The Qipao

I happen to love qipaos, which is a traditional chinese dress. You know, the one with a mandarin collar and slits up the sides. There are several reasons why I love this dress. First, it's a dress that is very specific to my culture and heritage. Second, it looks really good on asian women! Third, I feel really sexy in it!

The issue with the qipao is that so many touristy, westernized establishments dress their hostesses in qipaos to increase the exotic allure towards westerners that nowadays, you can't wear one without someone trying to order food or some kind of service from you. Horrible, isn't it? I mean, if an Indian woman can wear a sari and a Scottish man can wear a kilt, why can't I wear a qipao without looking like I'm trying to provide a "service?" It is our own fault, as a group, because we have been marketing our services in qipao wrappings. So now, the one time a woman can proudly wear a qipao is at a wedding.

Wedding qipaos are very special. They are usually handmade to the person's measurements. A really good qipao simply cannot be mass produced because it must fit the person perfectly. It is a very form-fitting dress and it takes a bit of skill to make a dress look good on certain figures - like mine! Lol! Unfortunately, nice handmade qipaos can cost from $600 to thousands, depending on how intricate you want it. It's usually made from silk, with bias binding and/or very fine piping along the edges and intricate handmade buttons. A friend of mine was lucky enough to have her mother bring her measurements to a shop in Hong Kong to have it made there and then her mother brought it to the U.S. The qipaos are cheaper if you can get it made in Asia. I am not lucky enough to have an opportunity like my friend's.

As much as I desperately want a qipao for my wedding, I blew most of my dress budget on the white wedding dress last year. So I had to settle for either renting one or making my own. I hate the thought of renting a dress, popular as it is, so I decided to make my own. I had the basic paper pattern cut out, the fabric bought and was just about to embark on another sewing adventure when one day, I decided to visit my mom, who had a great surprise for me!

Apparently, she was recommended a store that sold custom-made qipaos for really cheap. They take your mesaurements at the store and send 5 or more orders at a time to China, where the dress will be made. Then the finished dress is shipped to the U.S. and any last minute alterations will be made here. That's why it's so cheap. It's because they've outsourced the labor. Anyways, when I visited my parents, my mom dragged me out to the store to look at their selection. It wasn't much, but what they had was better than anything my novice skills could have made. I tried on a few different styles and was amazed that even in my current, fattened state, I still looked pretty good. Lol! My mom really wanted the red and gold one they had hanging on the wall. I didn't really like it. I didn't think it was my style at all, but my mom insisted that I try it on. My favorite was actually a black and sparkly purple one, but it's not wedding appropriate. As a bride, I have to be wearing red. So I tried on my mother's choice for me and lo and behold it was perfect! I mean it fit me perfectly as is! Plus I loved how I looked in it! So I bought the qipao right then and there and since it was a stock dress, I didn't have to pay extra for having custom-made. My wedding qipao turned out to be cheaper than if I had rented! Way to go mom! Thanks!

So that's another project I don't have to slave over and another item off my list! Now the thing I'm worried about is if I lose weight. I probably don't have to worry about it since I haven't been able to lose much in the last couple of months, but I am aiming to lose a bit more. There's not that much time left and I didn't have that much to lose to begin with so it may not happen. Still, I'd like to at least have some muscle tone show up before the end. We'll see, I guess.