Cheongsam and nationalism
— qaris • June 6th, 2007
Again, we talk about nationalism in fashion. And again it’s about national dresses that become unpopular in their own country. This time it’s come from David Tang, Shanghai designer that put Mandarin-collared shirts, cheongsam dresses and other Chinese-style fashion on boutique shelves from New York to Paris.
The 52-year-old Hong Kong fashion mogul was recently watching China’s legislature on TV, and the one thing that jumped out at him was most awmakers were wearing near-identical Western clothes, he said.
“Everyone was in a suit and tie,” he said. “That seems to me to jar the very essence of Chinese wanting to have a national identity.”
For years, Tang has tried to promote a kind of fashionable nationalism. His vehicle was Chinese fashion and lifestyle brand Shanghai Tang - dubbed the first global luxury brand to have come out of China. The brand now has 24 stores worldwide, including three in Europe, one on New York’s Madison venue, and another in Honolulu.
The Hong Kong-based label may be gaining international recognition, but Tang says its ultimate ambition is to drive the message home - in his own words, to “saturate the Chinese population with Chinese clothes.”
“I think it’s rather despondent that China with all its might and cleverness should not have its own sartorial elegance that it deserves,” he said.
For more, read ‘Chinese fashion needs to be national‘
Post a comment