Photo of Lady in Gingham Cheongsam with Decorated Hem

This photo was taken in Shanghai in the 1930s or 1940s. The elegant-looking cheongsam in the photo was made of gingham, a signature fine cotton fabric with check patterns for the apparel of people living in the Yangzi River Basin of China. A breakthrough innovative design was adopted to this garment by binding the hem with wide bias-cut tapes of the same fabric of the main body, pursuing a sense of changes out of harmony based on varied sizes and directions of checkers. It is speculated that hem-binding gingham in the same or a secondary color was applied given the overall style of this cheongsam, as the exact color cannot be determined based on the black-and-white photo. Such a hemming technique evolved into a trendy one later with many variations, one of which is to apply wide hem of a fabric featuring small floral patterns to a cheongsam made of a weave of large floral-motif. It is known that the famous actress Hu Die (1908-1989 AD) used to wear cheongsams with such a design.