Fashion’s love affair with La Femme Chinoise
For the West, China was always the exotic, the opulent, the mysterious. It was the unknown, other side of the world as chronicled in The Travels of Marco Polo, a book that caused a sensation in Europe in the 13th century when the Venetian merchant traveler returned from the Far East to tell his fantastic tales of a faraway land
with alluring women walking daintily with very short steps, dressed in the finest silk.
China’s influence on western fashion began actually with silk, a luxury fabric initially reserved for rulers with its production kept a closely guarded secret in China for about 2,000 years. It eventually made its way westward, reaching the height of trade after the Silk Road opened in the 2nd century. The Romans started trading with Asia not long after their conquest of Egypt in 30 B.C. and had already acquired a prodigious appetite for the exquisite cloth. The demand was so great that the Roman Senate tried to ban wearing it for economic and moral reasons. Importing the textile resulted in vast amounts of gold leaving Rome to the point where silk garments were perceived as decadent and immoral. “I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even one’s decency, can be called clothes,“wrote the Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger. He observed how “wretched flocks of maids labor so that the adulteress may be visible through her thin dress, so that her husband has no more acquaintance than any outsider or foreigner with his wife’s body.”
Aside from the precious fabric, the Silk Road brought other prized goods like blue and white porcelain, tea, precious gems, carpets and lacquered objects, among others. As styles in fashion and the decorative arts evolved from Medieval to Renaissance to Baroque and Rococo, fascination with China continued to grow. Since the origin of all these imported items was a mystery for Europeans, they were considered rarities that captured their imagination. Based on arts and crafts that reached them, they conjured visions of the east in their designs for fabrics and objects, which came to be known as Chinoiserie in the middle of the 17th century.
Although trade with Asia had increased, there was still restricted access and a limited firsthand experience of the Orient, contributing to mystification and misinformation. Inaccurate as their ideas may have been, Europeans nevertheless retained an attraction and respect for the Chinese who had an advanced civilization with exquisitely finished art and whose court ceremonies were even more elaborate than those at Versailles. The French Enlightenment writer Voltaire observed that “four thousand years ago, when we did not know how to read, the Chinese knew everything essentially useful of which we boast today.” This culture on the other side of the world was considered so rich that it rivaled the civilizations of Rome and Greece.
By the 1700s till the 1800s, Chinoiserie was so widespread that Chinese flowers and symbols became crucial details to be incorporated in the embroidery of the dresses worn by fashionable ladies in France and England. Manufacturers started printing fabrics with Oriental scenes like pagodas and temples and started dyeing cloth in colors once only seen on imported Chinese fabrics like a pale golden yellow and a light green called “Chinese green.” Some clothing styles like the banyan imitated the Chinese. This informal robe worn by men at home instead of a justaucorps or suit coat had a high collar, long sleeves, an opening that crossed over the chest to tie, just under the right shoulder. The banyan was so popular that wealthy men would have their portraits painted wearing it with a cap instead of more formal clothing. For women, the hanfu dress, with a similar opening that crossed over the chest but had very wide sleeves and a wide belted waist, was adopted for silk robes and lingerie.
The Chinese dress style to create the most waves, however, came in the 1920s when the cheongsam or qipao became popular. This body-hugging, one-piece dress with Manchu roots was created in Shanghai and made famous by socialites and upper-class women like Soong May-ling and Oei Hui-lan, more famous as Madame Chiang Kai-Shek and Madame V.K. Wellington Koo. The first was the very sharp wife and right hand of the political leader who became the president of the National Republic
The Chinese dress style to create the most waves was the cheongsam, which became popular in the 1920s.
of China or Taiwan, after being defeated by Mao Zedong. The second was the third wife of the powerful diplomat who was ambassador to Paris, London and Washington, and later became one of the founding fathers of the United Nations.
Their stature and their glamour helped promote the cheongsam which they wore often during their trips abroad, worn together with their fine jewelry and furs. They were the precursors of the modern Chinese style of the early 20th century, a new charismatic femininity that distanced itself from the rigid imperial robes as well as the artificial exoticism of the stars of Shanghai and Hollywood.
One of these actresses was Anna May Wong, a ChineseAmerican who was considered the first Asian American to gain international recognition. Although she was a film star by 1924, she became frustrated by the stereotypical roles she reluctantly played in Hollywood. She left for Europe where she appeared in many notable plays and films and later returned to the US where she did movies that portrayed Chinese Americans in a positive light. She also became a fashion icon in her own right, providing inspiration for designers to this day.
Probably the height of China mania can be seen in the fantastic balls of the mid 20th century like the lavish Le Bal Oriental hosted by the eccentric multimillionaire art collector Carlos de Beistegui at his Palazzo Labia in Venice in 1951. Referred to as “the party of the century,” the 1,000 invited guests included artists, aristocrats and celebrities from around the world, preparing their outfits up to six months before the event. There was supposedly an extraordinary line of chauffeur-driven Rolls Royces seen in procession on the road to Venice, with large Dior boxes containing costumes strapped to their roofs. Guests planned the most elaborate costumes and rehearsed their entrance days before. Arturo Lopez Willshaw, renowned collector and party giver who had always loved China and its artifacts came with his wife as Emperor and Empress, making the most spectacular entrance aboard a specially built junk together with their entourage which included Arturo’s lover, Baron Alexis de Redé who dressed like the last boy emperor with a crown, staff and sword. Comfort was not a concern: The Vicomtesse de Bonchamps came in a pagoda gown and headdress, all made of metal which precluded her from sitting down at any time during the evening.
On the more proletarian side, the utilitarian Mao suit, a four-pocket tunic suit associated with the Chinese Communist era of Chairman Mao Zedong, became fashionable in the late ‘60s and ‘70s among Western European socialists and worn over a turtle neck. It evolved into many versions, some more luxe in silk without pockets.
Nothing could be more luxurious, however, than Yves Saint Laurent’s 1977 collection of chic ensembles that re-contextualized Chinese garments and influences with his trademark proportions and brilliant color combinations in the most opulent fabrics. He also launched the highly successful “Opium” perfume, a tribute to the addictive, recreational drug of the east.
In the ‘90s, Karl Lagerfeld also reinvented Chinese looks with his lush, beaded interpretations of the cheongsam for Chanel. John Galliano had slinky embroidered gowns for the partying femme fatales. Vivienne Tam, a Hong Kong native, made Chairman Mao hip again with her photoprint slip dresses.
In contemporary times, the romance of China continues to provide inspiration, regularly appearing in the collections of the top fashion houses. With the growing influence of China as a major world power in the economic, political and cultural spheres, fashion conglomerates have been opening boutiques in Beijing and Shanghai and houses like Chanel have launched collections there with spectacular fashion shows and media blitzes.
The most awaited international fash- ion event, the Metropolitan Museum annual fashion exhibit and gala party in New York, chaired by Vogue’s Anna Wintour, even devoted their 2015 edition to the growing superpower with “China: Through The Looking Glass,” one of the most attended and publicized exhibits in the MET’s history. Featuring fashion creations by renowned couturiers, juxtaposed with Chinese art and artifacts as well as clips from cinema that have influenced designers, the exhibit was quite controversial, with many critics from the mainland dismissing the exhibit as an inaccurate portrayal of what China is all about. Although some designers like Galliano actually did in-depth research of Chinese costumes, arts and architecture aside from visiting the country, others admitted that it was just films like Wong Kar-Wei’s In The Mood for Love that fueled their collections. “It’s a fantasy vision of China,” Wintour said in an interview, as a riposte to the critics. And perhaps in fashion, that’s what really matters.
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