This panelled skirt is known as ma mian qun ('horse-face skirt'), a reference to the shaped panels. The skirt is made from two segments of pale-blue silk damask, secured into a white cotton waistband, overlapping each other. Each piece comprises a straight, densely embroidered panel and a pleated panel. When the skirt is worn in a wraparound style, the decorated panels form the front and back, with the pleats flaring out at the sides.
Every individual pleat is defined with narrow bias-cut black satin, embroidered with floral and butterfly motifs at the bottom in white and shades of blue. The recessed space between each pleat is similarly embroidered with further stems and branches of flowers, offering glimpses of the pattern when the wearer moves. A three-quarter-length jacket would have been worn over the skirt, so the embroidered details have been kept to the lower section, where they would have been visible.