100 Years Of Fashion In Chinese Cheongsam

"Western dress is shaping people.

It is a very soft fabric, it can only enlarge your beauty.

When you have enough confidence and rich heart, you will wear its taste.

Over the past 100 years, cheongsam has been blending fashion elements with subtle changes.

It always reminds us of the beauty of Chinese women.

100 years of fashion

A cheongsam made in the late 20s or early 30s did not appear to be a beautiful figure in the exhibition hall, even though it did not outline the female body in detail.

This beauty comes not only from fabric, such as machine printing or Jacquard, but also its cutting.

The works of designer Guo Pei are included in the Chinese silk museum.

Among.

She told me to make costumes for the new version of the spring of the town, so that she could understand the old cheongsam.

"I think wearing a cheongsam must have a perfect S side curve.

Screenwriter A Cheng told me that women at that time wanted to appreciate two curves, the neck to the back, and the neck to the shoulders.

So you can see that the link between the collar and shoulders of the early cheongsam is the best way to imagine the charm of the women's shoulders in the Republic of China.

As a result, Guo Pei, who has been used to improving the skills of Qipao, such as thoracolumbar, said she would not make such an original cheongsam.

"The difficulty is that it has no shoulder joints, it is a piece of cloth, and a neckline is excavated in the middle, and the big cap comes up. The place where the bottom is placed is up to 4 centimeters.

We bought 7 or plain or striped cheongsam from the secondhand goods market for a little bit of yarn to study the tailoring.

At the beginning of the movie, she saw the heroine Yuwen wearing her own white cheongsam in the decaying battlements. There was a beautiful beauty. Guo Peicai suddenly realized what A Cheng had said to her.

With the influence of western style tailoring and the injection of modern aesthetic consciousness, Qipao is moving towards a more body bound direction.

This may be related to western style underwear entering the Chinese market.

The novel in the early newspaper can also find such a description: "she smoked cigarettes, slowly rose up and stripped off the cheongsam, revealing the poplin's shorts."

Or, "she shouts the heat, takes off the Qipao, the single piece of pun silk blouse, and when the chest is tightly bound with a row of jade buttons."

The imported underwear enlarged the female body's concave and convex characteristics, so the technology of stereoscopic cutting such as the chest and waist provinces became necessary.

But this technique is also very cautious and implicit by Chinese tailors. It is more often combined with the technology of ironing and shrinking the fabric, drawing and stretching the fabric.

The structure of cheongsam varies with fashion. The most important changes are the length of the hem, the height of the collar, the number of buttons, the height of the side slit and so on.

The length of the cheongsam is a very interesting aspect, so that Cao Juren exclaimed in the spring and Autumn period of Shanghai: "a cheongsam history can not be separated from long, short, long, long and short. This telescopic table is not far from the statistical chart of the exchange."

In the 20s of last century, European and American costumes were characterized by skirts length to knees, and the dividing line between clothing and skirt fell below the hips.

Affected by this influence, the cheongsam's hem also rose and went up to the knees at the end of 20s.

Starting from 30s, Qipao heel began to grow longer. Perhaps it was at that time that women realized that with the popular stockings and high-heeled shoes, the slender cheongsam could show the lines of Eastern women better.

This also makes the cheongsam's hem become a convenient way to walk.

Therefore, the feminine silk stockings' legs are hidden in the limited steps, and Qipao has become a rare form of sexy in the history of Chinese women's clothing.

Extreme examples are the high slant cheongsam worn by the pop star Gu Meijun when he enters the field of communication. His height is high over his knees and even to his hips.

Most women with strict family education are not allowed to wear high cheongsam with slit.

Until 40s, with the deepening of the war of resistance against Japan, life became turbulent, and the cheongsam returned to the length of walking.

In the age of economic depression and shortage of materials, the cloth that was saved by short Qipao could be used to make other clothes.

Few traditional costumes can present an appropriate effect when combined with western fashion elements.

Cheongsam is undoubtedly the most perfect in this respect.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition, Professor Bao Mingxin, who studied the history of clothing in Donghua University, Shanghai, told me that in 30s, a cheongsam faction of the "clique" was westernized in some parts of cheongsam.

"For example, in the collar and sleeve, use western style clothing decoration, such as lotus leaf collar, slash collar, western style lapel and lotus leaf sleeves, slit sleeves, and some hem is also decorated with lotus leaf edges and exaggerated deformation."

Two cheongsam shows such characteristics in the exhibition.

They borrowed from the Haining Museum for the time being, and they were donated by Mrs.

"Haining man Shi Dongshan is famous for his movie" eight thousand miles of clouds and moon ".

