Chinese-style clothing grows popular in US stores

A new trend of Chinese-style clothing, especially the so-called "Mandarin jacket", traditionally called tangzhuang, has become popular in the United States and abroad this spring and summer in clothing stores like Zara.

The aesthetic, dubbed "Neo-Chinese Style" in English, appears under the hashtag xinzhongshi on social media and has been declared a major 2026 fashion craze on TikTok and Instagram among Generation Z and other age groups.

"These jackets are clearly Asian-inspired," Desiree Jones, 55, from New York, told China Daily while shopping at a Zara store in Manhattan.

"I gravitate to that. It's fire. It pulls you in. It's the button placement and the structure of the jacket and the collar. That's where you really see that Asian cut. I see no problem with there being more Asian — or Chinese-inspired fashion in US stores because a lot of Americans are going to Asia, so it's nice we're mixing cultures."

The styles that are currently most popular adopt traditional Chinese tailoring such as Mandarin collars, pankou, or frog buttons, alongside Western tailoring. Horse-face skirts, known as mamianqun, are available for sale on Amazon.

Some of the most sought-after Tang-style jackets are being sold by Zara, a fast-fashion Spanish retailer with stores in at least 96 countries.

One sleek, black, stylish, Zara Mandarin jacket costs $149. Another white one was part of a prominent window display in New York.

Monica, 30, from Ecuador, was browsing through the racks of a Zara in Brooklyn midweek when one of the black Mandarin-style jackets caught her eye.

"I love this style," she said while trying it on. "I think of pretty Chinese models when I see this jacket. I want to look like that. I like the buttons, color, everything really. It's got a real Chinese vibe to it. It's very cool. I'll style it with light-colored jeans."

Summer trend

Lace, short-sleeved tops or shirts with a high collar and frog buttons are tipped to be a big trend this summer. So too are qipao.

Another viral, sporty offering is the Adidas Chinese New Year jacket, available in the US from May 1, which costs $150.

Before the jacket went viral worldwide on social media, it was exclusive to China, and then it was sold in Europe.

But while the latest look is a must-have among shoppers of all races, its sudden popularity has divided Chinese social media users.

Some like it, while others see it as cultural appropriation.

Vanessa Li, a 26-year-old Chinese Australian content creator, made a video in January with the opening words "my culture is not a trend".

Li's video has been liked over 71,100 times as of Monday.

She dislikes that tangzhuang is now predominantly known in the West as a Mandarin jacket.

She sees countless fashion brands selling the style but not acknowledging the culture it's from.

Li says she believes there is a "fine line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation".

While appreciation is welcome, she does not want to see brands profiting from other cultures without crediting their origins, or real names. "That's not appreciation, that's appropriation," she says in her video.

Instead, she encourages people not to view the latest fashion as just a trend but as part of thousands of years of Chinese history, craftsmanship and cultural meaning.

She also urges shoppers to support Chinese fashion designers.