The Cambodian designer making Barbie dolls in traditional costume

Despite initially facing disapproval from his family, Cheab Sibora continued to design and produce intricate outfits for the dolls in traditional Khmer style.

"Although I did not receive much support at first, my friends and family have really got behind my project – making Khmer designed outfits for Barbie dolls," he said.

Invented by Ruth Handler in 1959, Barbie is the most successful doll of all time, selling more than one billion of them since it was first launched.

Now Sibora hopes to add to that legacy by giving the dolls, for the first time, a traditional Khmer twist.

He says each costume is inspired by the different cultures and identities across the Kingdom's 25 provinces and cities, with the outfits proving popular among the Cambodian diaspora and foreigners as well.

"Most people who bought them are Khmer people in Cambodia, but I've also had many foreigners. I've not opened a formal design studio for the business yet as I'm currently responding to a backlog of preorders from clients," he says.

The 26-year-old is a self-taught artist and spends two to three days finishing one doll, which sells for $30-$50 each.

"Each doll needs a lot of work and attention to design the embroidery. The fabric needs to be sewn with small beads and sequins one-by-one to create the traditional Khmer designs," he said.

Among the designs is Reachny Ney Krong Kuch (Empress of Pearl Capital), representing Phnom Penh. As part of this design, the Barbie is dressed in a sparkling silver costume adorned with embroidery and pearls from head to toe.

For Pailin Province, famous for its traditional peacock dance, the Moyurana costume is made from bird feathers that compliment the blue pattern silk skirt, all finished with a golden peacock head.

Another outfit representing the ancient capital in Siem Reap, named Neang Tep Apsara, incorporates the Apsara sculptures and carvings of the city's iconic temples.

Sibora's passion for fashion and design began in 2011 when he was a high school student where he drew inspiration from traditional Khmer art, paintings and history books. In 2013, he began his current project.

"Although I did not study art skill, I liked watching fashion shows, browsing catalogues and reading arts book. I was so interested that I decided to try them out even though it was the exact opposite of my studies in IT."

The young designer said he was inspired by a book written by well-known arts scholar Pich Tum Kravil named Khmer Dance.

Tum Kravil's book explored ancient Khmer scripts discovered at Lor Ley Temple dating from the 9th century, describing scenes of a woman dressing up and dancing for holy spirits. This inspired him to bring this ancient beauty into the modern era through the medium of Barbie.

While his classmates encouraged and praised his work, his family initially proved less enthusiastic.

"As my family is very poor, they were concerned that I would not be able to make any money from this and asked me to stop. But because I love what I'm doing, every day and night I would continue in secret without them knowing," he said.

With years spent designing and producing these costumes, Sibora's aspiration is to take his work to the public through a formal exhibition to promote Khmer heritage and culture.

"I've received an offer to display my work. I hope to make younger generations interested in Khmer identity, and help preserve our beautiful tradition and culture passed down by our ancestors," he said.

Sibora publicises his designs through Facebook. For more information, visit his Facebook pages Bora Apsara or Banjureth Art Page.

How authentic are the accessories worn by the empress and concubines in hit TV drama?

The 70-episode Qing dynasty imperial drama Story of Yanxi Palace concluded on August 27 on video platform iQiyi, garnering more than 15 billion views by its finale. Yet, in Hong Kong, the final episode will air on TVB Jade this Saturday.

The whole city is astir over the drama, from its Qing dynasty settings to the ancient Chinese make-up and the intricate costume design.

What made the drama so successful? Thanks to the high standards and meticulous research of the production team, which made the whole drama come alive and immerse its viewers, employing an array of highly authentic props and remaining true to history.

Here we take a look at the accessories of the concubines who appear in the drama, find out the origins of these items and compare some of them with authentic ones from the Palace Museum in Beijing, in order to appreciate the Chinese imperial aesthetic.

Binge-watching, China Style

It's not even October, but already the 70-episode Chinese soap opera "Story of Yanxi Palace" is poised to be one of the biggest Chinese pop culture phenomena of the year. Since its first episodes were uploaded to the Chinese streaming platform iQiyi less than three months ago, the series has drawn more than 15 billion total views, making it one of the most-watched TV shows in Chinese history.

