Recalling the Cheongsam Incident in Old Shanghai

Jin Taijun, born in Shanghai in 1930, joined Lao Hongxiang at the age of 14, becoming the only descendant of the second generation of the Jin family to learn clothes. Recalling the "Cheongsam Incident" at that time, his face was full of warmth. As a China native and a direct descendant of Hongxiang Company, the Cheongsam incident in 1930s was full of hair, but when it comes to that history, 76-year-old Jin Taijun always shows a proud look in his eyes. Hongxiang is the pride of China people. Before liberation, Shanghai had its own clothing brand. At that time, all the people who came to Hongxiang to make clothes were celebrities in the political and literary circles. /kloc-entered Hongxiang at the age of 0/4, and Jin Taijun became the only descendant of the second generation of the Jin family to learn clothing. The office is on Nanjing West Road, spacious and bright. With him, there is also a Jewish designer and a fitting model. Mr. Jin's seat is next to the French window, and you can see the shops and people outside the window in a blink of an eye. Holding chalk, from drawing to cutting, 60 years have passed, and these processes have not changed. "Fashion pays special attention to the three-dimensional sense of modeling. Men's wear can generally be cut. According to the rules, after the women's pattern is completed, it needs simple splicing to make a sample dress. " Usually a tailor can make two sets a day, and then let the model try them on and modify them. "We often come back the next day after finishing the first day, mainly to see if the details are in place." From the production process, the cheongsam in the 1930s gradually changed. The cuffs and shoulders are smaller, and the waist, hem and chest are tightened, but the length is still below the calf. In addition, the cutting structure changes from plane to three-dimensional. Speaking of this, Jin Taijun reached out and gestured: "It used to be flat on the table, but now it's not working. The most special thing is that the cheongsam at that time increased the chest province, similar to the cover. This is very iconic, because before that, women were tied up and tied tightly to their chests. In the 1930s, influenced by foreign culture, women began to highlight the chest curve. " Movie stars and women workers in cotton mills wear cheongsam. Shanghai in the 1930s was very close to international fashion. You can see foreign Vogue, Harper's, Bazaar and other fashion magazines, as well as original paper-cut books and Hollywood movies that are very popular in Shanghai. After work, Jin Taijun often goes to the cinema early, finds a sofa to sit down, drinks tea leisurely and observes the clothes of the guests coming and going. He will write down the clothes of foreign actors in movies and draw styles when he gets home. In Shanghai before, Chinese and western tailors were separated. Cheongsam was originally the patent of China tailors, but because of the large consumption of cheongsam, more and more shops specializing in western-style clothing began to make cheongsam, and so did Lao Hongxiang. "Mainly for the convenience of customers, because many people wear cheongsam inside and a suit jacket outside. By the mid-1940s, cheongsam had been completely westernized and extended to the present style. At that time, it was called improved cheongsam, also called Chinese and western cheongsam, unlike the current cheongsam. " What is the consumption of cheongsam? Mr. Jin Lao said: "Women of almost all ages wear cheongsam, including primary school students. At that time, cheongsam was made of cotton, leather and various materials and was worn all year round. It's not just the rich who wear cheongsam. At that time, women workers in Shanghai cotton mill also wore cheongsam because it was cooler. " Delicate people will definitely change several sets of cheongsam when they get married. Mr. Jin recalled that when he got married, his lover changed into four sets of cheongsam, embroidered with the pattern of Mei Ju, in addition to two sets of dresses. My wife wore cheongsam until liberation. It is a very tempting and challenging job for Master Hongxiang to be a worker of Hongxiang according to the commission of turnover. More than half of the sales staff can speak fluent English. They have to receive 3-7 years of training, learn to cut and sew, and then they can become salespeople. Income is calculated according to the commission of the transaction. If you sell 100 pieces of clothes, the monthly income is equivalent to the value of 4.5 pieces. In the current market, if the price of each garment is 2000 yuan, then the monthly income of sales staff is 9000 yuan.

