Eileen Chang's Chinese Life & Fashions
In her influential essay A Chronicle of Changing Clothes (更衣記), Eileen Chang wrote that “In 1921, women wore changpao (長袍).” Back in the 1920s, Changsan was in vogue among Shanghai middle and upper class women. Originated from the female clothing of manchuria, qipao was designed to fit the female body. But it used to be conflated with changpao/changshan (長袍,長衫), which is the Qing-dynasty style long robe for men-wearers. A record of Republican Daily (民国日报) in 1920 published a letter that discusses the "changshan" vogue, stating that "When a woman cuts her hair and wears a changsan, she does not look so much different from a man." The consciousness of male-imitation or male-equation has entered the social psyche in China since the early twentieth century. The choice of dressing reflects Chinese women's desire to liberate their body from traditional male gaze.
The earliest form of qipao, in Eileen Chang's description, was “all cold and square”: long sleeves, flat surface and loose fitting, much resembling the male "changshan". However, the following two decades witness its bold stylistic evolution, accentuating the feminity and sexuality of Chinese women. Qipao dress became more tightly-packed, and more tailored to the body curve of women with Western dimensional cuts; the length was also shortened. Some qipao features daring designs like slide slits, short capped sleeves and fur-lined cuffs.
Among those fashionable urban Chinese women, Eileen Chang is the most stunning one. In "The Biography of Eileen Chang", columnist Pan Liu-dai wrote: "Eileen Chang’s dressing was always unexpected, and she seem to enjoy it. She would be dressing in a cheongsam, and then cover with a short sleeved jacket, that were one of her surprising innovations." Chang's fondness for qipao cultivates her sense for visual pattern, which flavors her literary works with exquisite color palatte and affective tactility. Looking through her photos in qipao could easily remind us of the female characters in her stories, as well as how these women are unabashedly appreciated and admired.