Round Collar Robe

Most types of Han clothing that we had talked about in the past few weeks are mainly for the females, but as I mentioned before, the Han clothing as the traditional Chinese clothing is not only designed for females, I would like to talk about one important type of Han clothing that is mainly designed for males--Round Collar Robe.

Here is a picture of Round Collar Robe in an ancient wall painting:

Source: Yangmei Jianwu

Features

The round collar robe was created in Tang dynasty, and it became extremely popular at that time as well, so it was also known as “Tang Round Collar Robe”. It was designed only for males to wear at first. But because this robe can make people look taller and thinner than his original body, which exactly satisfy the females’ need, so it gradually become popular among females as well.

Also, because the round collar robe is designed as a coat, it is usually loose so people can wear underwear in it. And it is convenient to wear for the daily life because it is not as long as the other dress, it allows us to see people’s feet. So, when the females are wearing it, they have to put on a pair of boots instead of normal shoes, because in ancient China, the females’ feet are not allowed to be seen by others except their own husbands.

Here is a picture of Round Collar Robe in the contemporary society:

Source: Liu Li

However, in the contemporary society, in order to make the round collar robe more convenient, some designers made changes on it, they cut it shorter and put more beautiful pictures on it, which makes it looks pretty and handsome. And because nowadays, the female masculinity becomes more and more normal, so the round collar robe is now also more popular among females than males.