In terms of content, "Yanxi Palace" is typical of the sudsy Chinese genre known as "palace dramas," which has origins in the 2004 Hong Kong TV series "War and Beauty." As the name suggests, palace dramas are generally centered around the vicious court struggles of imperial China, and set against lush, opulent backdrops. Although this description may call to mind Western dramas such as "The Tudors" or "Game of Thrones," palace dramas are unlike these shows in that they are distinctly female-oriented — they focus not on the deeds of brave knights or ambitious lords, but the emotional entanglements and political power struggles of royal concubines as they vie for the emperor's affections.

Yet while "Yanxi Palace" clearly draws on this genre for inspiration, its runaway success is at least partly due to the way the series innovates structural conventions found in palace dramas. These tweaks have resulted in a show so addictive that netizens have coined a new word to describe it: shuangju — a term that roughly translates to "a show that demands to be binge-watched."

The word shuangju is actually an adaptation of a literary term: shuangwen — a binge read. Shuangwen are common in China's massive internet fiction industry, in which binge-ability is a key element of the business model. Popular internet novels such as "Fighter of the Destiny" and "Martial Universe" tell the tales of hot-blooded young men from the bottom rungs of society who, with the help of fate, are able to master mystical martial arts and transform themselves into legendary warriors — one chapter at a time. These novels — some of which have been adapted into shuangju of their own, though none as successful as "Yanxi Palace" — keep their readers engaged by offering up a steady stream of villains for their heroes to defeat as they rise through the ranks and eventually bring peace and prosperity to all the land.

Shuangju follow a similar pattern. By focusing relentlessly on the rise of an audience-insert underdog character, they give watchers frustrated with their own lots in life a chance to live vicariously through the action onscreen. No matter how banal or unremarkable our real lives may be, these bingeable stories offer an escape to a world in which the heroes — us — always win, and the villains — the people in our lives with power and authority over us — get what's coming to them, swiftly.

This last point is key. What makes shows like "Yanxi Palace" so addictive is the immediacy and frequency with which they provide viewers the emotional high of vicarious victory. In classic palace dramas, protagonists suffer frequent defeats. Their triumph is a long and incremental process, delaying viewers' sense of gratification until the very end of the series — if it comes at all. In "War and Beauty," for example, the emperor's concubines continue to scheme and fight, even as rebels storm the castle walls. In the end, they are all either driven from the palace or killed. It may be cathartic to see them get what's coming to them, but it's not particularly empowering.

"Yanxi Palace" dispenses with these narrative conventions in favor of an almost video game-like structure, with the show's audience-insert character — Wei Yingluo, a young woman from a good, though not particularly high-status background — jumping quickly from one level to the next. From the moment she enters the palace on a quest to avenge her murdered sister, hardly an episode goes by without her outwitting or outfighting one of her many rivals — the show's equivalent of a boss fight. It's an intoxicating formula, and one that lets viewers live out their own fantasies of empowerment and social mobility.

Unlike other popular genres — such as China's star-power-driven "idol dramas" — while "Yanxi Palace" has romantic subplots, it never loses sight of this central conceit. The show seems to recognize that its biggest draw — and what keeps viewers coming back for more — isn't romance, but Wei Yingluo's rise to the top.

Not everything about "Yanxi Palace" is new, however, and at times the show's palace-drama DNA betrays itself. Although the Chinese government has recently evinced concern over the morals and values being espoused by popular television programs, the characters in palace dramas in particular can be almost aggressively amoral. Although good — personified in this case by Wei Yingluo — always triumphs over evil, justice on these shows bears a distinct resemblance to eye-for-an-eye mentalities, and Wei is just as likely to poison her enemies outright as to try and get them arrested.

