A dedicated follower of fashion

Designer gives the qipao a modern look and proves style is never dated, Xu Haoyu reports.

Few items of clothing symbolize the grace of China as much as the qipao. It’s almost a byword for elegance and practicality. It embraces the body but also allows a lot of movement. Fashion brand Chiayi focused on this traditional dress when it made its debut during China Fashion Week, which was held in Beijing between March 24 and 31, where it introduced its autumn and winter 2021 ready-to-wear collection.

The brand, which won the gold prize at the second Inheritance and Craftsmanship TCC Design Awards in 2019, gave the qipao — a traditional Chinese onepiece dress that appeared in the 1920s but can trace its origins to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) — a modern twist.

Sheng Yarong, the 40-year-old chief designer of Chiayi, says he wishes to disseminate traditional culture from a more up-to-date perspective.

He highlights the joys of simplicity, comfort and warmth throughout the collection.

With his deft touch, the softness of silk and the tenacity of wool are delicately combined with touches of warm nude pink and orange. Traditional needlework, called “random stitching”, is embellished using modern techniques, such as a fan-shaped pleat and three-dimensional applique. Designs including tassels and puffy sleeves, combined with radium metal-colored fabrics and organza, all add a sense of modernity to the traditional costume.

There’s good news for those who may question the accuracy of their weighing scales, too. The collection is not limited to the slim-cut, classic qipao style, but also adopts innovative design elements, including a layered look and irregular silhouettes, meaning the dresses can adorn the larger-framed wearer.

“Don’t think of the qipao as a dress simply made with two pieces of fabric,” says Sheng.

Sheng explains that even the vertical side split also requires a great deal of effort, including the choice of fabric, hemming, ironing and other processes. He led the team to study traditional techniques employed in making the dress from experienced craftsmen and presented the outcome to consumers.

Sheng, who set up the brand in 2013 in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, has been striving for perfection in his product design. He considers the small qipao buttons, which show the Chinese traditional “knot frog-button technique”, as an independent piece of art in their own right, and worth the days he spent researching them online and learning from samples displayed at various exhibitions.

When he prepared for the design awards in 2019, which were organized by the local government, he visited the classical gardens in Suzhou and listened to local Kunqu Opera in the hope of delivering designs that expressed the charm of the city. Finally, he created clothing inspired by the city’s ubiquitous flower, the Osmanthus. He named the work after an ancient Chinese poem that praises the beauty of the city, and successfully claimed the top prize.

The brand has set up a studio that focuses on research, inheritance and innovation of the traditional craftsmanship.

As Chiayi’s chief designer, Sheng adds his observation of local history and culture to all his designs. He once visited the 72 alleys in Suzhou’s Shengze town and drew inspiration from the patterns on tiles and handrails he saw.

“Our journey from Suzhou to Beijing takes us a few hours on the train, plus unremitting effort over the past eight years,” Sheng says. “I hope that more Suzhou brands will have the chance to introduce themselves to a wider audience in the future.”

Sheng majored in fashion design at the Suzhou Institute of Silk Textile Technology, now part of Soochow University. After graduating in 2003, he found a job at a leading silk company in Shengze.

His more than six years of experience at the firm gave him the skills and confidence to start his own business as a professional designer.

In 2008, one of Sheng’s former colleagues, Huang Qiuting, resigned from the company and started a business exporting and selling low-end silk products online. He convinced Sheng to join him.

Sheng and Huang were both born in Shengze in the 1980s, where silk had been the pillar industry. However, the duo found that the profit margins were tight.

Sheng reveals that, because conventional silk products can be easily imitated, they wanted to create quality products that would set the standard for expertise. To add value to them, the pair wanted to build a brand.

Their chance came in 2013. To encourage entrepreneurship, China Shengze Textile Science and Technology Pioneer Park provided regular, rent-free premises for emerging talent. Sheng’s team was successful in its application. Without the pressure of meeting the demands of monthly rent, they used their financial resources by investing in product development. With Sheng working on design and Huang working on marketing, Chiayi was born.

Considering their location, the qipao was a natural choice. “First, the silk industry in Shengze is well-developed, the exquisite silk and the elegance of the qipao bring out the best in each other and it is a key representative of traditional culture,” Shen says.

The designer says they want to contribute to protecting and passing on that culture by innovating the design of the qipao to meet the habits and tastes of modern consumers by combining fashionable colors and fabrics, making it more suitable for daily wear.

Our journey from Suzhou to Beijing takes us a few hours on the train, plus unremitting effort over the past eight years.” Sheng Yarong, chief designer of Chiayi

PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Sheng Yarong, chief designer of fashion brand Chiayi, and his models meet the audience after its autumn and winter 2021 collection show during China Fashion Week, which was held in Beijing between March 24 and 31. The brand focuses on innovating the design of the qipao, a Chinese traditional dress.