Craftsmanship, creativity, change: 'Fashioning Chinese Women' captures twentieth-century flux

Despite considerable cultural significance, the period of dynamic transformation from dynastic to republican rule in Chinese fashion has long been overlooked by Western art museums. New release Fashioning Chinese Women: Empire to Modernity—published to accompany the eponymous LACMA exhibition opening in June—seeks to demystify and redefine the patrimony of transnational Chinese communities through a material exploration of the attire of a “society in flux.” The garments from this corpus come via a 2020 donation from Berkeley-based artist Chere Lai Mah, whose familial collection of twentieth-century Chinese women’s clothing reflects the changing social mores and increased influence of Western culture during the transition from late Qing dynasty up to the Cultural Revolution. Evolving at an unprecedented speed, fashion during this period, particularly women’s clothing, became a barometer of social norms, and was central to passionate debates regarding the female body and women’s roles—both highly contested issues related to a new Chinese modernity and national identity. Consumer illustrations, such as the February 1935 cover of Liangyou (The Young Companion) magazine, shown here, depict young women sporting this new style while engaging in modern activities, such as riding bicycles or playing tennis. These images evince a fresh sense of physical autonomy and vividly express the emerging feminist sentiment that advocated for the liberation of women from their traditional domestic roles.

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