Also indebted to the conventions of palace dramas are the show's sexual politics. Although, like many palace dramas, the cast of "Yanxi Palace" is almost entirely female, many of the women on the show are depicted as conniving sex objects, constantly bickering with one another in their attempts to win male attention and approval. Even Wei Yingluo falls into this trap at points: Once her sister is avenged, she becomes just another concubine fighting for the emperor's affections.

What's more, for all the ways the show indulges in wish-fulfillment and empowerment fantasies, it never actually considers that Wei Yingluo could work her way to the true top of the food chain. She may be able to win over the show's avatar for patriarchy, but she'll never supplant him. And the show never even considers that she might not want to struggle at all, but rather leave the palace entirely and live out her own life in peace.

For those wondering how a show with such retrograde sexual politics could be so popular with modern viewers, it may be because they can sympathize. In "Yanxi Palace," the emperor is the ultimate authority: He has the power to make or break anyone at any time. The only way for the women of the palace to acquire a share of this power is to win the emperor's affection — most often by forcing their rivals out of the picture. While this may sound antiquated, it's not all that far-removed from the reality of modern Chinese society. In the workplace, for example, men dominate the managerial ranks, while women are often hired or promoted based on their looks and willingness to entertain their bosses' advances as much as for their professional qualifications. And with so few management slots open to non-male applicants, competition between women can be cutthroat.

Yi Zhongtian, an author and scholar of ancient Chinese literature at Xiamen University, once pointed to classic Chinese works ranging from "Zuo Tradition" to "Dream of the Red Chamber" as evidence that China has historically had a fascination with infighting — whether among the rich and powerful or the family next door. The days of true palace intrigue may be in the past, but these struggles clearly still resonate with Chinese audiences who see in them shades of their own experiences.

Young people in China can sometimes feel like crabs trapped in a bucket: stuck, and unable to get out without someone else pulling them back down. It shouldn't be a surprise, then, that both male and female viewers alike have found something to admire in Wei Yingluo's ruthless competence. Since "Yanxi Palace's" premiere, there has been a wave of online articles claiming to teach readers how to apply lessons from the show in the workplace or the dating scene.

The incredible success of "Yanxi Palace" is sure to spawn a raft of imitators. Some of these will be good, some will be bad; but as long as many Chinese feel vulnerable and disempowered in their real lives, there will continue to be an audience for escapist fare that lets viewers imagine, if only for an hour or two — or 70 — that they're the hero of the story.

Quasi-religious callout culture

Against the background of the more individualized lives of citizens in postindustrial nations like America today, social media callouts provide a potent means for participating in ersatz collective identities and ersatz social justice movements. They enable people to mobilize quickly behind vague, racialized notions of "Asian” or "black” culture and against equally vague, essentialist notions of white supremacy, and to claim cultural ownership, or gatekeeping authority, over the wearing of kimono, cheongsam, cornrows and dreadlocks, over hip-hop performance, or over choices of actors for "Asian”-themed movies.

The quasi-religious character of this callout culture finds expression in ritualized shaming and demands for atonement, and for recognition of cultural ownership from those who sacrilegiously transgress against it; and in the ritualized atonement and recognition duly offered up by repentant transgressors.

Cultural appropriation outrage persists because — at the touch of an electronic screen — it serves powerful emotional needs to belong to a particular collective identity, and to social justice causes with highly inclusive lists of victims, such as those with no plausible national connection to the "appropriated” culture. All this is bad news for advocates for the popularization and internationalization of Japanese arts, anime, manga, cosplay and kimono fashion. What should they do?

They can take to social media to highlight the incoherence in cultural appropriation outrage, and show that more racialized understandings of culture play into the hands of actual white supremacists and nationalists, who are busy creating their own Wagnerian variations on the themes of "white” and "European” culture.

They can remind Twitter and Tumblr that Japanese practitioners of traditional arts like the shakuhachi are gladly sharing that art with non-Japanese musicians. They can also point to the internationalist ambitions of kimono designers such as Hiromi Asai, who explained her vision to me as follows: "I believe kimono is a universal fashion that is beyond cultural and ethnic boundaries.”

