In addition to reflecting a historical period we portray in our dances, each dress reflects on the period of one's own life when we created the dress.
Victoria does a wonderful job of creating dresses to fit the person. Last year, early on, I had the idea of making a RagTime dress out of a sari. But when I met with her, I mentioned other ideas, not even mentioning that idea. She just responded with something to the effect of this other pattern would look great made from a sari. And that was exactly the idea and pattern I had been thinking of, but was not bold enough to state. Telepathy? A sixth sense?
This year, again early on, I had a concept of what I wanted, but not a good picture. How to weave a chi pao image into a 1930s evening gown. She drew a design that actually incorporated the elements I had been trying to put together, but couldn't picture by myself. One afternoon, I met her at Thai Silks to look at fabric. We tried to match fabric to the brocades that I had selected. After I saw her experiment with a different brocade, another brocade with that pattern in a different color caught my eye. She said that this was the one she had actually had in mind first when I told her my idea. A change from dragons or dragonflies. "Mint green" with lavender swans.
Quotes from a no longer existent Web page: Japanese Variations on a Chinese Theme
Worn by movie stars and fashionistas, qipao has been adopted as a symbol of Chinese identity in the world of international fashion and no other style of dress is as versatile or possesses such a fascinating history.
'Qipao can display the modesty, softness, beauty and temperament of Chinese women,' says Mayumi, speaking fluent Chinese, at her rented French-style villa near Huaihai Road M. which is also her working studio. 'Any woman wearing a qipao has no other choice but to show off a graceful and refined manner because they have to hold in their stomach and keep their back and neck straight. You can't slouch in a qipao. It forces you to be graceful.'
"The qipao evolved from a loose, long robe worn by Manchu women in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) into the fashionable dresses worn by stylish women in 1930s Shanghai."
Ladies' Evening Dress for the Ragtime Era. 1910-1920
"Fashionable gown styles varied from year to year during the 1910's. At the beginning of the decade styles were rather columnar, with long skirts that fell quite straight. By 1913-14 the skirts are elaborately draped and quite fanciful. In the middle of the decade, during 1915-16, the skirts developed an A line silhouette. By the end of the decade the skirt silhouette was once again fairly straight."
"Evening Gowns of the 1910's
Ladies' evening dress of this era often consist of a high-waisted gown (though the waist placement varys somewhat from high to natural to low waisted styles throughout the decade), usually in soft fabric such as chiffon or lightweight satin, often ornamented with elaborate lace, silk brocades or beadwork and draped asymmetrically. The long skirt should have enough fullness for dancing.
Skirts often would be made in many layers with elaborately draped overskirts in lightweight materials in various types of silk or lace. Skirts are usually draped in such a way that the rather full skirt falls in a fairly narrow silhouette but because of the nature of the draping great freedom of movement is possible. Colors can be pastels or jewel tones, with contrasting, striking color combinations as well as subtle tone on tone combinations."
"Fashions of this period were strongly influenced by the exotic colors and fabrics of the Orient."
