Ye Sister Flowers: Four generations of inheritance interpret the love affair of the cheongsam

Ye Jianying, Ye Liying Founder of Hangzhou Weiyun Industrial Co., Ltd

When I saw the Ye sisters, they each wore a gorgeous cheongsam, which was bright but not ostentatious. The sister Ye Jianying is elegant and elegant, and the younger sister Ye Liying is heroic and cheerful. The years did not leave the imprint of wind and frost on the double sisters, but instead precipitated a unique charm, which showed a pampered and calm atmosphere.

From the bustling Shanghai Beach to the quiet Xizi Lake, they take the gifted needle and thread from their grandmothers, and express the understanding and pursuit of beauty of Chinese women with poetic clothing language; lead the wave of Chinese style with a keen fashion touch, and interpret the rigidity and softness of Jiangnan women.

Taking the gifted needle and thread from her grandmother's hand, she practiced a good craft of word of mouth

The ye sisters' relationship with the cheongsam can be traced back to Shanghai Beach in the 1930s. In that era of alternating old and new, turbulent and legendary, with a superb hand of needlework, I don't know how many Shanghai women are constantly shuttling through their grandmother's qipao tailor shop. The twin sisters were only four or five years old at the time, and they were fascinated by the ingenious clasps and beautiful hand embroidery. They were immersed in the story of the cheongsam told by their grandmother in Wu Nong's soft language, and inadvertently lingered on the qipao complex in their hearts, and they obsessed with their grandmother all day long to learn embroidery buttons. Even drawing a line on the cloth, taking a bowl and pouring some water, and ironing the clothes with a hot bucket will make the two little girls very happy.

Fast forward to 1983, the two sisters graduated from high school and returned to Hangzhou with Zhiqing's mother. Out of love for the clothing industry, they both entered night school to study, her sister Ye Jianying chose to read fashion design, and her younger sister Ye Liying chose to read sewing technology. One design, one production, just in line with the ancient precept of "division of labor does not divide families". The two sisters work during the day, study at night, and conduct "practical exercises" during breaks, making Chinese-style tops for the elderly in the family, and grandma carefully guides them on the side, and the recognition of the family makes the two sisters more determined in their direction.

The good craftsmanship of the two sisters soon spread among close friends and colleagues. Sister Ye Liying's colleague Zhou Mama, who was originally a big miss of a rice shop in Zhong'anqiao, Hangzhou, because she has always had a deep nostalgia complex, begged Ye Liying to make a cheongsam for her daughter-in-law, jujube red gold velvet fabric. As soon as the cheongsam was done, the daughter-in-law of the Zhou family in her 30s put it on, which was so beautiful that everyone was bright; Zhou's mother was surprised and immediately introduced the Ye sisters to overseas Chinese relatives.

In this way, ten passes, ten passes a hundred, many returned overseas Chinese and students who are about to go abroad, have come to the door, hoping that the Ye sisters will customize a Chinese-style clothing for themselves, which is both eye-catching and can relieve homesickness. Seeing more and more work at hand, the sisters left their original work units and made clothes at home full-time until the two sisters reached the age of marriage.

"Don't be afraid of suffering, you don't have to suffer hardship" to become an evergreen tree on the wulin road

In October 1987 and January 1988, the sisters married separately and had their own children shortly afterwards. The two sisters discussed that when the children went to elementary school, they would open a shop together and "go to see the outside world." In December 1995, No. 318 Wulin Road opened a small storefront of only 19 square meters "Jingjing", and the sisters finally had their own small world.

"On the opening day, we were still in a very nervous mood, but we didn't expect that the floodgates were only half closed, and the guests waiting outside rushed in." Ye Jianying recalled that when the children went to school across the road, they thought that they could return to the store for dinner at noon, and this naïve fantasy was quickly shattered by reality. "Noon is the time for the surrounding government units and enterprise employees to rest, but it is the time when our business is most prosperous, how can we still have time to cook for our children?" In the spirit of "not afraid of suffering, afraid of not having to suffer", the sisters set rules for themselves: customized three-day pickup, expedited 24-hour pickup. They take orders during the day, cut plates until late at night, and work until two o'clock in the morning before going to sleep.

While admiring the red-hot business of the Ye sisters, the peers secretly wondered why the guests liked the clothes they made. You know, at that time, the price of the clothes sold in their shop was 120 yuan to 150 yuan, which was equivalent to the salary of ordinary people for half a month. It can be seen that they are taking the high-end route, and they are by no means winning by low prices.

Ye Jianying smiled mysteriously and talked about the secret of the sisters' improvement of production technology. "Most of the customers who come and go to our shop are people with a certain status in society, and they often come back from abroad wearing an international big name, but the size is often not matched with their body shape, and the dress does not fit." When we see this, we will help them modify it for free, and take this opportunity to study the Western-style cutting and sewing process, which can be said to be a great benefit. "Kindness produced unexpected good results, which surprised them.

