Physical description Dress, the style known as a qipao or cheongsam, printed satin in blue with design in white and brown. Full-length with side slits. High, stiffened neckband, three-quarter length sleeves. Closing to the right with black satin knot buttons. Edged all around with a posssibly European lace trim. Place of Origin China (made) Date 1930-1940 (made) Artist/maker Unknown Materials and Techniques printed silk Descriptive line Woman's dress, printed satin in lilac, brown and white, China, 1930-1940 Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no) Rosemary Crill, Jennifer Wearden & Verity Wilson, Dress in Detail from Around the World (London: V&A Publications, 2000), page numbers 24 & 25 Materials Silk (textile) Techniques Printing Categories Textiles; Women's clothes Collection East Asia Collection The exceptionally high neck on this dress is one of the features that particularly marks out the twentieth-century Chinese garment style known as cheongsam or qipao. The neckband has a stiff interlining to ensure it stand upright when the dress is worn. A black lace trim has been sewn all around the neck and this frames the wearer's face. Although attention might come to be focused on the wearer's head because of the concentrated decoration, the lace trim, an import from Europe, continues along the collarbone closure, down the side and across the hem and cuffs of the dress. This framing device harks back to the rows of trimming on women's gowns of an earlier period.
Physical description Dress, the style known as a qipao or cheongsam, printed satin in blue with design in white and brown. Full-length with side slits. High, stiffened neckband, three-quarter length sleeves. Closing to the right with black satin knot buttons. Edged all around with a posssibly European lace trim. Place of Origin China (made) Date 1930-1940 (made) Artist/maker Unknown Materials and Techniques printed silk Descriptive line Woman's dress, printed satin in lilac, brown and white, China, 1930-1940 Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no) Rosemary Crill, Jennifer Wearden & Verity Wilson, Dress in Detail from Around the World (London: V&A Publications, 2000), page numbers 24 & 25 Materials Silk (textile) Techniques Printing Categories Textiles; Women's clothes Collection East Asia Collection The exceptionally high neck on this dress is one of the features that particularly marks out the twentieth-century Chinese garment style known as cheongsam or qipao. The neckband has a stiff interlining to ensure it stand upright when the dress is worn. A black lace trim has been sewn all around the neck and this frames the wearer's face. Although attention might come to be focused on the wearer's head because of the concentrated decoration, the lace trim, an import from Europe, continues along the collarbone closure, down the side and across the hem and cuffs of the dress. This framing device harks back to the rows of trimming on women's gowns of an earlier period.