Skip to product information
1 of 4

深圳溯源

50年代 - 五十年代香港提花古董旗袍套装:锦纹织岁月,香云裁流年 | 1950s - 1950s Hong Kong Jacquard Antique Qipao Suit: Weaving Years into Brocade, Tailoring Time into Fragrant Clouds

50年代 - 五十年代香港提花古董旗袍套装:锦纹织岁月,香云裁流年 | 1950s - 1950s Hong Kong Jacquard Antique Qipao Suit: Weaving Years into Brocade, Tailoring Time into Fragrant Clouds

Regular price $880.00 CAD
Regular price Sale price $880.00 CAD
Sale Sold out

五十年代香港提花古董旗袍套装:锦纹织岁月,香云裁流年

一、器物述略:香江织造的时光标本

此套旗袍为上世纪五十年代香港制衣工坊之精品,时值香港成衣业萌蘖之际,承江南裁缝之技艺,融岭南匠作之灵思,遂成“东方之珠”的时尚初啼。面料选用提花锦缎,红黑二色相织,以传统桑蚕丝为经,暗纹隐现,光泽含蓄——红若经年朱砂,沉而不燥;黑似古墨研霜,润而弥坚。上衣为短袖立领设计,盘扣错落如星斗,裙摆齐膝收束,既存海派旗袍之袅娜,又具港工裁剪之利落,是战后华人女性“新传统主义”审美之缩影。

二、纹样考释:草木有情,锦纹载道

旗袍通体满布枝叶纹,细观之,叶脉曲直交错,形态近似“忍冬”与“卷草”之变体。忍冬,十二卷也,梵语谓之“芬陀利”,佛经载其“凌寒不凋,喻法身常住”;卷草,则承汉代“延年益寿”之愿,魏晋“仙蟠”之姿。此纹样以双色丝线交叠织就,红叶如焰,黑枝如铁,枝蔓盘曲,三瓣叶错落,似“风回觉韵”之态。叶片边缘以“戗针”法细密勾勒,叶心晕染渐变,恍若“墨分五彩”之妙。

三、艺境阐微:织里藏真,裁月为裳

1. 织造之妙:此提花工艺属“纬起花”技法,以多综多蹑机织就,经纬交错间,花纹隐于布面之下,触之微凸,抚之不滑,是谓“暗花流光”。红丝作纬,黑丝为经,经纬密度达八十根/厘米,故衣身挺括而垂坠,久着而不变形,此乃五十年代香港“锦记”“瑞兴”等织造坊之独诣。

2. 文化之脉:旗袍之红黑配色,暗合《考工记》“画缋之事,杂五色……黑与赤谓之玄”之古制,玄为天色,赤为地色,天地交泰,寓“生生不息”之意。五十年代香港,中西文化激荡,此套装既未流于西式洋装之裸露,亦不拘于传统袄裙之拘束,以“中体西用”之姿,书就华人女性之“身体宣言”。

四、稀缺之证:沧海拾珠,吉光片羽

存世五十年代香港旗袍,多为四十年代沪工西迁之遗绪,或五十年代本地工坊之初创。此套保存完好,面料未见脆化,色泽如初,且纹样、剪裁、工艺皆具典型性,堪称“香港成衣业活化石”。据《香港纺织史》载,五十年代提花锦缎旗袍年产量不足三千件,历经七十余载沧桑,完整套装存世者“百不存一”,诚如张爱玲所言:“衣服是一种记忆,它们藏着时光的秘密。”

五、结语:衣香鬓影,香江未远

着此旗袍,恍若见五十年代香港街头:电车叮当,霓虹初上,旗袍女子手持阳伞,高跟鞋叩响石板路,衣袂翻飞间,红黑锦纹如火焰流动。它不仅是衣,更是历史的碎片、文化的载体、女性的诗——织者以丝线为笔,裁者以布匹为纸,书就了一卷“香江风华录”。今日得遇此宝,当如捧读《红楼梦》脂评本,字字珠玑,件件堪藏。

 

1950s Hong Kong Jacquard Antique Qipao Suit: Weaving Years into Brocade, Tailoring Time into Fragrant Clouds