Her wife, Hua Dun, founded a US and American company in Shanghai in 1928, which specializes in women's goods, including clothing, accessories and Kun bags.

When women walk in and come out, they can start a new look from head to toe.

Hua Danni himself is a very good designer, not only for the design of Shi Dongshan's works, but also for many of the costumes.

Zhao Feng, curator of the Silk Museum, introduced to me.

One of them is dark green rice grain printed gauze cheongsam. The collar is made of western style lapel and decorated with streamers.

The filling button is missing and replaced by plexiglass buttons.

Another red floral print cheongsam, with two rows of buttons on the front and collar, slits on both sides and a bell shaped mouth with long sleeves.

The combination of cheongsam and Western style coat can complement each other.

A widely circulated photo is a photo taken by Bernard Shaw and the Chinese civil rights protection association in 1933. Among them, Ms. Song Qingling's cheongsam is covered with a vest with knitted sweater.

The "golden combination" of the Qipao and the waistcoat is the costumes of intellectual women at that time, which can weaken the charm of cheongsam and make it more dignified.

"Wearing fur coats outside the cheongsam in winter, wearing leather and fur around collar and sleeves is fashionable.

Even if ordinary people can't wear fur, they can choose a coat called Hai Hu cashmere texture instead.

Bao Ming Xin said.

After 50s, cheongsam was gradually disappearing on the mainland, and overseas Chinese still wore cheongsam on some solemn occasions.

Because they are abroad, they dress more in Chinese and Western style.

The donation from Mrs. Bao Yugang, the "ship king", is a combination of cheongsam and Western style clothes.

In the evolution of Cheongsam in the past century, four characteristics have been formed: collar, button, waist and hem.

"It is not always possible to measure contemporary cheongsam works with it.

But at least two points can be generalized into the dress of cheongsam: first, a complete one-piece (dress), not an upper and lower body, and there are enough Chinese elements (with significant Chinese elements).

The cheongsam, worn on some occasions, needs to be fixed to represent a tradition. It can be a standard cheongsam with four elements. On the other hand, cheongsam can blend fashion elements and evolve constantly.

Cheongsam itself has such a space.

Another exhibition organizer, Wu Haiyan, Dean of the school of design art, The China Academy of Art, said.

Guo Wei Wei

The dress designed to participate in the Olympic flame collection ceremony has been described by the media as "a beautiful Chinese cheongsam", which is also in the exhibition.

"The collar that can fetter a person to fetter and set a visual effect is no longer there. Its top is more like a sponge.

But it will remind you of the memory of the cheongsam, perhaps the long embroidered piece with dragons, clouds and cranes, perhaps the length of the skirt or the processing of the waist, and you will feel this is a cheongsam.

Guo Pei told me, "if you call it cheongsam, the basis of flexibility must be cheongsam, not the element of cheongsam on the basis of a western dress.

Western dress is shaping people, it will give you a kind of beauty, everyone will wear it will be a shining princess; cheongsam is a very soft fabric, it can only enlarge your beauty.

When you have enough confidence and rich heart, you will wear its taste.

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Chinese women and cheongsam

Cheongsam has never been confined to the wearing of flag girls.

Apart from the characteristics of cheongsam itself, this is another reason why it can still be popular.

Xue Yan, the curator of the exhibition and research librarian of Silk Museum, told me that women began to wear cheongsam on a large scale in the early 20s of last century, which is beyond the expectation of anti revolutionary revolutionaries.

"The mainstream explanation is related to women's rights. The earliest cheongsam in the Republic of China is the complete men's gown, or the improved form of the male gown after feminization."

This can also be corroborated in Eileen Chang's "changing clothes": "after the five Republic, the National Women suddenly unanimously adopted cheongsam, not to be loyal to the Qing Dynasty, to advocate the restoration movement, but because women deliberately wanted to imitate men.

In China, the pronoun of women since ancient times is "three locks of hair, two clothes."

One dress and two pieces of clothing are very subtle differences. There seems to be no injustice, but women in the 1920 were more easily absorbed.

They were influenced by western culture, and were obsessed with the theory of equal rights between men and women. However, the reality and ideal were far away from each other.

Therefore, Qixing's cheongsam is cold and upright and Puritan.

Cheongsam also inherited thousands of years of Chinese robe elements.

Xue Yan said: "at the beginning of the exhibition," the robe of the flag girl "is wide and straight, with thick fabric, exquisite patterns, and decorative lace around the neckline, cuffs, skirts and hem. It is more similar to the gowns. The shape of the gowns is similar to that of the cheongsam, which is more self-cultivation and lighter in texture. But in fact, there is a far cry from the detailed analysis of the costumes." cheongsam "has absorbed the method of western dress cutting, and it is a product of the combination of eastern and Western dress culture.