Rather like Johann Herder and his intellectual heir, Lafcadio Hearn, they can demonstrate that the survival and flourishing of minority and non-European arts, folklores and traditions can depend upon their internationalized transmission.

Venerating the past, traditional costume fever grips Thailand

“Out of the 30 years I’ve been running this shop, this is the peak for us,” 53-year-old Siri told Reuters as she stitched a Thai sarong for a client.

History fever is gripping Thailand and a growing number of Thais are wearing traditional dress, a phenomenon encouraged by the junta and the palace, and fueled by a popular television soap opera.

But the trend, which began with a ‘winter fair’ initiated by King Maha Vajiralongkorn in February, has also been criticized by some as an attempt to glorify an era of absolute monarchy and gloss over the junta’s shortcomings nearly four years after it took power.

“History has long been used by the elite to maintain their status in politics,” said Anusorn Unno, Dean of the Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology at Thammasat University.

“Right now the junta is facing new challenges from a new generation of people so they have retreated to history to say that the past is better and more suitable for Thailand.”

Among the popular costumes are those worn during the reign of former King Chulalongkorn, known as Rama V, who ruled from 1868 to 1910 and is credited with saving Thailand from Western colonialism.

Television has also played a part.

“Love Destiny”, a soap opera set during the 1656 to 1688 reign of King Narai the Great, has taken Thailand by storm.

Many Thais are visiting the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, where scenes from “Love Destiny” take place. They pose for “selfies” dressed in traditional garb against the backdrop of the ruins.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha met with cast members this week at Government House and hailed the series as an example of the government’s longstanding policy of promoting ‘Thai-ness’.

Prayuth’s own cabinet has held some recent meetings in the traditional dress of a 19th century elite. He dressed in a buttoned up silk jacket, breeches and a wide sash.

A coup led by Prayuth in 2014 followed months of unrest as demonstrators supporting the urban middle class and military-backed elite demanded the resignation of then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose biggest following was among the rural poor.

That long-standing division shows little sign of having disappeared despite four years of military rule.

Although the junta has now promised elections for February 2019, signs of frustration over repeated delays to the ballot have prompted protests in recent weeks.

Colorful and Majestic Costa Rican Costumes

Costa Rica is identified as a country full of love for its culture, generated precisely from the multicultural ancestry. Before talking about the typical costumes, it is important to know a little bit about the history and traditions that originated all those typical costumes are used for both women and men.

This country is part of Latin America and like other countries in the same continent, they often include in their clothing a diversity of colors, accompanied by an authenticity that makes them be different and widely recognized all around the world.

Costa Rica’s society takes into account that the elaboration of its typical costumes must be perfectly made. That is why those costumes are usually based on their cultural traditions.

In the case of women, they use to wearing a skirt adorned with a lot of bright colors, drawing much attention from the surroundings. For the top, it is usual to wear a shirt which reaches the shoulders preferably white since it cannot be as colorful as the skirt so they can stand out at the same time. The hair should be full of showy flowers.

With regard to men, Costa Rican culture focuses on making them look like gentlemen. This is always achieved by placing a completely white suit with a bright color handkerchief that attracts a lot of attention.

The typical Costa Rican costumes demonstrate how friendly this culture is, through the chosen colors that will highlight all the typical costumes that exist.

Typical costumes always keep the features of the ancient indigenous tribes that populated this territory. Costa Rica has an extraordinary wealth of cultural manifestations, legends, popular festivals, music, local traditions, and dance. All that is an important part of the nation´s identity.

When one refers to a typical costume of a country, it goes hand in hand with other important aspects of the culture like its meals, the way of speaking, expressions, customs, symbols of identity, flags, dances, and so on.

Much of the typical costumes of the country are used in specific scenarios: festivities, carnivals, or other events that commemorate facts of the history of Costa Rican society. Let’s mention some examples:

Province of Guanacaste. The typical costumes of this province will depend on the celebration and have evolved according to their history. However, one of the most common dances is the Batijuela, with costumes characterized by its abundant lace, high hairstyles divided according to the age of the ladies taking part. The younger wear a blanket; the older ones put on a pair of pants.

