Hui costume culture is born and developed along with the Hui people, a pluralistic community. The Hui people often refer to clothing as "dress" and "wear". From the ancestors of the Hui people appearing in the land of China with neat and gorgeous clothing, unique headdresses, quite exotic and reflecting the degree of civilization of the Arab nation, to the later "customs with the countryside", and the neighboring ethnic groups in their places, mainly similar to the Han nationality, showing great adaptability, arbitrariness and locality.
However, the Hui still adhere to and retain some costume habits with Islamic characteristics and strong national characteristics, and on the basis of extensive absorption of the influence of Han and other fraternal ethnic costumes, they have formed and developed into today's Hui costumes. Over the centuries, with the changes in society, economic, scientific and technological, cultural prosperity and exchanges, Hui costumes have gradually matured, from style to color and cultural connotation, forming a costume culture with Hui characteristics.
The Hui concept of clothing is deeply influenced by Islam. The basic principle of Islam in terms of clothing is to conform to nature, pay attention to simplicity, cleanliness and beauty, and do not pursue the peculiarity of style, the brilliance of colors and the high-end luxury of materials. Islam believes that the purpose of clothing is nothing more than to cover the body from cold and decoration, and the primary purpose of covering the "shameful body" is the primary purpose. Therefore, in the Hui costume culture, the practical function of covering the body has always occupied a dominant position. Therefore, Muslims must cover different parts of their clothes, all men and women must cover the main body, women must also cover the head of the body, especially Muslim women are prohibited from wearing thin, transparent clothes or wearing clothes that only cover certain parts of the body, especially it is strictly forbidden to wear tights and pants that deliberately highlight the breasts, waist, buttocks, etc., the purpose of which is to protect human dignity, especially to protect women's personality and dignity, to prevent the occurrence of unconventional things.
Men and women must have a clear distinction in their clothing, and it is forbidden for women to dress up as men in their clothing; it is forbidden for men to dress up as women in their clothing; and it is strictly forbidden to wear clothes printed with signs. In order to maintain men's bravery and heroism, it is forbidden for men to wear gold jewelry and silk fabrics; tattoos are strictly prohibited for both men and women; eyebrow trimming, hair renewal, wigs, etc. are prohibited. Although these regulations have a certain degree of transfer and transmutation in the formation and development of the Hui people, they do not advocate luxury and weirdness, pay attention to neatness and cleanliness, and pay attention to simplicity and beauty, which have been well inherited and carried forward in the aesthetics of Hui costumes.
The Hui's tendency to color is to prefer simple, simple and natural colors, rather than colors that are too mixed and fancy. In terms of the color of clothing, the Hui people are often white, black and green. Hui advocate white, one is because of the medieval Arab custom of advocating white, this aesthetic emotion will make people have aesthetic associations, from the white in front of them to produce empathy, associated with the purity of Muslim feelings, noble morality; on the other hand, the Hui people advocate white national psychology, but also by the Han people regard white as pure, high morality of the traditional cultural psychology of the results. The dual influence of these two cultural traditions reinforces the Hui view of white as the cleanest, purest and purest color. The Hui regard green as a sacred color, and green shows youth and vitality. Hui also like to wear black clothing. Black symbolizes weight, giving people an imaginative and elegant, generous and solemn feeling. In terms of clothing color, the Hui people show that they pay attention to both practical utilitarian purposes and aesthetic decorative intentions.
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Source: Fang Zhi Inner Mongolia