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.