There is no variation to the typical costumes of Costa Rica for men. In general, it is practically the same with a red scarf, but without a hat.

Province of Puntarenas. They maintain a classic range of clothing brought from colonial times. During Holy Week they were characterized by a scarf full of sequins and bright colors

Province of Heredia. This province differs from the others because it does not use lively colors like the others, instead characterized by using dark and opaque colors. Silk and cotton is the ideal for their clothing. This fabric can be either unicolor or printed. The type of dress of Heredia is extremely conservative, distinguished by having details with buttons,

Province of San José. Women often use many decorations in their hair, which they wear with natural flowers. They usually identify themselves by including colors like purple and white, while men are dressed in black.

Province El Limón. They usually use turbans made with colored fabrics, this is an essence of the Afro-Caribbean garments, and the rest is very similar to the typical national costume.

Women wear white with colorful fabric ornaments. A turban is always worn in carnival dresses, the skirt of high flights up to the ankles, elastic at the waist. Men are accompanied by a machete, a kind of long knife, a colored belt, cut down pants and leather shoes.

Cartago. Some of the costumes were brought from Great Britain, adorned with fine laces. Men wear ties of canvas, jackets or vests, and hats in white or black.

Reliquary

Known as an indispensable part of the national costumes of Costa Rica, it consists of a burgundy colored ribbon, the function of which is the same as a usual string. Most women used this as a symbol of love, as they carried pieces of hair of their loved ones inside the reliquary.

Garments

They use large rings around the ears, likewise decorating their hairstyles with generally natural flowers. Within the garments, we can mention the selection of underpants with abundant laces and, in the case of women, reaching the knees.

Kalak, a Kyrgyz woman's proud headwear

Haznihan Turdi is proud that she makes the best Kalak, a traditional headwear for Kyrgyz women, in her village. The wedding headwears of most girls in Gaizi village of Aketao County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China are made by the 65-year-old woman.

Haznihan's hands are swift and nimble, but it took her 10 years to make a headwear for each of her five daughters.

Perhaps, however, the proudest thing for her is that her youngest daughter Gulisari has learned the craft from her. Before that, the woman worried that the heirloom of her family might someday get lost in the world.

Like other old traditions, the Kalak is in the danger of vanishing as few young women can rival the old in needlework, let alone the most intricate skill in making the Kalak. Kalak making involves sophisticated stitching, tassel weaving and horse mane coiling. Every step requires patience. Haznihan spent three years imparting the craft to her daughter.

Besides, ancient coins, the most important ornament in Kalak, are hard to find in recent years.

Actually, every household in Gaizi, like Haznihan, boasts an old Kalak that might have been passed on and carefully preserved for generations. The oldest Kalak in the village is said to be three or four hundred years old.

The Kalak is deeply rooted in the Kyrgyz culture. According to the Epic of Manas, a centuries-old epic extolling a tribal leader named Manas, Kanykei, wife of Manas, wears a Kalak headdress everyday in her life. As time fleets, Manas and Kanykei are nowhere to find, but the Kalak remains intact in the unobtrusive village of Gaizi.

The making of the Kalak consumes not only time but also sumptuous raw materials. To complete a Kalak headwear, one needs a length of 45-meter white cloth as the interior adornment. On the exterior, a lot of precious decorations will be used, like silver and gold, ancient coins, corals, agate and precious stones among others. All the things together weigh tens of kilograms.

In that case, the Kalak headwear is rare and precious, and is usually passed on for generations. Women in Gaizi prepare the headwear a few years before wedding as their dowry.

Thanks to cultural protection efforts from the government, Haznihan's worry wanes lately as the Kalak headwears are regaining eminence in her hometown on the Pamir Plateau. Once a reserved gift at weddings, the sumptuous headdress is also making increasing appearance during festivals. In Aketao County, an institution has been founded to promote the ancient costume to a wider market.

Haznihan and several other Kalak makers have started a business in the village. They work hand in hand to make tailored Kalak headwears for tourists. Each one is worth 3,000 yuan ( roughly 440 U.S. dollars) to 10,000 yuan as to how exquisite it is.

