"I didn't expect embroidery not only to make money, but also to go out international and win respect!" On the international catwalk again, the embroidery lady Yang Meilan was much more confident. Dressed in a couture dress, she walked slowly up to the catwalk, her footsteps powerful and gorgeous, and it was hard to imagine that before this, she was just a rural woman who was busy with the stove and the fields all day.
On April 13, the public welfare brand of "Genius Mother X Dongxiang Embroidery Lady" debuted at Shanghai Fashion Week. On the catwalk, the more than 400 pieces of embroidery displayed by the models on the exquisite fashion were embroidered by Yang Meilan and more than 50 embroidery girls from Dongxiang Autonomous County, Linxia Prefecture, Gansu Province, for 12 days and nights, with unique stitches such as "flat embroidery" and "chopped embroidery". This public welfare fashion show has put the "haute couture" hidden in the depths of the mountains and the women behind the scenes onto the world stage.
This national cultural public welfare fashion activity showcased the intangible cultural heritage of Linxia Prefecture in Gansu Province - Dongxiang embroidery through various forms such as catwalks, intangible cultural heritage art exhibitions, and celebrity live broadcasts. At the event site, Country Garden donated 10 million yuan to the China Women's Development Foundation through the Guoqiang Public Welfare Fund to support the dongxiang embroidery project in Dongxiang Autonomous County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province.
Donation ceremony of Guoqiang Public Welfare Foundation
The embroidery lady transformed into a "beauty model" to speak for the intangible cultural heritage
The charity fashion show was jointly created by the China Women's Development Foundation, Country Garden Group and Guoqiang Charity Foundation, together with Chinese fashion design master Zhang Zhaoda and art designer Zhang Kaihui. Olympic champion Wu Minxia, young actors Li Lin, Huan Xi, Wang Yansu, Yang Meilan, Ma Semai, Ma Lanhua, Ma Hankun, Ma Yingying and other 5 Dongxiang embroidery girls took to the catwalk, becoming the "finale" program of the opening of the national cultural public welfare fashion show.
Dongxiang embroidery lady catwalk
With the design theme of "National Equals Trend", the public welfare fashion show combines the traditional ethnic embroidery pieces of Dongxiang embroidery with modern computer printing and embroidery throughout the release.
"Dongxiang embroidery gives life color and the confidence of life." Embroidery lady Ma Semai said that from the moment she plucked up the courage to go out of the house to work in 2018, embroidery has brought earth-shaking changes to her life, "International Fashion Week let me see the infinite possibilities of embroidery, but also saw the infinite possibilities of life." ”
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In the series of activities of this Shanghai Fashion Week, in addition to the public welfare fashion catwalk, the intangible cultural heritage art exhibition showed the history and craft characteristics of 9 kinds of intangible cultural heritage handicrafts, such as Dongxiang embroidery in Dongxiang, Gansu, Qiang embroidery in Aba Prefecture, Sichuan, cloth paste painting in Fengning, Hebei, and batik in Danzhai, Guizhou, through experience activities and online live broadcasts.
"Double-sided embroidery is the best to be consistent with the front and back, this embroidery method generally uses the finest embroidery needle, especially when embroidering, it is necessary to control the rise and fall direction of the stitches." Ma Axi, a 53-year-old embroiderer, introduced the "double-sided embroidery" technique of Dongxiang embroidery to the guests. This is one of the embroidery methods with a high difficulty coefficient in Dongxiang embroidery, which is generally used in handkerchiefs, not only to match the colors vividly, but also to pay attention to the delicate and real embroidery and strong sense of layering.
In the view of the embroidery lady Ma Semai, among the more than 2,000 embroidery girls in Dongxiang County, Ma Asi is also the best embroiderer, and many of Ma Axi's works have won the top spot in the state and county competitions.
In 2018, Ma Zhenzhen, a young man who returned to his hometown to take root and start a business, invited Ma Asi to also go out of the mountain and join the embroidery workshop. The industrious and down-to-earth Ma'asi not only escaped poverty through embroidery, but also provided for the family's four children to go to college, and was a well-known local "school bully mother".
The exhibition also invited four artists, Cui Xiaoqing, Cai Yaling, He Wei and Lin Fanglu, as well as four designers, Ma Yanli, Qin Xu, Yang Fengrui and Zhang Zhaoda, to reinterpret and interpret intangible cultural heritage from the perspective of contemporary art combined with fashion concepts.
Country Garden joined hands with the Women's Foundation to help sell nearly 100,000 pieces of Dongxiang embroidery
Qiu Kun, a poverty alleviation person of Country Garden Group and deputy general manager of Gansu Saiang Cultural Tourism Industry Development Co., Ltd., introduced that the crux of the Dongxiang embroidery industry lies in the weak foundation, the lack of a sound supply chain, the materials for embroidery at home are difficult to ensure supply, and the materials and production costs are far higher than the market.
Country Garden and Guoqiang Public Welfare Foundation have been working with the Dongxiang County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and the Women's Federation since helping Dongxiang in 2018 to organize embroidery training courses and send backbone talents to the embroidery industry. Up to now, Country Garden Group and Guoqiang Public Welfare Foundation have also joined hands with the China Women's Foundation to purchase and help sell nearly 100,000 embroidery products.
Country Garden conducts embroidery training in Dongxiang County
In 2018, with the support of Country Garden Group and Guoqiang Public Welfare Foundation, Ma Zhenxiu, a young man who returned to his hometown to take root and start a business, opened a poverty alleviation embroidery workshop, driving nearly 1,000 local embroidery girls to get rid of poverty. In just two years, Ma Zhenzhen has grown from a young female college student to a Dongxiang embroidery leader. Under the promotion of Country Garden Group and Guoqiang Public Welfare Foundation, Ma Xiaozhen and Su Xiaoli, winner of the National Poverty Alleviation Dedication Award, hit it off and jointly founded the Dongxiang embroidery brand "Sai Ang Hua'er" to drive the intangible cultural heritage handicrafts of ethnic minorities to embark on the road of marketization.
In 2020, the Dongxiang embroidery industry hub "Genius Mother Dream Workshop" public welfare project landed in Dongxiang Autonomous County, Linxia Prefecture, Gansu Province, with a total area of 1125 square meters, integrating production, operation, training, display and exchange, and creating a demonstration and exchange experience base for displaying Dongxiang culture and poverty alleviation achievements and Dongxiang embroidery industry.
Dongxiang embroidery industry hub
"Now Dongxiang lacks printing equipment, and once introduced, the embroidery lady can embroider herself on the pattern that has been printed." Qiu Kun introduced that compared with the traditional embroidery technique, the use of printing equipment not only makes the finished pattern more exquisite, but also greatly improves the efficiency of embroidery.
2021 is the beginning of rural revitalization, and the Dongxiang embroidery ladies who have experienced the baptism of market and fashion are striving to leave the beautiful impression of Dongxiang embroidery to the world, bring confidence back to their hometown, devote themselves to the activation and contemporary application of traditional Chinese handicrafts, and contribute to the interpretation of the beauty of China's intangible handicrafts.