Tariffs to upend American brides' wedding dress dreams
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E-mail Xinhua, August 15, 2019
Mother to daughter
Behind the incredible pool of sewing talents in Chaozhou lies people's undying passion for embroidery.
Needlework is the second personality for a girl in Chaozhou. In local tradition, a girl makes her own wedding dress so that her future husband and guests to the wedding can see her talent and character from what she wears on the big day.
Wearing a silk robe, Master She Keyan sits tall at her sewing table, fingers flying between threads. She is the official heir to the national heritage of Chao Embroidery, the art of needlework in Chaozhou.
A tradition that dates back to the Tang Dynasty, the Chao Embroidery has evolved for over a thousand years, developing a system of more than 200 hand sewing stitches, which come in handy in making complex and extravagant dresses like prom and wedding gowns.
Like Wei and many other embroiderers in Chaozhou, She learnt sewing from her mother. In a workshop named after her mother Master Kang Huifang, she leads some 40 seasoned embroiderers in making luxury wedding dresses for renowned brands such as Allure, Blush, Morilee and Alyce Designs.
From this traditional three-storey building in Chaozhou's old town, came some of the world's most luxurious modern wedding dresses that went on display in shop windows along Paris' Champs-Elysees and New York's 5th avenue.
When making wedding gowns, one cannot sweat and the room has to be clean, lest the delicate fabric gets stained. The master looks effortless as she stitches elegantly in her cozy, air-conditioned workshop, but in fact, she often has to toil for three whole months to complete just one customized wedding gown that may require over 100 procedures.
"It is our hands that give the dress warmth and texture," she said.
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