The woman is glad that her precious heirloom has found a way to keep fresh and alive.

The History Of Men & Skirts

In the UK, where I live, a debate has recently erupted over student dress codes, as gender-neutral uniforms will soon be instituted at at least one school. Though the actual issue at hand has to do with students feeling free to express their gender identity and is rather complex, the media narrative is a bit more simplified: should boys be allowed to wear skirts, just as women can now wear pants?

But what you might not get from the current discussion is the notion that pants are masculine — and skirts are feminine — is much newer than most of us think. The entire idea of skirts as specifically female dress was brought about in European thought by a combination of tailoring innovation and particular occupations; and the tradition of men in cloth wraps, skirts, tunics, robes and other non-pant items is vast and ancient. So why are we getting our minis in a twist about private school kilts being available to all students?

Skirts on men have, of course, been used as a quick method of signaling gender-conforming behavior for decades, from the glorious gown-wearing David Bowie to Kurt Cobain and Nirvana sulking around in floral dresses. However, the movement to make skirts socially acceptable wear for men — something ordinary instead of a sign of specific thought or intent — is garnering strength on the world's catwalks and among certain millennial men. What's often missing in the discussions of skirts on men is historical context, so let's get into the realities of how men have been sporting flowing hemlines for eons.

Ancient World: Skirts For All Except Horse Riders

Skirts were the matter-of-fact wear of many of humanity's most ancient civilizations, on both sides of the gender divide. Gauzy wraps and loincloths for Egyptians, togas denoting class and status for Greeks and Romans, ornate military costumes for Aztecs: many ancient costumes were based around the idea of the skirt, purely because they were easy to construct and created huge freedom of movement. Whether you were fighting, building, farming or engaging in some kind of religious ritual, skirts provided cheap and efficient use. Short skirts among soldiers from the height of the Roman Empire, noted an exhibition at the Met called "Braveheart: Men In Skirts," were considered proof of virility, and allowed for swiftness while in combat.

14th-15th Century Europe: Suddenly, There's Hosiery

However, the demarcation between trousers-for-men and skirts-for-women wasn't actually completely set in stone until around the 19th century. For an extremely long time, the tunic or short skirt was a key part of the male outfit in medieval and Renaissance Europe; just going out with hose wasn't seen as acceptable. And even when the tunic overlay fell out of fashion, trousers themselves would swell to skirt-like proportions among the fashionable; 16th and 17th century nobles in England and elsewhere, for instance, were sometimes expected to wear hose, perhaps a codpiece, and giant breeches puffed to high heaven.

Even in the 19th century, as the paint-like breeches beloved of such dandies as Beau Brummel set the hearts of ladies aflutter (because they revealed everything of a gentleman's legs and buttocks), skirted garments were still acceptable in many contexts in European society. Academics, monks and men of leisure wore gowns, all of which are still in use today.

19th Century US & Europe: Male Children Start Wearing Pants

However, in the 19th century, the practice of "breeching" came into fashion, in which small boys, somewhere between the ages of 4 and 7, were given their first pair of trousers (breeches) to show that they'd gone beyond infancy. Part of this was due to new ideas about childhood and children's brains, but it was also down to shifting perspectives on what made a "man"— which led to skirts becoming less and less acceptable for young male children.

Modern Day: Skirts For Men Are Only Taboo In Certain Cultures

Fashion, as 1883 Magazine points out, is having a decidedly male-skirted moment; many contemporary menswear lines are sending skirts down the runway, though it remains to be seen whether the look will actually percolate into the mainstream (and not just on professionally quirky fashionable types, like Jared Leto). Men's skirts have received mainstream resistance — often based around the idea that, since the skirt is inherently feminine, a man wearing one is either feminine and therefore weakened, harkening back to a less sophisticated past, or looking for attention. But the idea that skirts are entirely feminine is in fact very Western-centered.

