60年代 - 「烧花幻影」：一九六零年代手绘晕染烧花丝绒抽象花卉古董港式旗袍 / 1960s - "Devoré Phantoms": A 1960s Hong Kong Vintage Qipao with Hand-Painted Devoré Velvet and Abstract Floral Motifs

分享一件上世纪六十年代手绘晕染烧花丝绒古董港式旗袍，浮光掠影，花影扶疏。

深黛色的丝绒底子，如夜色凝成的绸缎，铺展一派沉静底色。其上，月季、茶花、葡萄藤蔓等花卉纹样，以“烧花”工艺的立体浮雕感错落铺陈。烧花丝绒的奥秘，在于“退浆”技法的精妙控制——高温退去部分丝绒表层，露出底布的素光，令花卉轮廓在明暗交叠中如浮雕般凸起。紫色、钴蓝、石绿的丝线，经手绘晕染层层叠加，花瓣边缘晕开渐变的柔光，叶片脉络间流淌着青碧的韵律。这种“没骨法”般的写意笔触，既承袭了传统苏绣“晕色”工笔的细腻，又在自由晕染中透出海派艺术的洒脱不羁，恰如清代袁枚笔下“烟凝湘水黛，霞剪海榴红”的泼墨风流。

上世纪六十年代的香港，作为“东方好莱坞”的时尚中枢，旗袍设计在传统旗袍的框架中注入了现代解构的魄力。这件旗袍以“削肩、掐腰、高开衩”的剪裁，勾勒出S形曲线，高开衩处隐现腿部线条，是当时“摩登旗袍”的标志性特征。立领的高度从民国时期的“寸许”微降，更显颈部修长。香港设计师对“中西合璧”的拿捏，恰如《申报》1962年对当地旗袍的评价：“体裁虽古，而裁剪合度，不使腰肢束缚；质料用西，而装饰得宜，不使光彩外露。”

烧花丝绒的制作，需经“织绒、描图、烧花、晕染”四道核心工序，仅“烧花”一项，便需匠人凭经验控制温度与时间，分毫不差方能成就纹样的深浅层次。加之手绘晕染的“不可复制性”——每一笔色彩的渗化、光影的过渡，皆为独一无二的“孤本”表达。历经半个多世纪的岁月淘洗，此等品相完好、工艺繁复的古董旗袍存世极少。它不仅是“香港旗袍黄金时代”的实物见证，更是传统丝织技艺与现代审美碰撞出的“流动雕塑”——当光线掠过绒面，花卉纹样似在深蓝底子上呼吸明灭，恰如唐代诗人温庭筠所咏“画屏金鹧鸪”的永恒瞬间，在丝绒的经纬里，封存了一个时代的风雅与浮光。

"Devoré Phantoms": Floating Light and Faint Shadows—A Hand-Painted Velvet Masterpiece from the Sixties

We share a stunning 1960s vintage Qipao from Hong Kong featuring the rare technique of hand-painted devoré velvet: a vision of floating light and subtle floral shadows.

The deep dark-teal velvet ground is like a silk satin condensed from the night, laying a serene foundation. Upon this base, floral motifs including roses, camellias, and grapevines are intricately spread, utilizing the three-dimensional, relief-like effect of the devoré (burnout) technique. The secret of devoré velvet lies in the precise control of the "discharge printing" method—high heat is used to remove part of the velvet's surface pile, exposing the smooth ground fabric beneath. This meticulous process makes the floral outlines appear raised like a sculptural relief through the interplay of light and shadow.

Silks threads in shades of purple, cobalt blue, and moss green are hand-painted and layered in gradual washes. The edges of the petals diffuse with a soft, graded light, while the leaf veins flow with an azure rhythm. This spontaneous, "boneless method" (Mogu Fa) brushwork inherits the delicate "colour graduation" of traditional Suzhou embroidery (Su Xiu) yet reveals the untamed spirit of Shanghai-style art in its free-form dyeing, echoing the poetic elegance of the Qing Dynasty poet Yuan Mei: "Smoke gathers the dark ink of the Xiang River, sunset shears the crimson of the sea pomegranate."

In the 1960s, Hong Kong, as the fashion hub known as the "Hollywood of the East," injected modern deconstructive energy into the framework of the traditional Qipao. This garment’s tailoring—sloped shoulders, cinched waist, and high-cut slit—defines the iconic S-curve. The high slit subtly reveals the legs, a hallmark of the "Modern Qipao" of the time. The mandarin collar's height, slightly lower than the stringent "one inch" of the Republican era, further elongates the neck. The Hong Kong designers' masterful blend of "Chinese and Western" elements is perfectly captured by a 1962 Shen Bao newspaper review of local Qipaos: "Though the style is ancient, the cut is fitting, restraining the waist without restricting it; the material is Western, but the embellishment is appropriate, ensuring the splendor is not overtly exposed."

The creation of devoré velvet requires four core steps: "velvet weaving, patterning, devoré treatment, and colour shading." The devoré process alone demands precise control of temperature and time by the artisan to achieve the subtle depth and dimension of the pattern. Furthermore, the hand-painted colour shading ensures "non-replicability"—every seepage of colour and every transition of light and shadow is a unique, one-of-a-kind expression. After more than half a century, such vintage Qipaos, with their complex craftsmanship and pristine condition, are extremely rare. It is not just a tangible witness to the "Golden Age of the Hong Kong Qipao," but a "flowing sculpture" born from the collision of traditional silk artistry and modern aesthetics. As light skims the velvet pile, the floral motifs appear to breathe and flicker on the dark blue ground, capturing an eternal moment, like the "golden partridge on a painted screen" praised by the Tang poet Wen Tingyun, sealing the elegance and fleeting beauty of an entire era within the velvet's weave.