Maggie Cheung wearing a large floral print qipao (cheongsam) in the film In the Mood for Love
I don’t quite remember how long ago my infatuation with qipaos started, but I think it began with seeing Lust, Caution (色，戒) and being struck by a particular scene where Tang Wei (as Mrs Mak), wearing a pale blue floral qipao, paired with navy trench coat, bucket hat and black T-bar heels, was walking down a narrow Shanghai alleyway in the rain. It was one of the more ordinary moments in the film, but isn’t it funny how it’s always these very ordinary moments that stay with you the longest.
Then maybe a year or so later I saw In the Mood for Love. I don’t know if there’s anymore to be said about Maggie Cheung and her character Su Lizhen’s wardrobe in this film: elegant high collars, tiny cap sleeves, and a range of fabrics just to die for.
And so that was that, from then on I became a little bit obsessed with these dresses, the qipaos – demure, elegant, fitted perfectly at the waist, and of course enclosed with nothing but the pankou, or silk knots, hand stitched from the high madarin collars all the way down to the top of the thigh openings.
I have to confess this isn’t the first time I have written about them, in fact I have tried a few times before and time has always gotten the better of me. But it is a new year, this is my single resolution for the year, and so here goes…
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