Ancient Chinese dress finds a new following

“I felt a strong sense of affection and belonging,” the Guangzhou University design student said in an interview with the South China Morning Post. “I like the traditional culture behind it.”

Luo, a sophomore, now wears Hanfu once a week. He also joined the Hanfu Society at his school. Its members celebrate traditional Chinese festivals, clad in Hanfu, and go into the community to lecture about their garments.

Luo is by no means alone in venerating traditional Chinese attire. An increasing number of Chinese argue that Hanfu, which characterised the Han ethnic group for more than three millennia, is worthy of far greater attention today – both at home and abroad.

After vanishing from history for about 400 years, the style has gained a substantial number of followers on the mainland in the past 15 years as the country attaches more importance to tradition and calls on the public to be proud of Chinese culture.

Hanfu, Luo said, had a “more broad historical context” than he expected. He said he also admired the “historical origins and historical tales” in its components.

Most Hanfu enthusiasts, like Luo and his peers at the university, reserve their outfits for traditional festivals; only a small proportion wear them every day.

A university student recently made headlines on Chinese media for dressing in Hanfu for more than 300 days in a single year to promote the style and culture.

To complement his traditional robe, Kang Wei, a commerce and management student at Southwest Petroleum University in Chengdu, Sichuan province, wore shoes made from black cloth and, on rainy days, carried an umbrella made from oil paper, Chengdu Business News reported.

“I admire Kang’s courage to wear Hanfu every day,” Luo said. “This kind of dress is different from what people wear nowadays.”

Gao Zhiluo, a photographer from Luoyang in central China’s Henan province, is another diehard Hanfu supporter. She has worn the apparel almost every day since 2014.

When she is out and about, she said people often misunderstand her. Lots of people stare, she said, and some mock her for wearing what they assume is a cosplay outfit. Others, with a nationalistic or patriotic bent, get annoyed because they think her traditional robes are Japanese or South Korean.

“I’m never put off by what they think because I know I’ve done nothing wrong or broken any rules,” she said. “But I am sad that people have such a lack of awareness of Hanfu. They don’t know that this is what our Han ancestors wore for thousands of years.”

4 Winter Solstice Rituals From Around the World

Thousands of people around the globe will herald the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, with centuries-old rituals like soaking in fruit-filled baths and dressing up as a devilish folklore legend that punishes naughty children around Christmas.

The solstice, which falls on Dec. 21 this year, marks the first day of winter. It starts the moment the Northern Hemisphere is pointed at its farthest distance from the sun. The winter solstice is considered a turning point in the year in many cultures. The sacred day is also called Yule to pagans celebrating the birth of the new solar year, according to Circle Sanctuary, a prominent pagan group in America. Dozens of pagans and druids head to Stonehenge, an iconic site in England, to pay tribute to the sun during the solstice.

Getting scared by Krampus in Austria
Hordes of revelers descend on Hollabrunn, Austria each year during the winter solstice to watch a swarm of people dressed like Krampus — the half-demon, half-goat counterpart to Santa Claus — terrorize and tease the crowd in horned masks, fur body suits and whips. “It is weird, but it’s fun,” said Natalie Kononenko, a professor and Kule Chair in Ukrainian Ethnography Arts at the University of Alberta in Canada.

Krampus is a figure that punishes bad children by whipping and snatching them, according to Germanic folklore. The traditional Krampus run in Austria is believed to ward off bad spirits near the winter solstice, but it is also a source of local entertainment, Kononenko said. Last year, the creatures wielded torches, charged at delighted guests and jumped over security gates to lightly whip people, according to footage from the Associated Press.

While many of the costumes include giant horns, sharpened teeth and mangled faces — features that might be considered nightmarish to an ordinary person — the Krampus run annually amuses those in attendance. “It’s sort of like Halloween,” Kononenko said. “You get to dress up in these really disgusting costumes. You get to do stuff you don’t normally get to do.”

This year’s family-friendly Krampus run in Hollabrunn’s main square takes place Dec. 16. “To be really afraid again and experience evil with fun is the motto,” its organizers wrote on the event’s website.

