I Sea Stripes: The Haihun Shan - Sea Stripes are big in China

The following article comes from NeochaEDGE, a daily-curated, bilingual website and discovery engine dedicated to showcasing leading-edge creative content and emerging youth culture in China, and tells how big the Breton Style Shirt, or Haihun Shan is in China.

For those that have spent time around Chinese youth, this is probably not the first time you’ve seen this blue and white striped shirt. Don’t get it?

Ladies and gentleman, allow me to introduce the Haihun Shan (海魂衫), the “soul of the sea” shirt.

In the beginning, it was just a generic undershirt for sailors and seamen, but over the years it has evolved into a sort of fashion / youth culture phenomenon. But how? OK, I’ll explain.

China wasn’t a very colorful place in the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s, in fact, the 80s weren't much of an improvement either. Essentially, clothing during the “revolutionary period” was limited to three main colors: black, white, and grey (and sometimes dark blue). If someone owned a haihun shan they were admired by all – it was considered very flamboyant and fashionable. Interestingly though, these weren’t very hard to get hold of during that time; they just weren’t worn because most people didn’t want to break the mold and standout.

As China began to reform socially, culturally, and economically in the late 80s and early 90s, He Yong (one of three members of “Moyan Sanjie,” a nickname given to three of China’s early rock pioneers under the Moyan record label: He Yong, Dou Wei, and Zhang Chu) adopted the haihun shan as his trademark. When He Yong performed on stage he always wore the shirt together with a “young pioneers” red scarf to the delight of adoring, screaming fans. It wasn’t long before the haihun shan came to represent the power of the first Chinese rock ‘n roll movement. This was the starting point of a Chinese counter-culture fashion phenomenon. From that time on, this pairing of the classic haihun shan with a simple red scarf spread like wildfire among music fans, particularly Chinese youth, as a key symbol of Chinese rock ‘n roll.

The haihun shan has since become a mainstream fashion trend. Over the past few years, Chinese music fans and local hispters have fully, almost excessively, embraced the haihun shan and red scarf combo as a retro fashion trend. Nowadays in China, you can often see these two classic elements proudly worn together with another Chinese retro classic: Warrior (回力) brand sneakers.

Sailor stripes and other elements from seamen attire isn’t just a Chinese thing, they have shown up in other markets as well – even finding their way into the French fashion sphere as a big part of haute couture designer Jean Paul Gaultier’s recent men’s and women’s lines.

All things sailor have become must have pieces for fashion lovers worldwide as they can be used almost universally to match anything whether dressing up or down. I leave you with one final thought, don’t be caught this summer without a classic Chinese haihun shan! /// 洁米