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Like plenty of bored people in lockdown, 23-year-old Chuyan Wang joined the hanfu revolution of young Chinese people dressing in traditional historical clothes that swept Douyin (Chinese TikTok). Trending with over one billion views on #hanfu alone, and tens of millions on just about each related subcategory of that hashtag, the practice of wearing pieces once censored by the Chinese Cultural Revolution has found a fresh platform. Now, a newly initiated young audience are selecting to include key pieces into their on a regular basis wardrobe, as seen in popular Douyin streetwear fashion edits.

Half-Chinese and raised in Seattle, Wang (higher known by her handle, @mochihanfu) used this chance to actually get in contact along with her roots. She began sharing obsessively-researched explainers on area of interest points of Chinese aesthetics through the ages, which were delivered while recreating the looks on her face. It was, by her own admission, a journey “downhill into the rabbit hole of hanfu, and I haven’t looked back.” 

“Once I’m into something, I would like to know every little thing about it,” she explains, adding that she was inspired by film adaptations of Chinese myths like Monkey King (about Sun Wu Kong) and Shanghai animation The 9 Colored Deer, in addition to her childhood exposure to Chinese culture through her mum. “I definitely appreciate how unwaveringly Chinese she was,” Wang says. “A whole lot of my other half-Asian and Asian-American friends didn’t have the chance to learn the culture or language after which once you get to an age where you’re trying to search out your identity… it appears like something is missing.”

Filling within the blanks for a recent generation on TikTok one huadian (brow design), xiehong (temple cut), and yedian (dimple dot) at a time, Wang translates ancient history into living present through her work, relearning to like her features through embracing make-up that was actually made for them in the method. “I feel like my ancestors once I wear hanfu,” she says, describing why she feels probably the most beautiful in a full face of historical make-up, hair heavy with the load of jewelry that clinks with every step, and even just incorporated into her modern wardrobe through the rise of xinzhongshi (新中式/ “recent chinese style”). “I feel like an imperial consort. An empress.”

Here, we speak to the artist about evolving from her Insta baddie to Tang dynasty consort era, identifying with Studio Ghibli’s Princess Kaguya, and the worth of sharing her culture online.

What are you trying to speak through your work?

Mochi Hanfu: I feel above all I’m just trying to indicate how beautiful and wealthy Chinese fashion is. I feel plenty of people, myself included, don’t know quite a bit about all the different sorts of clothing throughout China’s five-thousand-year history and all the different sorts of make-up as well. I feel plenty of people consider China as pretty monolithic but I would like to indicate that it’s actually very, very diverse.

Which fictional character do you most relate to?

Mochi Hanfu: I feel I relate to Kaguya from Studio Ghibli’s Princess Kaguya movie probably the most. That movie actually makes me ugly cry each time I watch it. Kaguya grows up insanely fast, her parents force what they need for her onto her, she doesn’t feel connected to people, and there’s this scene within the movie where she hears people at a celebration talking about her and saying mean things and she or he just snaps. I don’t know what it’s, but even typing about it now gives me chills. She sobs, breaks a dish, after which starts running and the art is just breathtaking. All the fragile lines turn into these thick emotional charcoal lines and oof. It is just so good and expresses plenty of emotion that even I can’t describe. Definitely a must-watch.

Who’s your beauty icon of all time? 

Mochi Hanfu: My beauty icon is unquestionably Princess Shouyang! She was the princess credited with starting Huadian (brow designs) and altered make-up history for the rest of the dynasties. 

What’s your favourite look you’ve done?

Mochi Hanfu: I feel my favourite personal look up to now is once I did a recreation of Yang Guifei. I just look so delicate and soft and it took me around 4 hours so I feel I’m attached to this look because I understand how long it took. One other recent favourite is from Geya (pictured above) on Xiaohongshu (the Chinese Instagram equivalent) which I actually recreated for my DIY tutorial. She just has such an ethereal look to her and I aspire to have the sort of makeup aesthetic.

What’s your current obsession?

