The 20th Century, 20-40 Years Improved Cheongsam With The Shanghai Society

In 1920s, the reformed cheongsam came into existence in shanghai society as a lady's clothing, and it gradually disappeared from women's everyday dress until the end of 1940s. Thus, it became a historical memory of social status and fashion changes for women in modern shanghai. In the late Qing Dynasty, the cheongsam of Manchu women evolved as a garment which represented the nobleness and elegance of upper class throughout a long reign and sustaining social changes, and the formation of this signified clothing language proved to be a large number of social and psychological factors in the revival of cheongsam. However, the unique political, economical and social backgrounds provided conditions for its revival in modern shanghai. The cheongsam was not merely the name card of shanghai women, it was also the medium of popular amorous feelings in shanghai. Moreover, the emerge of the reformed cheongsam catered to social changes and the remolding of women identities of the time. During the 1920s and 1940s, the career path, attitude of consumption and marital family life of shanghai women were reflected in the reformed cheongsam and they were the authentic portrayal of women's contradictory identities in modern shanghai society. Meanwhile, the transformation of cheongsam had been subjected to the control of government power and the close attentions of public opinion in shanghai society. The ruling government achieved their purposes of disciplining and controlling women's body through regulating their cheongsam patterns, yet the women in shanghai also realized their interactions with the public by modifying cheongsam. Futhermore, the public opinion simultaneously reshaped the new female figure through various channels and forms in line with shanghai culture, and thereby displayed these changes by cheongsam, a kind of symbolic language. In years of Republic of China, the shanghai style represented by the reformed cheongsam led a nationwide fashion trend, which probably had intimate relation with the extraversion of shanghai culture. Owing to the inevitable influence and control of traditional culture, the development and evolution of the reformed cheongsam presented a particular shanghai characteristic. The reformed cheongsam, as a historical memory and the reflection of shanghai urban culture, brought us fanciful senses of fashion in shanghai society during the 1920s and 1940s.