In the book Fashioning Chinese Women: Empire to Modernity and its eponymous exhibit at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Michaela Hansen qualifies the cheongsam as an ever evolving fashion mainstay. Both the book and the exhibit (now closed) focus on the historical evolution of fashion for Chinese women concluding with a substantial analysis of the cheongsam (Cantonese) or qipao (Mandarin). It’s safe to assert that the evolution to which Hansen alludes is irrevocably tied to women’s ongoing redefinition and reformulation of fallacies imposed by a patriarchal system.
In the book The History of Chinese Qipao Culture, Professor Liu Yu from Donghua University writes: "Initially unadorned and loosely cut, resembling Han men's robes, the Shanghai-style qipao served as a 'battle robe' inspired by male attire. It was a cry for gender equality, expressing inner aspirations through outward appearance — a symbol of female independence and liberation.”
With time, the dress transformed into the de facto garment of women who sought to communicate modernity and self-determination while maintaining a connection to their cultural character.
Female university students wearing the simple early 1940s qipao at Yenching Women’s University in Nanjing; source unknown
The green cheongsam, modeled by a miniature version of the exhibit’s mannequin and sold exclusively at LACMA’s store, is the focus of this November entry.
From the black textured satin box to the white gloves enclosed for the collector to wear before handling the doll, Chinoiserie speaks of care and attention to doll manufacture. The doll’s vinyl, matte and smooth, emulates the tone given to the exhibit’s mannequins while the hairstyle - a modernized raven Marcel Wave - is referential to vintage Shanghai magazine covers.
Delicately beaded fabric emulates the green and black chiné a la branche textile of the original while genuine jade jewelry finishes this tribute to a fashion icon.
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For this entry, Dolldom’s stylists selected all props for their Chinese provenance to reiterate our appreciation for the elevated standards of manufacture that produced them as well as the doll. From 1:6th scale wood furniture to decorative soapstone carvings, all the items were acquired in Chinese-owned businesses in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
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