Zhang Ailing wrote in "The Book of Changing Clothes": "If there is a smell in the memory of this thing, it is the incense of mothballs." This sentence is placed on the protagonist of this issue, Peng Ziwei, an antique cheongsam enthusiast, which is the most suitable.
In 1999, she began to deal with "land" (front-line collectors) since junior high school, and "quite experienced" in collecting old objects, and now has more than 130 antique cheongsams at home, the earliest one is still in the twenties of the last century.
This time, Ziwei plans to share some of her "successful getting on the car" and "rolling over" experiences.
"Generation Z: Positive Youth" No. 02
Gen Z, why do you like vintages?
--The girl of '99 and her hundred antique cheongsams
The protagonist of the story: Peng Ziwei
99 years girl, working in a foreign company
Collect antique cheongsam for more than three years
01
It started with the old fountain pen
Trapped in the old cheongsam
Ziwei, who is preparing for her 23rd birthday, has been an antique player for almost 7 years, the old pen is the old object she first touched, and the old brands such as Hero, Immortality (Happiness), Guan Leming, etc., are the top cards in her collection library. Until after going to college, a familiar "land" sentence "I received an old cheongsam, do you want to see?" "A new copy that opens the way to the Ziwei Collection."
Although the blue cheongsam of the 30s was a little stained, the texture of the silk satin and the rare old cheongsam pattern now made Ziwei instantly top her head. After a simple cleaning of the upper body, it was found that it was as suitable as tailor-made, "When I look in the mirror, it is like seeing the old photos of everyone in the boudoir, cos want to be full!" This serendipitous coincidence, which spanned nearly a hundred years, made her determined to enter the world of the old qipao.
02
Fans from the cheongsam
To the cheongsam connoisseur
The road to collecting the old cheongsam is not smooth.
When ziwei first entered the pit, her cognition of the old qipao was still stuck on their beautiful appearance, and she did not know anything about the craftsmanship, fabric, production year and shape of the old qipao. So Ziwei has rubbed shoulders with various "limited hidden models" again and again.
She once received an old cheongsam made of glass yarn, because of its age and fragile fabric, the damage to the cheongsam was quite serious and difficult to preserve, but the collection value was extremely high. The ignorant Ziwei "has eyes that do not recognize Taishan", and holds the idea of "serious damage, high difficulty in repair, and difficulty in preservation" to others. When she later learned how precious this cheongsam was, she regretted it.
Ziwei, who was determined to never experience the pain of "walking the treasure" (missing the treasure) again, began to learn everything related to the old qipao in the process of collecting the qipao.
"Wouldn't it be very deep in the water to play antiques?" How can we tell that this cheongsam is a costume of that era and not a forgery? "When I met Ziwei for the first time, the editor of the column group was a little puzzled.
"Most of the cheongsam of the last century was tailor-made, even if it is made for the family, it will be tailor-made. If someone wants to 'forge' according to the standards of craftsmen, then the products are all fine products, and there is no loss in starting. ”
Ziwei took out a top with large sleeves upside down and began to share some tips for discernment.
"You see the stitches at the corners, the buttons, the piping, the stitches are dense and neat, and there are basically no stitch marks. In the fabric, it is also too exquisite to pay attention to, many fabrics are preserved to this day, under the reflection of light and shadow, it is still silky and soft. ”
"Then there is the pattern, Chinese aesthetic is very symmetrical and beautiful, so you can see that the pattern style of these cheongsam must be symmetrical, even at the suture of the waist line of the shoulder line, it must be aligned." This kind of craftsmanship seems to be more ingenious than the craftsman today, and it is basically impossible for you to copy it at low cost. ”
03
The cheongsam culture was not a Renaissance
It's a cultural self-confidence
There are many factors that affect the collection value of an old cheongsam, such as craftsmanship, fabric, pattern, shape, degree of preservation, etc., but there is an additional criterion here in Ziwei, that is, "can you wear it out".
In Ziwei's collection, there are many beautiful collections that cannot be worn out to show because of the size or the disrepair of the fabric, which is her "biggest regret" at present. Asked if she would develop body anxiety because of this, she said: "You don't have to!" Many people think that only people with good figure can wear the cheongsam well, but this does not make sense on the old cheongsam. ”
A hundred years ago, how "rebellious" the girls were, how avant-garde the clothes they wore. In the history of the past one hundred years, the qipao is not only an ordinary costume, but also a microcosm of the entire social development process, economic level and ideological trend at that time.
In the process of less than a hundred years, the qipao has undergone many changes in form, from the inverted sleeves that have been popular in the 1920s to the one-piece cheongsam for social status and dressing freedom in the 30s, from the change of the overall style, to the collar, length and so on, all of which reflect the ideological connotation of women in various circles at that time.
From antique qipao enthusiasts to want to become the inheritors of qipao culture, in Ziwei's view, collecting old qipao is not only collecting a beauty, but also collecting a Chinese craftsman spirit, a sense of belonging and pride of Chinese culture.
The 5,000-year history of China is the foundation that melts into the blood of every Chinese. Opening this thick national history book, there are too many treasures worth learning and inheriting from us Generation Z.
"As a post-99, you love the hobby of collecting old objects, can you find the same among your peers?"
"In the matter of hobbies, the boundaries of age are very blurred, and people who like old cheongsams and people who like to play with the tide are essentially people who have a love, so we are all 'friends'." Ziwei replied.
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