INTRO

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Many cultural, political and historical events have shaped the way we view the cheongsam in the modern-day. Influenced by the ‘west’ and deeply rooted in China’s cultural heritage, the cheongsam is an ‘inherently hybrid garment’, ‘informed by the binary relationships of masculine/feminine, East/West, and traditional/modern’ (Sim, 2019). Looking at its rich history, it is interesting to see how the cheongsam will evolve within the next five years, in a progressively global and digital world.   

 

As technology evolves, what will the cheongsam look like by 2025, who will be wearing it and how will we be making it? With challenges such as climate change, how will the cheongsam evolve to meet the needs of the customer and the strain on our resources? 

 

In this essay, I will aim to predict the future of this garment. To support my research, I will first look into issues surrounding cultural identity and globalisation. I will then dig deeper into the world of sustainability by researching the future of smart materials and the development of a circular economy. Lastly, I will investigate how changes within retail will affect Hong Kong based craftsman that make the cheongsam.

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CULTURAL IDENTITY & GLOBALISATION

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By 2025 there will be a renewed interest in expressing cultural identity online and offline, through the use of customisation and fuelled by globalisation. This is also due to shifting power dynamics between the ‘East’ and the ‘West’.  

 

Over the past three decades, China has grown to become more ‘modernized and globalized’ (Zhao, 2013, p.11). In 2001, it joined the World Trade Organisation and according to the International Monetary Fund, China is poised to overtake the USA, as the largest economy in the world (Fray, 2014).  

 

This growing ‘Cultural self-confidence’, is echoed in WGSN’s ‘Future Innovations 2022’ report, which predicts that ‘West-centric standards and measures of excellence will be challenged, creating space for a more complete picture of global influences’ (WGSN Forecasting Team, 2019, p.11).  

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As the world looks to countries historically suppressed by the ‘West’ for inspiration, items of ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ (Leisure and Cultural Services Department of Hong Kong, 2014) will become more prominent and visible within our global society. Labeled the ‘National Formal Dress of China’, it is clear that the cheongsam has become ‘a signifier of cultural identity’ (Clark, 1999, p.164) in China and beyond. 

 

Alongside this, J. Entwistle argues that ‘Fashion embraces not only the desire to imitate others’ and ‘express commonality’, but to express individuality’, and explains how, as people entered larger cities, becoming exposed to an increasing number of ‘strangers’, identity and visual cues became an important way of navigating ‘alienating’ environments. (Entwistle, 2000, p.114). 

 

This is particularly evident in the selection of photos taken from social media platform ‘Instagram’, of which there are over one billion active users (Instagram, 2020). With so many users, it is important to both connect with an audience and express individuality from the crowd. The cheongsam, in these images, has been used as a ‘signifier of cultural identity’ to express both individuality and commonality and will continue to do so.  

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Currently, Instagram is the go-to platform for young people born within the years 1996 - 2015. Research found that nearly three-quarters of Gen Z adults use Instagram (Marketing Charts, 2019).

 

With developments in technology and the popularity of filters,  looking forward, we will see the rise of digital fashion on social media platforms amongst Gen Z consumers, which could translate to the purchase of digital cheongsams. 

 

The Fabricant is a Dutch based fashion house, who is leading the way in digital only clothing. Their Iridescence Digi-Couture dress recently sold for $9500 (The Fabricant, 2020).

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SUSTAINABILITY: A CIRCULAR ECONOMY

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In the next 5 years, we will also see a move towards smart materials, aimed at supporting sustainability and ethical practice, as ‘cautious future consumers will be more inclined to a ‘buy less, but better’ mindset’. (WGSN China, 2020, p.9) 

 

Nike is one company that is leading the way in supporting sustainable design. Since 2012, it has prevented 3.5 million pounds of waste from reaching landfill, by repurposing materials and harnessing clever design. One of Nike’s most innovative designs, the ‘Flynit’ shoe, uses 100% recycled polyester and is designed to ‘create footwear uppers directly from yarn rather than cut from the fabric’, which reduces waste from offcuts. (Nike, 2020).  

