judyonthenet

I’m planning on having a Chinese banquet for my reception, and traditionally, this means I’m supposed to change my attire like 5 times throughout the meal. (It’s a sign of wealth.) Like many other Chinese-Americans have done, I’m compromising Chinese traditions and American traditions by sticking to two dresses: a white wedding gown and a qipao (AKA cheongsam, basically a traditional Chinese gown). Since I’m in Taiwan, I figured I may as well look for one here. Also, as a wedding gift, my father is covering the qipao, which certainly helps the wedding budget.

My dad and his wife Annette did some research online to find a good qipao store in Taipei. Apparently, qipaos aren’t very popular in Taiwan, as there are very few stores specializing in this kind of dress. I noticed when I took my studio photos that most of the locals choose to have multiple evening gowns for their photos and forget the traditional attire, so I guess people here are sick of traditional Chinese stuff. The original plan was to get a custom qipao, but because of the amount of time to go completely custom (a couple weeks), I wouldn’t be around for the final fitting after the qipao is made. This is pretty risky, so we decided to stick to finding an existing qipao and getting it altered by a professional.

The store they found to have good reviews online is 吉祥如意 (jí xiáng rú yì - “lucky” + “matches ones wishes” according to chinese-dictionary.org). It’s located in this small, random mall of boutiques a couple blocks away from Sogo. The store is a very hole-in-the-wall the joint: very tiny and little or no advertising as to its existence. The store is run and owned by Ms. Ding (or Ting? I dunno the official translation), a very, very nice lady who has a great eye for figure and is very accommodating to her customers. All her qipaos are expertly constructed at her shop in Shanghai (the birthplace of the modern-day qipao). They rent qipaos for events, as well as make custom qipaos for purchase. Despite being a small shop, there is a large selection of qipaos already made and ready to try on in store.

I told her I was hoping to stick to the traditional red color for the qipao, and she immediately picked out three dresses for me to try on. Strangely enough, they all fit me pretty okay, so little or no alterations would be needed. I didn’t fall in love with any of them though; I think I thought they were too traditional or plain. Maybe I watch too much TV, but I was hoping for something more modern or edgy.

As I was trying on the third dress, the store owner had recommended I try one of her specialty dresses: a qipao made of an exquisite Japanese silk/linen fabric. The fabric is imported from Japan, made into a qipao in Shanghai, and sold in her Taiwan store. An interesting hybrid of Japanese and Chinese elements… kinda like me and Kelvin’s relationship :) My father, Annette, and Kelvin were strongly favoring this dark purple number with gorgeous flower embroidery. I tried it on and wasn’t immediately impressed; I was still thinking it was too traditional, and it felt loose. It also wasn’t red, the color I wanted. However, the material felt AMAZING. So smooth and silky, unlike traditional qipao silk material, which tends to be stiff. Dad, Annette, Kelvin, and Ms. Ding all thought the purple dress was spectacular, but for some reason I didn’t see it at first. I tried a similar dress that was red, hated it. I tried the purple one on for the second time, liked it more, but still wanted to see other dresses from other stores before making my decision. Plus the dress was on the high end: regular qipaos she had were around 4000NT, while the Japanese qipaos were 8000NT because of the quality of the fabric.

My mother had given me a business card of a store in Wufenpu earlier that week. She had passed by it while out shopping. I told my dad I wanted to check out that store “just in case”, and everyone was okay with that. We told Ms. Ding that if we don’t find anything there, we’d get the purple dress. She was totally okay with it, and she said she would put it in the back for now. ZERO pressure to buy. No pissy faces when I showed her the business card of the other store, just stayed in her consistently cheery demeanor. Given the harsh, competitive nature of Taiwanese retail, that alone is quite exceptional. It’s hard to go into any store without being given a hard sell.

