On April 26, the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. and the U.S. Global Diplomatic Service Association co-hosted the "China Fashion and Art Experience" event.
Gong Hangyu, the founder of Xiangdai Palace, one of the top ten outstanding young people in Guanghua Longteng's Chinese design industry, and the ambassador of China's textile intangible cultural heritage, was invited by the Chinese Embassy in the United States to perform. During the event, envoys and their wives from more than 60 countries immersed themselves in Chinese cultural activities and enjoyed a feast of exquisite Chinese costume culture.
"Clothing is a window for the world to know China. After thousands of years, Chinese civilization has continued to develop and flourish in the process of reform and innovation. Xie Feng said that the cheongsam is unique, it shows exquisite traditional Chinese handicraft skills, and is included in the national list of intangible cultural heritage. With its strong national style, unique aesthetic value and profound cultural connotation, it has become a symbol of Chinese women's elegance, self-confidence, and dignified atmosphere.
"The cheongsam is both Chinese and global. As a representative of traditional Chinese clothing, cheongsam is known as the quintessence of the country, which not only contains elegant and dignified oriental charm, but also integrates Chinese and Western elements and is increasingly going global. He emphasized that different cultures can have their own beauty and share the same beauty.
Through fashion shows, cheongsam dances, costume fittings and other ways, this event allowed guests to immerse themselves in the unique charm of Chinese fashion culture. More than 200 sets of specially customized cheongsam fabrics are exquisite, elegant in color and novel in design, and more than 20 models wearing cheongsam have been transformed into mobile works of art. At the event, ambassadors and their wives from all over the world were all praised and deeply attracted by the modern traditional Chinese cheongsam with a great sense of design.
Gong Hangyu introduced that the cultural exchange in the United States, the cheongsam design is mainly based on the long history of Shanghai-style cheongsam, the development of new Chinese cheongsam and the fashion cheongsam to the world, focusing on showing nearly 100 sets of cheongsam with Chinese clothing culture and the unique charm of Chinese women, and combined with the combination of cheongsam fashion show and micro-melodrama, with cheongsam as language and culture to sympathize, it comprehensively shows the Ningbo generation of red gang tailors through a hundred years of time. The moving story of inheriting and developing Chinese fashion across thousands of miles of ocean presented a feast of oriental aesthetics intertwined with tradition and fashion, history and modernity for the audience.
It is worth mentioning that this event also specially arranged for the guests to choose their favorite cheongsam to try on, and the stylist created exquisite Chinese makeup for the guests, so that they could see a different version of themselves in the mirror. Ambassadors and their wives from many countries wore the men's clothes and cheongsams of the Red Gang Tailors designed by Gong Hangyu and walked on the stage to experience the unique charm of Chinese costumes. Guests dressed in cheongsams took photos in front of the embassy's spiral staircase, flower windows and paintings, leaving behind the good memories and wonderful experiences brought to them by cheongsam. The guests dressed in cheongsams were also invited to walk on the runway show, showing elegance and confidence, and expressing the beauty of civilized exchanges and mutual learning in fashionable language, which won continuous applause from the audience.
Chen Chunmei, Minister Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in the United States, said excitedly: "This is the first time that the Chinese Embassy in the United States has done such a fashion catwalk, and it is also the first time that envoys from more than 60 countries have been invited to attend, which fully demonstrates the soft power of Chinese culture to the world." ”
In this event, Gong Hangyu used the cheongsam as the "medium" and used the beauty of the cheongsam to build a bridge of friendship between China and the United States and China and other countries, which was greatly affirmed and praised by Ambassador Xie Feng and the wives of the envoys of 60 countries, fully demonstrating China's cultural self-confidence and interpreting China's own beautiful story.
It is reported that this event was jointly organized by Ningbo Performing Arts Group Co., Ltd., Ningbo Fenghua District Cultural Tourism Group and Zhejiang Xiangdaigong Cultural Industry Development Co., Ltd. During his stay in Washington, Gong Hangyu also went to the George Washington University Museum and Textile Museum, the Museum of Chinese Art in America and other institutions to give lectures on Chinese cheongsam culture and design to spread the charm of traditional Chinese clothing culture.
Over the years, Gong Hangyu has always been committed to combining the intangible cultural heritage skills of cheongsam with international fashion design, not only creating the concept of fashion cheongsam, but also being praised by the media as "the first person in modern cheongsam", independently developing the 12 fragrance art brand with cheongsam as the core, and going to 27 countries through the cultural output of the Belt and Road Initiative. In addition, she used the cheongsam as the carrier and combined with the cultural characteristics of various places, and successfully built a number of cultural and tourism integration projects such as Guizhou Xingyi Intangible Cultural Heritage Industrial Park, intangible cultural heritage aesthetic place - Xiangdai Palace Pavilion, and Red Gang Tailor Fashion Industrial Park, successfully bringing intangible cultural heritage into life and Chinese culture to the world.