Speaking of this, Ye Liying, a quick-thinking sister, immediately added: "We often go to Longxiang Bridge to look at the old suits imported from Japan, carefully observe its structure, lines and other details and craftsmanship, and the two people discuss while watching." The biggest takeaway, she says, was the discovery of the application of adhesive linings, which made soft, wrinkled fabrics look naturally structured.

After the Wulin Road store opened for 5 days, it recruited 3 workers; a month later, the workers became 5; after a year, it became 8, and then 15..." We have always stressed to the staff that customers should meet any needs and become friends with customers. "It is based on the unremitting pursuit of production process and pickup efficiency, coupled with impeccable service attitude, this store has become the longest evergreen tree on Wulin Road, standing for 22 years."

Celebrities flock to customers to give birth to the Weiyun brand

The growth of new things always has to go through a process, and the same is true of the return of Chinese clothing, the Ye sisters have already lit the torch of Chinese fashion, just waiting for a gust of wind to blow the spark into a burning trend, and this extremely critical "east wind" is in the 21st century.

In 2000, the movie "Fancy Years" was screened in Hong Kong, and the heroine Su Lizhen, played by Maggie Cheung, used a gorgeous cheongsam to show the charm of oriental women, and I don't know how many people's hearts were broken. Sister Ye Liying recalled that at that time, the film had not yet been released in Hangzhou, and she specially entrusted someone to bring the poster back from Shanghai, paste it on the store window, and also customized several pieces of Su Lizhen to hang in the store, attracting the attention of many beautiful women.

At the same time, with the return of Hong Kong and Macao, the era of Chinese clothing and qipao has really arrived, and the career of sister flowers has ushered in the first peak, and the small qipao shop has become a place for celebrities to come and go. Zheng Haixia, leader of the Bayi basketball team, Chen Xiangmei, a famous social activist, Chen Muhua, former vice chairman of the National People's Congress, Li Zhendao and his wife, physicist Li Zhendao and his wife, world science giant Hawking and his wife, movie star Shi Ke, Miss Hong Kong Chen Farong, famous art performer Zhao Benshan, famous actors Fu Biao, He Saifei, Yi Chunde, etc., have all come to find sisters to customize a set of Chinese costumes for them.

"Many people did not dare to wear the qipao on the street at the beginning, feeling embarrassed, but liking the qipao is often in an instant, like a switch, once opened, it can't be turned off, and once you put it on, you don't want to change it." Ye Liying said with a smile, "Wearing a qipao will make people soft, many professional women originally put all their minds on work, love their hearts very little, qipao helps them to slowly find the feeling of women." ”

Seeing that the business was getting better and better, the Ye sisters opened a second store on Fengqi Road with the help of Zhao Biye, the old principal of the Fourteenth Middle School. At this time, customers already have brand awareness, and many people have proposed to them that they hope that there will be a unique trademark on the clothes, and Weiyun will be born.

Four generations of inheritance interpret the love affair of the cheongsam

Start the Personalized Customization Production Line for the Internet of Things

The qipao has achieved the career of the Twin Sisters of the Ye Family. In 2015, the company officially upgraded the "Weiyun" brand to "Weiyun".

White clothes and black dresses, a touch of Jiangnan ink painting printed on the chest - at the welcome dinner held by the G20 Hangzhou Summit last year for guests from all over the world, the Chinese-style cheongsam with Hangzhou characteristics worn by Miss Manners and staff on the spot was by Ye Jianying, one of the top ten designers in China. On May 26 this year, nearly a thousand Chinese and foreign beauties dressed in various types of cheongsam elaborately made by Huan Yun appeared all over the world at the same time. This huge Hangzhou Global Qipao Day is also an important opportunity for Weiyun to step onto the world stage.

What is even more gratifying to the Ye sisters is that their daughter and son have grown up and are also committed to inheriting the qipao culture. Ye Liying's daughter Chen Hongjin studied clothing design, and Ye Jianying's son Wang Ziyao learned administrative management, and they injected fresh blood and vitality into the brand with a new generation of vigor and innovative thinking.

"Weiyun is developing a full-IoT personalized customized production line. Among them, the all-Internet of Things refers to the ability of factory managers and customers to track the production process in real time and clearly see which step each piece of clothing has taken. Wang Ziyao explained, "Personalized customization is from the source of clothing design, dissecting the whole set of clothing into multiple parts for customers to match online." At the same time, customers can use mobile phone photos to replace artificial measurements, and by matching with the human body shape data accumulated by Huanyun for decades, the system will automatically generate the most suitable size data."

Chen Hongjin independently developed a Chinese sub-brand for young women, Fei Yan, hoping to make more young people fall in love with the qipao. "We have set aside a space at the Weiyun headquarters as an art exhibition hall to show the evolution of the qipao since ancient times, and we also plan to hold training courses to teach crafts such as weaving and clasping."

The love affair of the Cheongsam of the Ye Sisters will continue to be interpreted and passed on because of the continuation of this inheritance. (Ru Xuewen)