I. Overview: A Temporal Specimen of Hong Kong Weaving

This suit is a masterpiece from a 1960s Hong Kong garment workshop. During the budding stage of Hong Kong's ready-to-wear industry, it inherited the techniques of Jiangnan tailors and integrated the ingenuity of Lingnan artisans, marking the initial fashion awakening of the "Pearl of the Orient." The fabric is a jacquard brocade woven from traditional mulberry silk. The red and black threads interweave to create subtle hidden patterns with a reserved luster—the red is like aged cinnabar, deep and composed; the black is like ancient ink on frost, moist yet resilient. The top features short sleeves and a standing collar with frog buttons scattered like stars, while the skirt is cinched at the knee. It preserves the grace of the Shanghai style while embodying the sleek tailoring of Hong Kong craftsmanship, serving as a microcosm of the "Neo-Traditionalist" aesthetic of post-war Chinese women.

II. Pattern Interpretation: Sentient Flora, Patterns of the Tao

The garment is entirely covered in leaf motifs. Upon close inspection, the veins interlace in a mix of "Honeysuckle" (Rendong) and "Scrollwork" (Juan Cao) variations. Honeysuckle, known in Sanskrit as Pundarika, is recorded in Buddhist sutras as "never withering in the cold, symbolizing the eternal Dharma body." The scrollwork carries the Han Dynasty wish for "longevity" and the celestial posture of the Wei and Jin dynasties. Woven with double-colored silk threads, the red leaves burn like flames while the black branches stand firm like iron. The three-lobed leaves are arranged in a rhythmic "wind-blown" stance. The edges of the leaves are meticulously outlined, with the centers showing a gradient transition, echoing the masterpiece of "Ink divided into five colors."

III. Aesthetic Essence: Truth in Weaving, Moonlight in Tailoring

  1. The Mastery of Weaving: This jacquard utilizes the "Weft-raised pattern" technique, woven on complex looms. The patterns are hidden beneath the surface, slightly raised to the touch but not slippery—an effect known as "Flowing Light on Hidden Patterns." With red silk as weft and black as warp, the density reaches 80 threads/cm, ensuring the garment is crisp yet draped, retaining its shape over decades—a signature of 1950s Hong Kong weaving houses like "Kam Kee" or "Shui Hing."

  2. The Cultural Lineage: The red-and-black palette aligns with the ancient code of Kao Gong Ji: "The work of painting involves five colors... black and red together are called Xuan." Xuan represents the color of Heaven, and Crimson the color of Earth. Their intersection symbolizes "endless vitality." In 1950s Hong Kong, where East and West collided, this suit avoids the exposure of Western dress and the restriction of traditional robes. In the spirit of "Chinese essence with Western utility," it writes a "physical manifesto" for the Chinese woman.

IV. Evidence of Scarcity: A Rare Pearl from the Vast Sea

Surviving 1950s Hong Kong Qipaos are mostly legacies of Shanghainese tailors who migrated south in the 1940s or early creations of local 1950s workshops. This set is perfectly preserved; the fabric shows no brittleness and the colors remain as new. Its pattern, tailoring, and craft are archetypal, making it a "living fossil of the Hong Kong garment industry." According to the History of Hong Kong Textiles, the annual output of jacquard brocade Qipaos in the 1950s was less than 3,000 pieces. After 70 years of vicissitudes, fewer than one in a hundred complete suits survive. As Eileen Chang said: "Clothes are a kind of memory; they hide the secrets of time."

V. Conclusion: Fragrant Shadows of a Bygone Era

To wear this Qipao is to see the streets of 1950s Hong Kong: the clanging of trams, the flickering neon lights, a woman holding a parasol, her heels clicking on the stone path, as the red and black brocade flows like fire. It is more than a garment; it is a fragment of history, a carrier of culture, and a poem for women. The weaver used silk as a brush and the tailor used fabric as paper to write a volume of the "Chronicles of Hong Kong Grace." Encountering this treasure today is like reading a rare annotated edition of Dream of the Red Chamber—every word is a gem, every piece a masterpiece to be collected.

View full details