Extravagance Pre 1949

Surviving garments from sisters Yu Jing Yuan and Yu Jing Yan form the first narrative of the exhibition. Their father was a Chief Justice within the Chinese Supreme Court under the

Emperor and their family lived in a Beijing Courtyard style mansion (Si He Yuan) that contained a hundred and one rooms as well as extensive central gardens. As an affluent and eminent family in Beijing, the Yu family engaged not only with traditional styles of behaviour and clothing but embraced western influences and style.

The story of the Yu Family is documented in the book Peking Story, The Last days of Old China by David Kidd, who was an American living and working in Beijing in the 1940’s. He was to marry Yu Jing Yan in 1949 and documents lavish costume parties held at the courtyard with guests that included ambassadors and aristocracy.

The Qipao dresses on display represent not only the development of a specific and popular Chinese style of the period, but a rare combination of both traditional and imported fabrics, exquisitely crafted and embellished by hand.

展览中第一部分的旗袍来自于余静媛，余静岩姐妹。她们的父亲曾是清末大理寺（司法部门）少卿。余家生活在老北京一个有着巨大花园和101间房间的四合院里。作为一个在北京富裕而又显赫的家族，余家的生活做派不仅保持着中国的古老传统，也开始渐受西洋风尚影响。

有关于余家的故事，在美国人大卫 季德所著的《毛家湾遗梦》一书中有详尽的描述。他在1940年代生活工作于北京，并于1949年取余静岩为妻。书中提到了在余家花园举办的几次化妆舞会，宾客们是来自于包括驻华大使在内的上流权贵；并特别记载了中外宾客风格各异的穿戴，奢侈华贵，不禁引人遐想。

旗袍是那个时代中国时尚的代表，继承了中国传统的手工刺绣技艺，结合西式剪裁与面料，发展出独特的气质风格，至今在世界时尚舞台上占有一席之地。本次展览中的几件旗袍展品，充分展现了旗袍的这些特色。

During the 1930’s and 1940’s the Qipao evolved from its origins as a loosely fitted and ankle length garment, to a shorter more body conscious silhouette. Sleeve lengths varied from long to small capped sleeves, provocative side slits got higher and some variations within the style adopted western style fit lines and shoulder pads.

There are two outfits on display belonging to Yu Jing Yan. They are believed to have been made between 1946 and 1949 and were taken with her when she emigrated, with her American husband, to the United States in 1950. Yu Jing Yan never returned to China and after her death in 2007, the seemingly unworn outfits, along with other artefacts, were brought back to the family in Beijing and became part of this archive.

The other three Qipaos on display belonged to Yu Jing Yuan who married an affluent antique expert Zhao Ru Zhen in 1930. One dress is a particularly beautiful example and is believed to be, one, of a number of dresses made for this wedding.

上世纪三，四十年代是旗袍发展的全盛时期，旗袍的款式可谓变化万端，异彩纷呈。袍身长度，领口高低，袖子长短，开衩深浅等等无不在千变万化中焕发出五彩的魅力。早期旗袍线条平直硬朗，衣身宽松，衣长至脚踝。改良旗袍在结构上受到当时欧美流行趋势影响，注重收腰和女性化，袍身更为称身合体，充分体现了女性自然的曲线之美。旗袍的面料十分丰富，纱，绸，缎，棉应有尽有。随着西方纺织品的源源涌入，各种新颖的洋面料渐成为时髦城市女性裁衣的新宠。旗袍在保持中国特色的同时，还大力引进了不少西式的装束元素，像欧洲服饰常有的锯齿形，圆齿形等不齐的裙摆，被加以仿效并扩展到领，袖襟和上衣下摆等地方。垫肩也被首次运用到中式服装中, 兼收并蓄中西服饰特色的近代中国女子的标准服装。

1950年，余静岩随夫移民至美国，此后再也没有回到中国。所展旗袍中的两件曾经属于静岩，据悉制作于1946-1949年间，并跟随静岩远去美国。直至2007年静岩辞世异国他乡，才又辗转回到北京，成为历史片段的见证。

所展旗袍中的另外三件曾经属于余静媛。静媛于1930年左右嫁给民国著名古董鉴赏收藏专家赵汝珍。那件缀满华丽珠片的旗袍，即是她结婚礼服中的一件。

The fabric for this dress would have been imported from Europe, as it is Devore, which is burnt out velvet and the hand embroidered sequin trim stitched by expert craftsman.

Whilst Yu Jing Yan left China, her sister Yu Jing Yuan stayed and it is remarkable that these garments survived through the turbulence of the Cultural Revolution to the present day.

 During this period many garments were dismantled and re-made, as materials for clothing were in short supply. This is illustrated in the pattern cutting books that support this exhibition, where instructions are given on how to re cut existing garments. Yu Jing Yuan’s dresses were either too extravagant to undertake this process successfully or too cherished to consider their destruction. They certainly had no resale value on the open market of the time either.  Before her death in the early eighties Yu Jing Yuan left the dresses to her favourite grand daughter, who was only 3 years old at the time, she was to later become my wife and it was the story of these garments that ultimately inspired this exhibition.

这件旗袍采用欧洲进口的烫花天鹅绒面料，在下摆和袖子边沿手工绣满花形珠片，精致耀眼，令人过目不忘。

静媛没有像她的妹妹静岩那样，在新时代到来之际离开中国。现在的我们难以想象这些衣物是如何跟随它的主人历经文化大革命等等数次社会动荡，得以保存至今。在那个布料供应短缺的年代，人们将过去的衣物进行改制和再利用。展品中的那本图文并茂的剪裁书就是在教当时的人们如何改造旧衣物。静媛的旗袍在当时看来，既无实用功能亦无保留价值，完全一文不值。能够得以幸存，要么是归功于它的主人对其太过珍爱，不忍舍弃；要么是因为无论如何改造，也无法掩饰其奢华本质。静媛逝世于上世纪80年代初，她把她的旗袍留给了她宠爱的孙女。这个当时只有3岁的女孩后来成为我的妻子。这就是这些衣物背后的故事，也是本次展览的灵感源泉。