How to wear a Chinese hairpin with everyday clothes

The question we get most often is some version of: can I wear this with jeans? The answer is yes, and the reason it works is proportion. A silk flower reads as jewellery when it is small relative to the body and placed where the eye already goes, at the back of the head, at the shoulder, at the lapel.

Start with the hair, not the flower

A pin needs something to go into. If your hair is short, a brooch is the easier first piece. If it is long enough to gather, a single pin placed through a low bun or a French twist holds best. Combs need more hair than pins and sit most securely when the hair has been brushed back without product.

• Fine hair: choose a comb over a pin, and use a small amount of texture spray at the root.
• Thick hair: a long pin (12 cm or more) will pass through a bun without bending. Ours are brass for this reason.
• Short hair: a brooch on a coat collar or a bag strap gives the same effect without the styling.

The colour problem

Ronghua was designed to be seen against dark hair and dark fabric. On a white shirt, a pale ivory flower can disappear. If you want the piece to be the focus, wear it against a colour that contrasts: rust, ink, deep green. If you want it to be a quiet detail, match it to the fabric and let the texture do the work.

What to avoid

Two things make silk flowers read as fancy dress rather than as jewellery. The first is scale: a flower wider than the palm of your hand needs an occasion and a hairstyle built for it. The second is mixing too many period elements at once. One ronghua pin with modern clothes looks deliberate. A pin, a fan and a full hanfu look needs the whole outfit to be intentional.

Keeping it in place

Silk is light, but copper wire has memory. Store the piece flat or in its box, never crushed at the bottom of a bag. Before wearing, bend the stem very slightly so the pin follows the curve of your head. After wearing, wipe the metal with a dry cloth and put the piece back in its box. Perfume and hairspray are the two things that will dull the silk fastest.