Wearing the Cheongsam: Dress and Culture in a Chinese Diaspora

by Cheryl Sim, Reina Lewis (Editor), Elizabeth Wilson (Editor)

Overview

Associations between the cheongsam dress and Chinese cultural identity are well known but what are the meanings of the cheongsam for members of the Chinese diaspora? In a study grounded in first-hand accounts of wearing, Cheryl Sim explores the practices and experiences of women in Canada, a major Chinese diaspora, and carries out the first in-depth study of the cheongsam from this critical point of view.

Questions explored over the course of 20 interviews, as well as during personal reflections on the author's own experiences of wearing, include: is there a desire to re-claim or appropriate the cheongsam? Does this desire risk perpetuating stereotypes of Asian women? Does it undermine one's identification with one's host country? Can erased heritage(s) be accessed through dress? And how does wearing the cheongsam interact with the male gaze? Revealing feelings of repulsion and attraction, Sim combines personal stories with an authoritative use of theoretical frameworks such as feminism, post-colonialism and autoethnography.

Covering issues such as heritage, ethnic identity, authenticity, nationalism, patriarchy and assimilation, Sim demonstrates that the meanings of the cheongsam are multifarious. Readable but with strong academic underpinnings, this book is the entry point into discussions of Chinese dress and diaspora.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350238060
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/25/2021
Series:	Dress Cultures
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

Cheryl Sim is Managing Director and Curator at Phi Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada.

Reina Lewis is Professor of Cultural Studies at London College of Fashion, UAL, UK.

Elizabeth Wilson is a pioneer in the development of fashion studies, and has been a university professor, feminist campaigner and activist. Her writing career began in the 'underground' magazines of the early 1970s, (Frendz, Red Rag, Spare Rib, Come Together) before she became an academic. She's written for the Guardian and her non-fiction books include Adorned in Dreams (1985, 2003), The Sphinx in the City (1992) (shortlisted for the Manchester Odd Fellows Prize), Bohemians (2000) and Love Game (2014) (long listed for the William Hill sportswriting prize), as well as six crime novels, including War Damage (2009) and The Girl in Berlin (2012) (long listed for the Golden Dagger Award).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgements

1 Introduction: One size does not fit all
2 Determining the 'fabric'
3 The Cheongsam: A complex garment
4 Wearing practices in Canada: Ambivalence, Authenticity, and Agency
5 Getting inside The Fitting Room
6 Conclusion: Cheongsam 2.0 / Making alterations

Index

Editorial Reviews

Provides a thorough and nuanced analysis, of both the cheongsam's place in a globalized world, and what the garment represents to and on the bodies of women of Chinese descent all over the world.” —The Journal of Dress History

“By skillfully stitching race, gender and identity onto the cheongsam, Sim reveals the craft of the diasporic community and the multiplicity of this ethnic garment.” —Wessie Ling, Northumbria University, UK

“In the first study of its kind, Cheryl Sim adds original and valuable insights to existing knowledge of the cheongsam. Weaving a path between personal and national histories, she establishes the garment as a signifier of identity, belonging and agency.” —Hazel Clark, Parsons School of Design, The New School, USA

“Wearing the Cheongsam pulls a wily thread on this traditional Chinese dress, unravelling its complexity as exquisite adornment and cross-cultural signifier. Its power to encode women's bodies is seamlessly explored by Cheryl Sim.” —Monika Kin Gagnon, Concordia University, Canada

From the Publisher