In Laohongxiang, there is a team dedicated to making cheongsam. Jin Taijun clearly remembers the skilled Master Zhang who led a team of 6-7 people to conquer cheongsam. "It's expensive to make clothes in Hongxiang." Ordinary customers, if they specialize in making cheongsam, will go to the small shop outside. At that time, most of the small tailor shops were in the form of a master with several apprentices. Usually, there are no decent shops, and most of the time they provide door-to-door service. Most people who come to Hongxiang to make cheongsam are rich. They usually do it together, such as making a coat and adding a cheongsam. "At that time, to make a long coat, the salary paid to the workers alone was 20.2 yuan, not including the fabric, so the salary of a coat was at least 50 yuan, and the price of cheongsam was about 10-20 yuan. The small tailor shop outside might only need 4-5 yuan." Although the price of making a cheongsam by Lao Hongxiang was a few somersaults in a small shop outside, there was always an idea that it was worthless not to go to Longfeng or Hongxiang to make a cheongsam. From his father who was a tailor, Jin Taijun learned solid cutting techniques. He believes that cutting and design are inseparable parts. "Without cutting and craftsmanship, it is impossible to be a good designer. Designers can't just paint. " At that time, China's cutting technology was already remarkable. Jin Taijun recalled that an Englishman came to apply for a job as a tailor, and he also showed his professional diploma obtained in Britain, demanding that his salary be three times that of Master Hongxiang. Jin Taijun holds two identical design renderings, allowing foreign tailors to compete with Master Hongxiang on the same stage. As a result, Master Hongxiang has finished painting, and the foreign tailor is still immersed in painting. Measurement steps: All-body 36 cheongsam must be made by hand. Just "measuring" this step, you need to measure 36 places all over the body, and there are hundreds of button patterns. However, with the impact of popular fashion and the acceleration of the pace of life, at present, the traditional cheongsam making skills are on the verge of extinction, and few people can wear cheongsam made by traditional techniques again. In the movie In the Mood for Love, Maggie Cheung wore more than 20 sets of cheongsam, and her graceful figure touched the hearts of many viewers. Just like a gust of wind blowing people's desire for beauty, a cheongsam can always wear a variety of customs. Since then, cheongsam shops have blossomed everywhere. Although there are many cheongsam clothing stores on the streets of Shencheng, according to experts from Shanghai Art Research Institute, the real cheongsam must be made by hand, and only the step of "measuring" requires measuring 36 parts of the whole body and hundreds of button patterns. By this standard, the practices of many cheongsam shops are obviously too rough. Jin Taijun, the old tailor of Hongxiang, also told reporters that the common decoration methods mainly include embedding, rolling, embedding, swinging, plate, embroidery and pasting, which are almost completely close to the methods used now. For example, there is a fancy called Ruyitou, which is very technical. "I have seen the best handmade clothes, and there are probably more than 200' Ruyitou' to decorate them, but now it is estimated that no one has made them. It is a pity." "Cheongsam is tailored to the skin, well-made and unique in decoration. The most important thing is to pay attention to tailoring and manual skills. However, due to exquisite craftsmanship and long time consumption, it has been impacted by the development of modern clothing, and traditional crafts are on the verge of extinction. " Gao Chunming said this. Zhang Liming, director of the office of Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, said: "What needs to be protected is not the cheongsam itself, but its production process. If we don't pay attention to the further inheritance and protection of skills, we will never find them again in a few years. " It is understood that the Shanghai Academy of Art and Shanghai Longfeng Hanfu, a "Chinese Time-honored Brand" enterprise, have declared the production process of cheongsam, and the final result will be announced on June 9, "Cultural Heritage Day". In addition, experts from Shanghai Art Research Institute are also taking this "World Heritage Application" as an opportunity to comb the development history of cheongsam again. This cheongsam is interwoven with social fashion, aesthetic psychology and cultural customs in the transition period of modern history. In the future, a large-scale cheongsam clothing exhibition will be held to show the citizens the long culture it contains. According to reports, cheongsam was originally the dress of the flag bearer of the Qing Dynasty. It has the characteristics of standing collar, big right chest and slit at the bottom, which is very suitable for the body shape characteristics of orientals. The development of cheongsam is linked with Shanghai. Gao Chunming, director of Shanghai Art Research Institute, said that cheongsam was named after "the clothes of the flag bearer". Although it appeared in the north, its "birthplace" is Shanghai. In the 1920s, the improved cheongsam became popular among women in Shanghai. This kind of cheongsam absorbs the western-style three-dimensional tailoring method, especially adds Paris fashion elements such as skirts and evening dresses, showing the exquisite curves and graceful figure of women. At this time, this kind of cheongsam is very different from the earliest Manchu robes. In addition to retaining the core elements of the original cheongsam, the innovation in tailoring, decoration, texture and taste has made the ancient clothing glow with new vitality like phoenix nirvana. With the continuous improvement of design and technology, there are more and more styles of cheongsam. In 1930s, a group of movie stars, such as Ruan, Zhou Xuan and so on, as well as the fashionable monthly magazine of beautiful pictures and major newspapers and magazines at that time, all regarded cheongsam as an important element, which virtually greatly promoted the development of Shanghai-style cheongsam and even swept the country, almost becoming the standard dress for women in China. Since then, with the change of social aesthetic concept and the change of life rhythm, cheongsam has gradually faded out of people's daily clothes and only appeared on some special occasions, but the noble and elegant temperament symbol has continued.