 

By 2025, we will be designing the cheongsam using similar principles of circular design. Currently, the cheongsam is manufactured in two ways. Either by skilled Hong Kong based tailors using silk, or produced in high quantities for fast fashion using polyester and Lurex, a yarn made from synthetic film and vaporised aluminium, silver, or gold.  

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The trouble with Polyester and other man-made fabrics is that they are dominating the global clothing industry. Annual production of Polyester currently exceeds 22.67 billion tons per year and is non-biodegradable (Uren, 2018). In the next five years, we will be repurposing waste by making cheongsam’s out of polyester destined for landfill, in a similar way to the ‘Flynit’ shoe.  

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Highly skilled tailors will reduce waste by creating pattern pieces out of yarn, instead of cutting directly from the fabric. With the ability to directly knit in the necessary structure and support, the figure-hugging design of the cheongsam could evolve to fit our changing bodies as we age.

 

We will also see a move away from the use of silk, which uses unethical practices, such as killing unhatched chrysalis and unhealthy eggs, to produce material from the fiber of silkworm cocoons (Offset Warehouse, 2013). 

 

Instead of using polyester or silk, materials will need to fulfill multiple functions. Antimicrobial characteristics found in metals such as zinc, copper, and titanium can be woven into fabrics or vaporized into Lurex yarn (Palmer, 2020, p.7-8). 

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TECHNOLOGY: THE TRADITIONAL CRAFTSMAN

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As previously mentioned, cheongsams are either made in high volumes for fast fashion or by highly skilled tailors. Hong Kong has a strong tradition of cheongsam making dating back to the 1920s. Currently, the authentic cheongsam is at risk of disappearing, as the population of tailors go into retirement, and competition is heightened from fast-fashion manufacturing.  

 

However, by 2025, ‘consumers will increasingly appreciate the labour, craft and even the tools that go into producing goods. Many will look for higher-quality products’ (WGSN Forecast Team, 2019, p.10). 

 

Rental platforms such as ‘HURR’ and ‘By Rotation’ are predicted to rapidly expand and ‘will increasingly impact global consumption’. Led by India and China, it is reported that in the Asia Pacific, clothing rental is expected to grow 11.4% by 2023 (WGSN Forecast Team, 2019, p.14). To take advantage of this, Hong Kong tailors could increasingly produce authentic, well-made cheongsams for hire. 

 

This is a service many tailors already provide to Hong Kong brides wishing to hire as many as five cheongsams for any one occasion. As Generation Z increasingly shops online, a move to an app-based hire platform seems inevitable. 

 

However, it is reported that the majority of Gen Z customers still enjoy the physical shopping experience (Chillman, 2019). By the Year 2025, Cheongsam tailors will be employing a host of technological improvements to the in-store shopping experience, to appeal to this market. 

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One such area that will see rapid improvement is the process of taking measurements. LCF’s Head on Innovation explains that, over the past couple of years, the possibility of capturing photorealistic 3D content through smartphones has become all the more credible (BBC Click, 2019).  Once a laborious process, cheongsam tailors could use this technology to let customers capture measurements quickly and efficiently, from the privacy of a changing room. 

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CONCLUSION

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It is evident that the way we view the Cheongsam will change dramatically within the next couple of years. As we enter a globalised world and as power dynamics between the ‘East’ and the ‘West’ change, the cheongsam will become more visible on social media platforms, and within our social conscience. A desire to identify as both an individual and as part of a community within ‘alienating environments’, will lead to a rise in digitalised cheongsams, with 60% of Gen Z consumers purchasing digital only fashion. 

 

The way we manufacture and design the cheongsam will change as we look to create a circular economy, through the use of recycled materials, clever design, and multi-functioning fabrics. 

 

With a focus on buying less but better quality, we will see a renewed enthusiasm for purchasing from Hong Kong tailors. As technology advances and an increasing number of people shop online, tailors will look to incorporate methods of digitalisation into the shopping experience, through apps and 3D modelling technology.  

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