Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2017 | Page 57

into a high cut dress with a revealed leg and shoulders, almost like what the westerners wear in summer.
There were multiple variations of sleeves and collars, V necks, long sleeves, slit sleeves and ruffled collars
and more. One of the most popular patterns were having various nature of florals. Some of the designs
woman tailored were more risk taking and some were more of the safe choice. Many people enjoyed
designing their own Qipao as they would mix up their styles with the modernized clothes and adding
accessories to give the style more of a unique ‘pop’. In 1949, foot binding was put an end to.
In 1950, a few people only wore the Qipao. It almost died out from the stereotypical Chinese everyday
lifestyle. The dresses were more categorised as cultural clothing worn on special occasions. Many Qipao
businesses and collections around Shanghai were either gotten rid of, destroyed or even burned. Women
started wearing tighter and revealing clothes to emphasis their feminine curves, and as Western styles
became the “new thing”, the makeup and accessories that goes with it became bolder and adventurous.
The popularity of the traditional Qipao dresses were introduced to Hong Kong, mostly known as the
Cheongsam as Cantonese was one of the main languages in Hong Kong instead of Mandarin. Designers
today are creating sophisticated and fearless Cheongsams and the new trend is the fish tail.