And unfortunately this was the case at the store in Wufenpu. It was a much larger store, and there were at least five saleswomen in the store. I tried on 5 different dresses, none of which fit well or looked exceptional. They had more modern looks, but nothing particularly different. Plus all the materials felt bleh; even the stiff silk seemed better at the first store. And MAN were the salespeople pushy. The lady working with me kept telling me I looked good in everything and was trying to tell me what I liked. She was also insisting I buy it that day. Everything was major rush rush rush; I did NOT like being there. Kelvin said he left the store to take off his jacket, and the old lady in the front yelled at him to get back inside. AND their qipao prices were astronomical; they had qipaos in the 10000NT range (without any sort of special fabric or whatnot)! Sure, alterations were “included”, but come on. I tried to get out of there ASAP, telling them I had to think about it and ask my mom for her opinion. Then they didn’t get that Annette was not my mother, and I told them she was just my divorced dad’s wife, but they didn’t understand me or something as they kept looking at me puzzled and want to me to explain more. Then I just got frustrated and bitchfaced with them and just left. UGH. Terrible. My dad, Annette, and Kelvin all disliked being there. The only thing I liked about their qipaos is that their chinese buttons are actually functional as opposed to be purely decorational. Other than that, the first store’s fabric quality and just the shape and make of the dresses were superior.

As we headed back towards the first shop, I mentioned the purple qipao seemed kind of loose and that I probably would want it altered to be tighter. Ms. Ding had said it shouldn’t be tighter, as the material tends to cling to the body anyway and will accentuate the figure in the way the fabric falls. When we got back to the store, she reiterated that the qipao is ideal in its current state and continued to insist that alterations were unnecessary, despite the fact she’d make more money doing alterations at the my (ignorant) request. I really feel the store owner is a sincere and honest person.

I asked to try more dresses which she happily obliged. I tried some with openings in the front (which were bleh), and then I tried a more dramatic one with a train that I thought was pretty decent. Then I tried on the purple one again for the third time and decided it really was the dress for me. It’s weird how it took me three tries to see what everyone else was seeing, and I finally understood what she meant in terms of the fabric fitting the body. So we bought the purple dress, conveniently with zero alterations. I tried it on in front of my mom and grandparents later, and they were in agreement: the fabric and embroidery were lovely, and the construction was just expertly done. The seams shape the body so well;this was also obvious in the dresses of cheaper fabric.

I’m really excited about my dress. It wasn’t as dramatic as I had originally hoped, and sure it isn’t custom-made or haute couture, but I love it. It’s not red or a flashy pattern like I had originally wanted (Kelvin apparently is very opposed to flashy, Asian patterns), but the simplicity and color of the dress has significantly grown on me. Ms. Ding said the fabric used on the dress has been discontinued in the deep purple color, so that along with the embroidery (which was hand-done and took *4* days) makes my dress one-of-kind. And it fit me perfectly on the first try, so clearly this dress was meant for me :P

Some background info I gathered about Ms. Ding and her store. I think Ms. Ding was a salewoman several years ago before she quit her job to pursue her dream of opening a qipao store. She went to Shanghai to study under some qipao-making master or something and used her newfound knowledge to set up a shop in Shanghai and opened her store in Taipei. She designs all her dresses and helps with construction, though most of it is done in Shanghai. Her store has been open for 5 years, and aside from her website, it seems like she has very little advertising. She says her business (which also does a lot of dress rentals) has depended on client recommendations, and it seems to be working well for her.

So yeah, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND 吉祥如意旗袍 for a place to get a qipao. Ms. Ding is so kind and honest and easy to work with, and she’s clearly skilled and knowledgeable when it comes to qipaos. The quality and fit of their dresses is amazing. And after checking out that other store, their prices are quite reasonable.

New thing I learned today: In In the Mood for Love, Maggie Cheung wore 46 different qipaos, though a few didn’t make it into the final cut of the film. She wore a different qipao in every scene.

I’ve heard great things about this movie ever since this movie came out, but somehow I still managed to avoid seeing it (sorry Rodney). I wish I had checked this movie out before I came to Taiwan to get some inspiration for qipaos, but that’s okay. Even if I liked something in the film and was able to find something similar, the fact that incredibly gorgeous Maggie Cheung wore it already would make me wearing a similar dress look pretty pathetic in comparison.

Posted on Wednesday, December 26th, 2007 at 6:38 am in Wedding, Reviews