Mochi Hanfu: Xinzhongshi (新中式/ “recent chinese style”)! It’s this recent trend coming out of China that comes with traditional elements into modern styles. It really clicks for me, especially as a half-Chinese person and Chinese-American. I highly recommend the diaspora try it out since it just feels right. I really like all the brand new designs coming out recently, my closet is now mostly xinzhongshi. You may all the time try my personal Instagram (@chuchuchuyann) to see some day by day xinzhongshi outfits on my stories. I’m all the time fooling around with it. There are also plenty of xinzhongshi influencers on Xiaohongshu – I really like 善善子, for instance.

What does beauty mean to you?

Mochi Hanfu: Experimenting. I feel plenty of us, especially in western culture, are so used to form of a uniform look. In the course of the Instagram baddie era of 2014 to 2016, for instance, everyone desired to have those thick Anastasia Beverly Hills brows, the bronze eyes, the matte lips… and I do know plenty of my POC friends wanted to slot in with white people and white culture so that they would do make-up that didn’t necessarily compliment their features. I feel due to TikTok and the pandemic, there’s quite a bit more diversity inside beauty and individuals are doing make-up that compliments their very own features as an alternative of attempting to slot in with a certain look. 

For me personally, discovering traditional make-up was life-changing. I used to be definitely a part of the Instagram baddie craze and it looked odd on me. I have a look at my Snapchat memories and cringe. But traditional make-up… oh man, it’s just completely the other of every little thing that we see nowadays. A large, round face is favoured! As someone with chubby cheeks who prayed that they might have chiselled cheeks as a toddler… life-changing. Smaller lips are favoured, completely different from Kylie lips. And I’m pretty pale so embracing that with traditional make-up was pretty crazy too. Just every little thing about traditional Chinese make-up suits Chinese features, but discovering that myself definitely helped me gain more confidence and altered the way in which I view myself for the higher. I’ll never be an Instagram Kylie baddie but at the very least I’m the most well liked consort within the Tang dynasty, ? 

When do you are feeling most beautiful?

Mochi Hanfu: I feel most beautiful once I am dressed head to toe in historical fashion: my hair decorated in kilos of gorgeous jewellery that clinks once I walk; my huadian (brow designs), xiehong (temple cuts), yedian (dimple dots) freshly applied; my lipstick looking small and pouty like a rosebud; and after all wearing beautiful silks and layers and layers of dresses. It feels so right. I feel like my ancestors once I wear hanfu. Although lately I actually have also expanded into feeling probably the most beautiful once I wear xinzhongshi and have a cool combination of traditional and modern make-up on, my high heels on in order that I may be as tall as I would like.

Are you optimistic concerning the future?

Mochi Hanfu: After all! I’m a reasonably optimistic person typically. I’m the sort of person – Pisces mars – to form of float and see where the universe takes me.

What’s the longer term of beauty?

Mochi Hanfu: I feel the longer term of beauty is unquestionably people embracing their culture and incorporating it into their day by day style. I feel we see that already with xinzhongshi and it looks so cool. I’d like to see styles like that from every culture, every ethnicity on earth. I feel it could be dope.

You’ve to interchange a part of your body with that of an animal or a mythological creature. What do you go for?

Mochi Hanfu: I feel I’d want to interchange my skin with dragon scales. I don’t know, I feel like that will be cool. Similar to a dragon lady in hanfu could be a glance.

You’ve the power to live in a video game. Which wouldn’t it be and why?

Mochi Hanfu: Just based on my personal preference, Fire Emblem. I really like that game so, so, a lot. It’s my favourite game ever! I’d need to be a pegasus knight and swoop down and kill enemies with a lance while looking absolutely gorgeous.

If I had to decide on based on aesthetics though, probably Cyberpunk! I did play the sport and it sucked however the aesthetics were so cool. I’d like to be a lil cyberpunk hanfu princess – I feel my make-up look that I did for the DIY tutorial would fit right in!

Watch @mochihanfu’s DIY tutorial below. 

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