An Updated Look At Qi Lolita

Brand: Sing a Lullaby For You

Qi Lolita is a style that can be simply described as combining Chinese elements with lolita fashion. 

Name

In English, we call it Qi Lolita (pronounced like ‘chee’ lolita), likely because the very first dresses were based on qipao/cheongsam. Because of hanfu becoming more commonly used in this style, some have also taken to calling it Han Lolita when it is based on Chinese hanfu (not to be confused with Korean hanbok). 

In Chinese, you will most commonly see it referred to as 中华风 Lolita (zhōnghuá fēng lolita). This translates to ‘Chinese style’ lolita. Some Chinese brands may also use the term 国风 Lolita, or ‘national style’ lolita. 

In Japanese, it is known as 華ロリータ (hana rorīta) or shortened to 華ロリ(hana rori). This is derived from 中華風, which is really just another way of writing 中华风. So you may also sometimes see it being called 中華ロリータ or 中華ロリ.

To keep it simple, we will mostly be using the term qi lolita in the rest of this post.

Style Guide

Brands: Milu Forest, Quaint Lass

The most well known dress cut will be based on qipao/cheongsam with a mandarin collar and either an a-line or cupcake shaped skirt. The frog fasteners on this type of dress are known as pánkòu (盘扣). There are some OPs but JSKs are more common. A blouse can be worn underneath, but it is possible to wear a shawl or other garments on top to cover the shoulders instead. For blouses, it can be difficult as you will have to work with a high neck collar.

Brands: Felinae Cookie, Nya Nya

For dresses based on hanfu, the most common cut you see will be based on qíxiōng rúqún (齐胸襦裙). Rúqún, in the most simplest terms, is a top (rú) with a wrap around skirt (qún). For this kind of cut, the qíxiōng portion means that the skirt is tied at armpit level above the bust. Yes, above the bust, which means the dresses in this style are usually either high waisted or actually sit on top of the bust. In rare cases, they will keep the qíxiōng look but have a natural waist for the dress. There is also qíyāo rúqún (齐腰襦裙), which is when the skirt (qún) is tied around the waist, but this is much less common as a lolita dress cut.

Brand: Forest Wardrobe

For the shape of dresses cut like qíxiōng rúqún, you can think of it like a sack dress, so the shape will most likely require an a-line petticoat. Dresses in this style are often done as an OP and sometimes as a JSK + blouse combination. You may see that the collars are either parallel or crossed left over right, with parallel collars being most common. 

Brand: Bramble Rose

Besides this cut, there are many other dresses which are cut based on different types of hanfu. Hanfu covers many different dynasties with different fashion trends. It would be impossible to cover all the different types of hanfu here, so we won’t go into detail. Just do know that they exist!

Brand: Ichigo Mikou

Also keep in mind that hanfu is actually just the clothing of the majority Han people in China. It is not the clothing of all Chinese people. There are many ethnic minorities in China. For example, this dress from Ichigo Mikou is inspired by the clothing of the Zhuang people. Some lists out there may include releases like this as part of qi lolita style. 

Although people have started to separate out qi lolita and han lolita, you can see that in cases like this, it still might feel a bit wrong to use either terms.

Brands: Ocelot, Sweet Doll

Lastly, while we have classified dresses based on their origin inspirations, it is actually common to combine elements of everything together. There’s many different cuts and many different ways to interpret how to combine Chinese elements with lolita fashion. It can go all out with many different elements and interesting cuts, or be something more subtle, like the use of tassels and frog fasteners used strategically in a more traditional lolita dress cut. For this reason, it’s hard to say that it is a style that is historically accurate, much like how lolita fashion itself is not supposed to be historically accurate.

Brand: Angel’s Heart

For themes and motifs, you may think things like dragons and phoenixes, flowers and paintings, and animals like pandas and tigers are common. They are. However, this is not really a good way to define the style, just a way to describe some of the releases. Qi lolita can have pretty much any theme so long as the dress has Chinese elements to it. There have been qi lolita releases with print themes that don’t evoke a feeling of being Chinese at all. For example, this Alice print dress from Angel’s Heart. 

Tuánshàn (团扇) from Yotsuba’s Home, hébāo (荷包) from Angel’s Heart

For accessories, many of the ones used in qi lolita will be based on accessories used in hanfu. While we can’t cover them all, let’s look at a few.

Chinese fans called tuánshàn (团扇) are pretty popular. Lolita brands may create fans that match the series, or you can use non-lolita ones that match. Folding fans are used sometimes, but very rarely. This type of fan is so popular that the easiest way to tell if something is meant to be a qi lolita release is simply by seeing if they use tuánshàn in some of the model photos.

Cloud collars or yúnjiān (云肩) are also popular as a removable accessory. They may be sold separately as an add-on or come as part of the dress. The name comes from the fact that when they are laid out, they look like a cloud.

Yúnjiān from Nuit de Cellophane, yīngluò from Ocelot

For hair accessories and jewellery, you may often see models styled using hair clips and jewellery common in hanfu as well. Brands may offer their own hair clips and jewellery to match their releases, but people do use ones made specifically for hanfu. Besides that, lolita hair accessories are also perfectly fine.

Some people may choose to incorporate even more Chinese elements into their coords, but this is a stylistic choice and not a requirement.

There’s no special shoes you have to wear, no special socks, unless you really want to. Just wear lolita socks and shoes. It’s just that you may often see people using simpler socks to let the rest of the coord shine.

Brand: Yupbro

The same concept applies and hair and makeup. A lot of models are styled in fancy hairstyles that are modified from traditional hanfu hairstyles, but keep in mind that it’s a model photoshoot, so of course they will go all out for it! You can wear hairstyles that would be more in line with general lolita aesthetics and it wouldn’t be considered a faux pas. This isn’t cosplay.

