Why chinese wear cheongsam

Women experimented with different fastenings, pipings, and collars, as well as short-capped sleeves, long sleeves with fur-lined cuffs, and sleeveless cheongsams. However, shortly after the rise of the Communist government, the cheongsam, which was considered bourgeois, disappeared from everyday life in mainland China. In Shanghai , the birthplace of the cheongsam, the streets were patrolled to ensure that nobody wore fashionable clothing.

Under the influence of European fashion, it was typically worn with high heels, a leather clutch, and white gloves. These mass-produced Western clothes were cheaper than handmade cheongsams, and by the early s, it no longer constituted everyday wear for most Hong Kong women.

We and our partners use cookies to better understand your needs, improve performance and provide you with personalised content and advertisements. To allow us to provide a better and more tailored experience please click "OK". Sign Up. Travel Guides. Videos Beyond Hollywood Hungerlust Pioneers of love. After the Communist Revolution in , the qipao fell out of favor. Want more? Qipao vs. Manchu Origins It all started with the Manchus.

A noble woman from the Qing Dynasty However, these qipao looked very different from what we know today. The Rise of the Chinese Flapper By the s, long gowns were back in style again, perhaps influenced by Western below-the-knee flapper dresses , and an even further slimmed down version of the original qipao emerged. The Communist Revolution Of course nothing lasts forever.

Older Post. Back to Blog. Cheongsam: Fashion, culture and gender. Roberts Ed. Sydney: Powerhouse Publishing, p. Call no. Lee, C. In the mood for cheongsam. Costumes through time: Singapore. Scott, A. Chinese costume in transition. Singapore: Donald Moore, p. Hua, M. Chinese clothing: Garment, accessory and culture. Beijing: China International Press, p. From Manchurian qipao to modern cheongsam. In popular culture, the video game Street Fighter features a character named Chun-Li, who wears a hyper-sexualized version of the cheongsam.

Her sexualization begs the question of whether Chun-Li is similar to early Chinese feminists who donned the cheongsam as a way to own their femininity while simultaneously claiming power. None of the models were of Asian descent, yet the association of Asia with appropriations of the cheongsam forwarded the stereotype of sexualized Asian women. Even though the exhibit was curated for a Western audience, the mystification of China through a Western lens fails to recognize that Chinese culture exists outside of a eurocentric perspective.

This YSL collection represents an exotic understanding of Chinese culture that pulls from its most distilled parts such as auspicious colors, icons, and fabrics and reimagines them for a Western audience. April 19, Alex Perry is a bilingual journalist.