Chinese New Year And The Cheongsam

Year of The Rabbit! Source:ikiyouyou.deviantart.com

Another of the most celebrated festivals in this region is here again! Yes, I’m talking about Chinese New Year. This year, the first day of the Year of The Rabbit falls on the 3rd of February, and that’s just less than a mere week away!

Cakes, friends, decorations, ang paus, fireworks! Ok, maybe not fireworks, since I had heard that it’s banned again this year. But then again, I still think we’ll be able to see some despite all that.

And most of what you’ll see is the colour RED!

Red is one of my favourite colours to wear. It’s vibrant, feminine and looks good with my skintone. Well, at least I think it looks good on my skintone.

In the Chinese culture, the colour redcorresponds with fire and symbolizes good fortune and joy. With the red ang paus, not only are you getting money, you are also given wishes of good luck.

While for Hari Raya, you see a lot of women going to their tailors for gorgeous variations of the baju kurung; for Chinese New Year, there are only a handful of women actually going to make cheongsams.

Cheongsam in Cantonese; Qi Pao in Mandarin.

I think we should start a trend of wearing cheongsams for Chinese New Year, because I think the cheongsam is one of the most gorgeous piece of clothing there is. Made with brocade, beautifully embroidered, figure-flattering, elegant and multitudes of colours, what’s not to like?

But the cheongsam (or qi pao) did not start out looking this sexy.

Traditional qi paos during the Qing Dynasty.

The qi pao is brought over to China by the Manchurians during the Qing Dynasty; and was originally styled wide and loose. The clothing covers the entire body except for the head, hands and tips of the toes.

The modern cheongsam, that we know today, was developed in Shanghai in the 1920′s and was evolved to be more form-fitting and revealing than the originalcheongsam. Sleeves became shorter, slits appeared, more variety in colours.

The modern cheongsam made popular by high class courtesans and celebrities in Shanghai in the 1920′s. Source: huatongoversea.com

The cheongsam is so sleek and attractive, that it even made its way into the Western world, thanks to Nancy Kwan in the classic 1960′s filem, The World of Suzie Wong.

The World of Suzie Wong

Today, the fashion-conscious seek even more ways to modernize thecheongsam and designers did their best to infuse the 21st century fashion into the cheongsam.

NE Tiger Designs, 2010 Summer Spring Collection. Source: weddinginspirasi.com

NE Tiger Designs, 2010 Summer Spring Collection. SourceL weddinginspirasi.com

2010 Spring Women’s Collection, Phillip Lim. Source: theonionmaniac

From ‘Qi Pao With A Modern Twist’ contest at Orchard Central, February 2010. Source: Eddie Guyuno Flickr

Bell Brocade Dress.

If you’re feeling cheongsam-inspired by now and raring to go get one yourself, then drop by the recently featured JX Collections in Kuala Belait to check out their collection of cheongsams. Even if you don’t live in KB, you can order from their Facebook page here.

That’s pretty much the end of this post. But I’ve got one more thing to add.

Earlier today, at lunch, a friend was talking about doing some nail arts forChinese New Year. So I thought of throwing some bonus pictures of nail art designs I found, to inspire those of you who also plan to get your nails done.

Hope these designs give you some creative ideas. Personally, I like the last one with the grey rabbit peeping out. 

sources:  www.orchidrow.com