The Transition Period of Hong Kong Cheongsam: The 1930s and 1940s

The 1930s and 1940s represented the peak of the ‘Shanghai-style qipao’. Qipaos with a tight waist and a silhouette that accentuated the figure were very popular in Shanghai in the early 1930s, and this triggered a large increase in the number of qipao tailors. As Hong Kong was still relatively reserved compared to Shanghai in those days, the fancy designs wholeheartedly embraced by Shanghai women did not find equal favour in the territory. Generally speaking, the cheongsam was yet to flourish in Hong Kong in the mid-1930s.

The influx of tailors who had fled Shanghai and Guangzhou after these two cities had fallen into Japanese hands in the late 1930s presented Hong Kong with the opportunity to take control of its own sartorial tradition. From this time on, the cheongsam developed along its own unique path, assimilating the cultural context and the pace of Hong Kong society. The local cheongsam industry came to a standstill between 1941 and 1945 as a result of the Japanese occupation, but another wave of Shanghai tailors, this time brought to Hong Kong by their patrons of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region in the mid to late 1940s following the political turbulence in the mainland, provided a timely boost. These tailors continued to ply their trade and also recruited apprentices in Hong Kong, significantly raising the craftsmanship of local cheongsam production and laying the foundations for the cheongsam to reach its apogee in the 1950s and 1960s.

During the Republican period, China imported a great variety of fabric from the overseas, yet traditional Chinese fabrics remained the preferred material for cheongsams. The shell fabric of these cheongsams is light and soft as well as plain in colour consisting mostly of printed geometric, striped or floral patterns. The body and sleeves are made from one piece of fabric, and the cut is slender, narrowing at the waist. The sleeves have also become tighter, suggesting that effort has been made to highlight the curves of the female body. There is a slit on the left side and a full opening on the right. When the knot-shaped button on the right side is fastened, the slits on both sides appear to be equal in length.