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A Traditional Item of Clothing in Your Country
Tell me about a traditional item of clothing in your country.
You should say:
what the
item is
what makes it special
if it is common for people to own such item
and explain who usually wears this traditional item of clothing.
·Qipao
=
Mandarin gown: famous
:
fashionable for 100 years (trends come and go)
·17th century
:
qipao=wide
+
loose. 1930s
:
tight
+
revealing
·
Mix
of tradition
+
modern style: shorter, sometimes comes with a jacket
.
Elegant and sexy: sleeveless, and slits on the sides
.
I have one for the summer: necessary to
wear high-heels
Let me tell you about the most famous item of clothing in China. It is a one-piece dress for
women, and we call it a qipao
.
I think that many foreigners call it a mandarin gown. The qipao is
extremely popular in my country, and actually it's been fashionable for the last hundred years.
It was first designed during the Qing Dynasty, that is to say in the 17`" century, but at the time,
the qipao used to be a wide and loose garment for women to wear at any age. The dress would cover
the
whole body, and it had a straight cut, and it would hang straight down the body, so that you
couldn't see the ladies’figures. But after 1900, things chang
ed. In Shanghai, women from the upper-
class modified
(=
changed) the style. The dress became tighter, and nowadays women still wear
this version of the qipao
.
It actually accentuates puts emphasis on) the shape of a woman's figure.
Nowadays, the dress is very trendy. Designers mix both traditions and modern trends to suit
women's expectations. The
dress has become shorter, sometimes falling above the knee. The collar
has also changed. It could be a high neck, or a lower one; it could have the opening on the side. It
varies
.
The qipao dress can be worn for both formal events and more casual days
.
It is an elegant dress
that usually comes in bright colors. I have seen a lot of dresses lately in the shops with embroidery
on them. The needlework is extremely precise, and most dresses are quite expensive
.
Very often
nowadays
,
the dress is slit on each side and quite high sometimes. It reveals shows) a woman's legs,
and people think it can be very sexy. I know that foreign women also want to buy such dresses when
they travel in China. It's a symbol of Chinese culture.
I have one qipao at home. I bought it with my mother two years ago
.
I only wore it a few times,
on special occasions. I think it's very graceful, but because it is a very tight dress, I don't particularly
feel comfortable in it. In addition, I need
to wear high-heels with it, which is a bit troublesome.