In 1929, the Nanjing national government formulated the "Regulations on service", which stipulated two kinds of women's dresses, namely, split dress and Qipao.

The name "cheongsam" is not used in it, but it describes its characteristics: Qi collar, front face, right cover, length to the middle point of the knee and ankle, and the bottom of the trousers, the cuff is between the elbow and the middle point of the hand vein, and the quality is made of silk, hemp and cotton, and the color blue and button six.

Cheongsam was thus established as the "national costume" of modern Chinese women.

The earliest known title of "cheongsam" was found in 1925 in a group photo of five women dressed in robes in the Republic of China.

"It is not accurate to define cheongsam as clothing worn by Manchu women.

Among the eight banners, there are eight banner Manchuria, eight banners Mongolia and eight banners Han Army besides Aixinjueluo's imperial clan and Chu Luo.

The Eight Banners in Qing Dynasty took the Manchu as the main body and integrated the Han and Mongolian nationalities.

Cheongsam to date is also a good option for 'national costume'.

Bao Mingxin said so.

In the 30s and 40s of the golden age of cheongsam, almost every Chinese woman wore cheongsam.

Just identity is different, fabric, texture, workmanship and way of wearing are different.

In the exhibition, there is a rare hollowed cheongsam worn by the upper women at the time, with the imported lace made of white flower pattern on the blue bottom as the fabric, and with the same blue satin around it.

In contrast, cheongsam made of striped cotton and denim cloth is favored by female students or staff. Domestic cheongsam, or the Qipao made of "patriotic cloth", is a common dress for civilian women workers.

"I once saw an old picture of a silk reeling female worker.

The cotton dress Qipao worn by them does not accept the body, the small slit, the length is above the knee, this allows them to run freely in front of the machine.

Bao Mingxin told me.

Born in 1947, his childhood was already the age of Qipao, but he still had vivid memories. "Political climate changes, it is hard to find women in Qipao on the streets.

But an aunt still wears when she works at home.

It was a cheongsam with worn old gauze gauze, and the weft line behind it was broken.

She sat in front of a wooden basin and rubbed her clothes. A small crack in the waist position of the cheongsam was opened and closed regularly with the rhythm of rubbing.

Mao Weitao, the head of the Zhejiang baibaihua Opera Troupe, is also a fan of cheongsam. At the same time, he is committed to promoting cheongsam as a ceremonial dress for Chinese women.

There are two cheongsam she once wore in the exhibition.

One is the fabric of brocade brocade, "made in 80s at an old tailor in child lane.

A total of 3 modifications, until the whole cheongsam and the body can be closely linked up.

The other is to embroider the flowers and butterflies with the technique of three-dimensional embroidery on the pale blue silk. It is from the hand of Wang Qiuping, the fashion designer of the thirteen pieces of Jinling.

"Coincidentally, the history of cheongsam is in sync with the history of Shaoxing opera."

Mao Weitao told me.

In 1906, Shaoxing opera was born in the open space in front of the Xiang fire hall in Shengxian, Zhejiang. It was called "little song class", or because there were only a few simple accompaniment instruments, such as drums and Hu Qin, also known as "Du Ban".

In July 1938, a total of eight women's Shaoxing opera classes entered Shanghai, and finally settled down in that isolated city.

"I described them as two trendy braids, dressed in coarse cloth, and dressed in gold teeth as a fashionable village girl. After the baptism of urban civilization, they became a beautiful modern woman with a cheongsam under the pen of a mandarin duck and butterfly school.

This pformation also implies the literary pformation of Shaoxing opera breaking through the traditional local drama category under the promotion of Shanghai's progressive cultural celebrities.

In 1946, before the performance of the Shanghai Golden Grand Theater, Shaoxing opera, a famous actor of the ten performances, left a precious photo taken. They were later called "the ten sisters of Shaoxing opera".

That is the most prosperous period of Shaoxing opera, and all the ten Shaoxing opera predecessors are wearing cheongsam.

"When I studied in Shaoxing opera, I saw this picture, which impressed me deeply.

Predecessors are such graceful images.

After I became head of the group, a very important thing is to make a cheongsam for each actress in the Shaoxing opera group.

Mao Weitao told me.

In 2010, the German Weiss Barton Art Festival was held in China. Only two art groups were invited from the Zhejiang Baiyue Opera Troupe and the Taiwan Yun men dance ensemble Dance Troupe.

"After the performance of the new version of butterfly lovers, we have a dinner party to attend.

I specifically agreed with the sponsor that we must allow half an hour for all the actors to change their clothes.

Then all the actors dressed in custom-made cheongsam came out of the room.

This unique beauty of Chinese women is appreciated by all.