn to it. This isn't shown lol I got tired.
Ssatosthülasi (Ula)
I saw this one photoshoot with snake-hanfu and I'm obsessed. She would rock the blue and the white both. Also she would have a relationship this sapphic, and I'll need to write it down eventually. Not shown, but Ula would also rock a modernized qipao. With like. Embroidered snakes.
Damien Wang/Gu
Based off the DC character Damian Wayne/Al-Ghul, so of course I had to find something that worked with the wonk colorscheme of red, yellow, and green. AND I FOUND SOMETHING THAT LOOKS DECENT?
Oh he's drinking alc here well, kinda fits the character if you know you know
i think for a lot of us, relationships and ~weddings~ with our 2D boys and gals and nbs would be multicultural and i really really think that’s wonderful and beautiful
for eg you’re south Asian right? imagine ur wedding. bakugou insists on having as many wardrobe changes as you at your wedding so you’re always matching … his mom spends years!!!!!!!!!! before the wedding (she knows you’re the one for her son the moment she sees you two interact) with a mentor studying your cultural fashion so she can ask you (as if you wouldn’t have asked her personally!!!) for the honor of designing one of your outfits… maybe with a lil Japanese twist to show the union of two cultures… beautiful. whatever she can do to make the person who caught her son’s eye feel welcome. i hate it when his parents are written as standoffish and rude like where was that even implied... anyway his father and mother (and bkg himself ofc) wear your cultural clothes with pride at your wedding and you know what they’d design bespoke Japanese cultural outfits for every member of your family too.
i’m Chinese and i like to think of how our families would interact and bridge the cultural gap too. a union, not a division. what would your family do to make the bakugou’s feel welcome and included? mine would do the Chinese tea ceremony in English/have a translator and would include Japanese tea as well. they’d be invited every lunar new year and given red packets oranges and we’d teach them the phrases in mandarin (what i learned in school) and Cantonese (my family’s dialect) during the mooncake festival we would teach the bakugou’s how to make mooncakes. his parents would make us custom mooncake tins as a gift. for wedding’s (there would have to be two ceremonies) we’d do photoshoots in both sets of cultural outfits as well. i like to think both sets of parents would cook for each other. my traditional Chinese mother would look lovely in a kimono and i know mitsuki would kill it in a qipao. sorry for the word vomit. what about you, fang? if you’re up for it, tell about me you and/or your multicultural interactions w the bakugous 💕
waaaah this so so cute :(( im going to pass away at the thought... i do often think about the way like. our cultures would interact mostly bc its hard not too. but the idea of their parents designing my wedding saree is making me feel sick in the best way. or just the general cross of cultural attire like waaaahhhhhhh
THE TEA CEREMONY.....HOW SWEET IS THAT. hearing all the little details of ur cultural exchange is simply making me cry and weep. the romance of custom mooncake tins.... i cant even imagine. i am not too informed on any specific aspects of chinese culture but the details u have provided r so vivid i feel like i can see it so very clearly and i love it?? like im crying. the translator detail is very adorable to me as well fdkjkjfdvd like im </333333
ive thought pretty indepth about it..!! i think it'd also have to be a two ceremony thing. i think bakugou would probably get very excited to watch me get my mendhi done so he can search for his name in it </3 i think he's probably the most excited about the part where everyone comes to put holud / turmeric on us and feed us sweets. like desi weddings r v complicated so he's kind of excited by how elaborate it all is..... im so </3
Hi sorry but what controversy has happened with the og west end cast? You mentioned it in on of your latest posts and I’m newer to the fandom so I don’t know what happened. Thank you!
Alright three asks in I think I need to answer this.
First please remember that we are not entitled to performer's personal lives outside of what they decide to put on public plattforms. And that there is a major difference between calling out trully problematic or bad actions and digging out things people said (and more likely than not have long forgotten) in the early 2010s and try to hold them up to 2020s standards.
About the original WE cast. I don't remember all the details as its been a while and I haven't followed any of them in a while. It is mostly about Millie and Aimie.
Millie has done several thimgs that are at best 'white girl thinks other cultures look exotic and wants to imitate' and at worst pure cultural appropiation. One of the most relevant ones and what affects the rest of the cast is her wearing a qipao shaped crop top for a svn photoshoot that was specifically styled to look sexy and dramatic. If you don't know a qipao is a chinese garment with deep cultural meaning her wearing a sexualised version is not a good look in any way. While it could be the stylist at fault the rest of them still went ahead with the photoshot. And later when that was called out they gave only a half hearted apology.
Aimie has a history of tone deaf comments and actions. The biggest one I can remember is when the blm protests broke out and it became widespread in social media to post a black square and then not post anything else to make black voices be heard she did so and less than an hour later was back at promoting a workshop she was doing. Its the performative activism of it all what rubs people the wrong way. She also wore a qipao based dress for that svn photoshot. Aimie is also usually styled with very "tanned" makeup (which could be attributed to certain beauty ideals) and edited with a darker skin tone for svn photoshots. Which can be again attributed to stylists but is still borderline brownface. The svn styling is a very complicated issue on itself but that is not a post for me to make.
“Glamour Globe-Trotter: A Fashion Odyssey” is a captivating showcase of fashion allure. This photobook brings together the photoshoots from various fashion magazines and collaborations with advertisers around the world, each image a unique masterpiece of style showcasing my enchanting figure.
From black stockings, mini skirts, high heels, leather boots, fur coats, lace, qipaos, swimsuits, to…
"it's an honor just to be asian." - sandra oh #stopasianhate
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[Image Description: A 3 panel photo. Top image shows a woman looking directly at the camera but a piece of see through red silk-like fabric covers her face, as if it was thrown. The background is a Chinese divider. The middle image shows the chest to waist area of a woman's body in a red cheongsam/qipao. She is sitting on a chair and holding up a piece of red silk-like fabric. The bottom photo is the same woman looking to the right. There is a bit of a transparent red filter covering the right side of the photo.]