Unnoticed Talents: Homemade Cheongsam

Ancient China was a predominantly agrarian economy, and it was marked by a common division of labour in which men worked in the field and women at the loom. Weaving, sewing and embroidery were considered ‘women’s tasks’. In Hong Kong before the Second World War, women had few opportunities to go out to work, and ready-made clothes were not yet available on the market, so there was plenty of time and reason for women to put their sewing skills to good use. After the war, there was a higher demand and expectation for clothes and as the ready-to-wear market was still to mature, people sought to make their own clothes at home. During that time, sewing machines started to become popular while tailoring schools, cheongsam courses and books teaching garment-making proliferated. Till after the 1970s, huge quantities of ready-made clothes at affordable prices became available in the shops, prompting many people to buy clothes off the peg. Quite extraordinarily, till this day there are still cheongsam courses that are extremely popular. This shows how quite a number of people in Hong Kong dote on making cheongsam and in turn sustaining this ever-green fashion.

These cheongsams were made for her own use by Mrs Grace Luk Yip Yau Shing (1931-2013), whereas the jacket was tailor-made at a shop using the same fabric. Mrs Luk started attending the cheongsam classes taught by Master Mong Kar Mo at the Hong Kong Young Women’s Christian Association in the late 1980s.