Mǎmiànqún (马面裙)

The mǎmiànqún is a long women’s skirt constructed from two overlapping panels of fabric, with pleated portions at the sides and unpleated sections at the center front and center back. Mamianqun translates to “horse-face” skirt and derives its name from the shape of “horse-face” structures on traditional Chinese city walls, which were rectangular bastions protruding from the wall designed to eliminate blind corners and thus increase the defensive capacity of the wall. The silhouette of the wall is similar to how the skirt is broken into alternating pleated and flat portions. The mamianqun was worn from the Song Dynasty through the Qing Dynasty, and is now very popular amongst the modern Hanfu revival movement.