'Qipao' to grace Edinburgh Art Festival

A model presents the shiny qipao in Shanghai. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

As a traditional Chinese dress, qipao is like a wonderful blossom in China's bright-colored fashion scene. Because of its unique charm, many women wear it to show their grace.

Now, with the help of state-of-the-art technology, 82 creative sets of technology oriented qipao will highlight the traditional style of Chinese chic at the Edinburgh Art Festival on August 25.

On the theme of “From Shanghai with Love”, the producer of the show, Shanghai-based Donghua University, in cooperation with the University of Edinburgh, sets out to promote Shanghai fashion elements to the world stage this month.

According to the producer, 60 teachers and students from the Donghua University spend six months to design these unique qipao.

"These qipao reflect the beauty of the combination of art and technology, and show off the fashion imagination and creativity of Chinese people," said Bian Xiangyang, director of Shanghai Promotion Center for City of Fashion as well as director of the Shanghai Museum of Textile and Costume of Donghua University.

“Also, Chinese qipao marks the revolution of Chinese clothing civilization from traditional style to modern style, and we hope audiences can appreciate the beauty of our traditional clothes,” he added.

As one of the historic and largest art celebrations in the world, Edinburgh Art Festival enjoys the reputation of Olympics in the art field.

Each year, the festival presents new publicly sited works across the city, opening up new spaces and offering new opportunities to creative fashion elements in the world.