Taking in a once-in-a-lifetime sight in Ireland
Dozens of people, lucky enough to be selected through an annual lottery, get the chance to stand inside the Newgrange monument in Ireland and absorb the first rays of the day as they fill the ancient chambers during the winter solstice.

Newgrange is a burial mound in Ireland’s Boyne Valley that is over 5,000 years old. The Stone Age monument contains a 62-foot passage that leads into a chamber that is aligned with the sun as it rises during the winter solstice, according to its website. Between Dec. 19 and Dec. 23 around dawn, sunlight pierces through the top of the chamber and slowly illuminates the room for about 17 minutes.

More than 32,500 people applied for a spot inside the chamber this year, according to Newgrange’s website. Only 60 of them were picked from the lottery to partake in this winter solstice ritual.

Soaking in baths full of fruit in Japan
In Japan, people traditionally soak in hot baths with the yuzu citrus fruit to welcome the winter solstice and protect their bodies from the common cold. During last year’s solstice celebration, children from a local preschool shared a dip in a traditional yuzu tub in the city of Toyooka as dozens of the yellow yuzu fruits surrounded them on the surface, according to Japan’s daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun. Similarly, the bath has become custom for animals in some Japanese zoos. Photos from the local media show Japanese macaques, hippos and capybaras enjoying fruit-filled baths last December in their enclosures at the Fukuoka City Zoological Garden and the Izu Shaboten Zoo.

In Korea, good luck on the solstice is associated with red bean porridge. Koreans will often make the dish both to eat and spread around the house to keep evil spirits away, according to Seungja Choi, a senior lector of East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale University. Besides its believed spiritual benefits, Choi said, the meal also contains a lot of nutrition. “If you eat this, you get healthy,” she said.

Catching the sunrise at Stonehenge
England’s famous Stonehenge lures thousands of visitors during the summer and winter solstices. Revelers gather at the prehistoric site of ancient stones in Wiltshire to sing, dance, play instruments, kiss the stones and do yoga as they wait for the sun to rise. The iconic Stonehenge is known for its precise alignment with the sun’s movement and may have been a sacred place of worship and celebration for solstices for thousands of years, according to English Heritage, which manages the popular destination.

Lewes Bonfire night parade's 'racist' costumes to be axed

Members of Lewes Borough Bonfire Society traditionally wear black face paint and extravagant accessories for the annual parade in the Sussex town.

But the leader of a Zulu dance troupe booked to perform at the event said the costumes were "incredibly offensive".

The society agreed to alter the costumes.

Thousands attend the event, which is famed for its raucous atmosphere.

Members of six bonfire societies march through the town, carrying effigies of famous or controversial figures which are eventually set alight.

Thandanani Gumede, leader of dance troupe Zulu Tradition, initially accepted an invitation to perform, but said he was inundated with images of performers in offensive dress.

'Viking and showgirl'

He said the first picture he saw - from a bonfire society's pamphlet - showed an acceptable version of the costume.

He said: "It didn't offend me because it was clear they had taken to time to make the details of the costume correct. They had the leopard skin umqhele, the 'crown', similar to my own, beads and sympathetic body paint."

However, he found subsequent images "disrespectful", and was alerted to a 1,600-strong petition to stop "the offensive practice of blacking up".

"I was really disappointed," he added, "bones through the noses, dead monkeys, skulls, horns, huge feathered headdresses.

"They looked barbaric, like a cross between a Viking and a showgirl. It was incredibly offensive. Nothing about those outfits resembled a Zulu warrior."

Mr Gumede said the society was receptive to his suggestions, and he did not believe anybody had intended to cause offence.

Mick Symes, of the society said: "These costumes have been used for 100 years, and during parades things do get a bit over-styled.

"We lost our way a bit, but we are delighted to welcome Zulu Tradition to what will be a most wonderful night."

The skulls, bones, dead monkeys and black face paint will now be omitted and more traditional headpieces created for next year.

A counter petition has the support of 600 people, and some locals commented that the tradition of painting faces had been going on for years.