Qipao’s Are The Epitome Of Traditional Chinese Girls Fashion
I have loved Qipao’s from the first moment I set my eyes on one. They are stylish, sexy, efficient and everlasting. They conform to the Chinese body as if God had designed them himself. If it wasn’t for Qipao’s I may have never been sidetracked into 15 years in China.
It was a hot July early evening in 2002 when I first landed in China at the Beijing international airport in an American Airlines 747. After 14 hours in the air the longest flight of my life up to that point I was tired and ready to find a bed. But I would soon find out that I had another two hour flight awaiting me and the eight others of us in the trade mission. We where heading to Shenyang the capital of Liaoning province in the northeast of China.
I had no, no idea what to expect about anything. I didn’t even want to go on this trip but my colleagues talked me into it. Well we arrived in Shenyang about 11pm it was quite late and we still needed to get to the hotel. As we headed up the airport ramp I could see some really bright white lights at the end of the ramp. I finally made out them as I got closer, they were television cameras there to record our arrival. That was surprising, as we thought who do they think we are? We were just ordinary business people coming from Los Angles looking to find Chinese businesses interested in what we had to offer in LA. That aside, it was the line of tall slender Chinese girls each in a lovely Qipao and each holding a bouquet of fresh flowers for each of us that quickly caught all of my attention. I was like, how in the world have I missed these beauties all my life. HahaI
I hope in the future on another blog I will have time to carry on with that story, hehe. It was funny. So stayed tuned. Anyway, back to the subject of this post the Qipao.
We can trace the Qipao basic design back to the turn of the 20th century in the waning parts of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) when the upper class Manchu women still wore long robes with side slits much like the men of the ruling classes. But the Qing dynasty was slowly coming to its sad end and the new republic with new ideas about women’s liberation was starting to emerge. Suddenly the Qipao began the process of transforming itself from a baggy male style fashion into the slimmer sexier body hugging style that finally blossomed during the height of Shanghai’s wild 20’s and which is still with us today.
Shanghai was in the late 20’s referred to as the Paris of the East and it was full of glamor, sex and sins of all kinds (would have loved to see that). It was also the fashion capital of Asia and the Qipao had a starring role.
As 1937 rolled around so did the Sino-Japanese War, the war put an end to the Qipao’s popularity as shortages of money and fabrics muted the glamor of the Qipao and it turned into a simpler more modest garment (these simple styles of Qipao are still popular today).
As the war ended and the civil war was decided in favor of the communists the nation focused on uniformity and simplicity and the “Mao suit” took over the Chinese “fashion world”…which mean the Qipao was no longer welcome on the mainland.
But all was not lost, as the rich and famous fled the communists to Hong Kong and other safe havens they brought with them the Qipao in all its glory. The Qipao was saved and it slowly resurrected itself on the world’s fashion stages over time.
As the wealth of mainland China steadily started growing from the 1990’s on and the government started to open up, the Qipao has successfully returned to it’s humble mainland beginnings and has once again been embraced by Chinese girls throughout China and the world.
The Qipao is now frequently seen on the streets of China and that I must say is a blessing to society.
I have more than once shopped for and purchased a Qipao for a beautiful Chinese girl or two and hope to do so again. It’s a very satisfying thing to do for your girlfriend and for yourself. If you want to experience it, think about getting one for someone special. I have a collected a couple good places for you to start looking and have shared them below. Just check out the links and enjoy the experience, there are so many different styles and colors to choose from you will be amazed.