If you read all of this and are feeling overwhelmed, you may not be ready for this style yet. It is a lot to take in compared to other styles since it requires both cultural knowledge as well as some cultural sensitivity. 

It is not a style for people who have a hard time telling the difference between Asian cultures or have a hard time figuring out what is good quality. It is very easy to go overboard with cheap items and make it look like a costume. This is why it is generally recommended for people who already have a good grasp of lolita fashion.

For those wanting to wear this style for the first time but are unsure of how to proceed, these would be the two ways I suggest going about it:

1. The safest way is to just buy and wear the full set for the series. It will match completely and there won’t be any room for error.
2. If you don’t know what accessories to wear, always pick a lolita item. It is lolita fashion first and foremost! So you cannot go wrong by picking a lolita item.

As with lolita fashion in general, don’t run before you can walk! Take it slowly to get it right before you experiment.

Substyle vs Theme

Brand: Atelier Boz

At this point, you may also be wondering whether it is considered a substyle or a theme. In the past, it has been considered one of the many sub styles of lolita based on all those substyle charts floating around the internet, but this has become less clear over time. You can have sweet, classic, or even gothic leaning qi lolita releases. Gothic releases especially will make you think it is more gothic first, qi second. So the three main substyles are still the best for describing lolita.

Brand: Sheglit

Brands

Many brands have done a qi lolita style release even if they normally do other styles. So instead of focusing only on brands, I will give some attention to specific very popular releases as examples.

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Baby’s SA・KU・RA series is one of the pricier options out there. The SA・KU・RA Celestial Maiden OP is a great example of a dress based on hanfu. I recommend checking out the rest of the SA・KU・RA series if you like this type of fairy-like style.

Angelic Pretty

AP’s Shanghai Doll is extremely popular, especially the OP cut. There are also the Hao Hao Panda and the Chinoiserie series, which are much less popular.

Classical Puppets

Classical Puppets is known for very intricate, historical leaning releases. For most people, they will probably be looking at one of the many different releases of the 暗香 (Winter Sweet) series. They also have the China Doll series. There are other dresses by Classical Puppets that are labelled as lolita, but they may not be considered lolita by the wider lolita community.

Triple Fortune

Triple Fortune offers a few dresses in their Chinese Style JSK cut. Paired with their signature bonnets, they look elegant and charming.

Yotsuba’s Home (四叶工房)

Yotsuba’s Home (四叶工房) has made several qi lolita dresses in different cuts, including using their prints to make regular, non-lolita qipao/cheongsam dresses or hanfu with them. Two of their more recent series are 昙花水母 and 凤凰于飞. There are previews already to release new qi lolita dresses this year.

R-Series

When someone thinks of qi lolita, R-Series will always come up. They have been around for a long time and have released a variety of good quality dresses. Phoenix Feathers is one of their more recent series. Although they aren’t being produced anymore, the White Tiger and Dragon dresses will without a doubt show up in many lists as one of the more iconic examples of qi lolita.

Precious Clove

Precious Clove has released and continues to release a lot of qi lolita dresses. One of the most recent popular series is The Ancient Whale City in the Sky (玄鲸之颂) that comes in a rainbow of different colours. The 囚牛问琴 series also sold really well during its release. The fabric quality of their releases may not be the best, but the sheer amount of releases they have done in this style is super impressive. I recommend keeping up with them to see future releases, as there are a lot of them!

Doris Night

Doris Night’s 孔雀翎 is their most well known release. Following up on the success of that, they are releasing the Fire Phoenix (火凤燎原) limited series right now. They both look amazing in photos, but I would be mindful of the gold piping on these dresses as it can look a bit cheap.

ZJ Story

ZJ Story’s 延禧如璋令 series is inspired by the drama Story of Yanxi Palace. It is a rare example of a lolita dress based on Qing dynasty clothing.

Besides these examples, there are probably hundreds of other releases out there that I wish I could show you. Any brand you can think of has probably done a release in this style at least once. 

I will also mention Ozz, Alice Girl, Royal Princess Alice, Red Maria, Nan Sheng Ge (NSG Lolita), Nuit de Cellophane, CC Cat, Pink Up, and many many more that didn’t make the cut for photos in this post.

Cultural Appropriation?

There also comes the question of cultural appropriation. Is it okay to wear this style if I am not Chinese or Asian? The simple answer is yes, of course you can wear it! The longer and more nuanced answer is that it depends on who you want to impress.

There will always be some people who are protective of Chinese culture and think it is cultural appropriation. However, there are also people who love to share their culture and have other people appreciate it too. You will find that the latter group is more common than the former. 

You will never be able to make everyone happy, but please know that there are a lot of people out there who love seeing others enjoy aspects of their culture. It is not something restricted to just Chinese culture.

No matter what you wear, you should always be respectful to yourself and do your best. This includes wearing good quality pieces and having an understanding of what things are appropriate to use in the coord. 

Conclusion

I hope this post gave you a good idea of what qi lolita looks like currently. It may seem like a very niche style of the past, but it is actually more popular than you might think! There are still releases in this style that are coming out all the time and it will likely be a style that is here to stay.

I will leave you a video of Misako wearing a couple dresses in this style, so you can see it in action! Can you recognize some of the things we’ve shared in this post?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB3gcdI8IJw

I would also like to do a huge thank you to all the hanfu resources I’ve read in both Chinese and English that have helped add a lot of the nuances necessary to truly understand this style. Especially ziseviolet on Tumblr, who breaks down a lot of hanfu information in a way that is simple to understand.

That was a lot and I am tired now.

Chrysanthemum