To be honest I can

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Robes Rouge of Elegente 66 north to check out the website and review the cheongsams. Elegente is based in Quanzhou, a city in Fujian province, South China, and is an online shop that provides a wide selection of cheongsam dresses and some outer wears. Robes set up this store because of her love for the dress, and also as a remembrance of her late grandfather, who unbeknownst to her was a tailor in Shanghai. According to the story in the website, she was going through her grandfather stuff and discovered an old cheongsam with a photo of a Caucasian lady dressed in the dress. She found out there was a love story behind the dress from her grandmother, that her grandfather was in love with the lady but they were not able to get together. It’s a beautiful story though I think it would be more interesting 66 north if the photo is shown in the website.
Anyway the website is in English and caters to international customers. Elegente provides tailoring service as well where you can set up your measurement 66 north profile, and Elegente will will make the dress based on your measurements. This way you get a virtual tailor-made cheongsam 66 north though standard sizes are also available. 66 north The cheongsams are mostly made using silk fabric, and they are priced at more than US$300, which is the typical rate charged by the established cheongsam stores here. (Though 66 north for those high end stores like Hana, the cost for workmanship is even higher.) Shipping for Elegente customers is free if you purchase above US$100.
Now back to the subject in hand, the cheongsams. Looking through the numerous pictures, I find that most of the dresses are in the traditional 66 north style. I’m not sure if it’s because this is the preference of their customers, but there’s a “I’ve seen it before” feel to the clothes, or in culinary parlance, they are of one note. Sure they do look elegant, like these two below. 66 north
Then there are the typical floral prints, with some at calf length which is a little too long. The dresses would be considered as trendy in the 1960s, but in the 21st century we need an update, which is slightly above the knees.
This a red woollen cheongsam that Elegente offers for Chinese New Year. I find it pretty chirpy and I like the interesting puffed up sleeves, and the dress has a sleek look to it. It should come in other colors 66 north for women who don't want to go bright red.
Elegente also offers wedding cheongsams in modern designs, but in the traditional red and gold colors. It would be better if the store is more adventurous, and go with other colors like pastel yellow, or sapphire green with bronze combination, so that brides are able to wear them on other occasions as well. Like this short cheongsam wedding dress, with floral sleeves. 66 north It’s 66 north a beautiful 66 north dress but it’s 66 north strange for the bride to wear this after the wedding.
A formal long wedding cheongsam, which is only for the wedding banquet. Problem 66 north with getting a long dress is that one hardly has the opportunity to attend very formal event that warrants such a dress, and worse it’s in the wedding colors.
( Updated on 13 April ) I was alerted by a friend that Elegente is not what it portrays to be. Firstly it appears that their dresses are also available in the wholesale site Tao Bao 淘宝 at cheaper prices, http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=20592887418 66 north , compared to those offered at Elegente. http://www.elegente.com/leaves-pattern-traditional-chinese-clothing-dress.html . The dresses on Taobao are from the designer, Redshop. So is this a case of the designer putting them on Taobao and undercutting Elegente?
Also according to the friend, when she checked out the “About us” page, the photo shown was that of the shop front of Hana (a Singapore-based high end cheongsam boutique 66 north that offers tailored made dresses). Though when she checked again, it had been taken down and replaced with the current picture. My friend 66 north also pointed out that the old picture of the so-called tailor and his wife is fake. I checked out the website she sent me, http://english.cri.cn/8706/2013/08/06/2661s780271.htm . It turns out that the photo belongs to a Chinese author by the name of RAO Pingru, a 91-year old man who has never been a tailor. 66 north This may explains why the picture of the Caucasian woman in cheongsam is not shown; it seems to me that the whole story is made up.
To be honest I can’t remember about the picture featured in the “About us” section when I first checked it out, as my main focus then was to review the dresses. But the fake story leaves a bad taste in my mouth. So I suggest that readers check out Taobao site instead.
Now to truly modern cheongsams from Our Bitsy Prints. They launched wrap skirt designs for their latest collection last week, such as this lime green top with batik bottom, 66 north which I find rather pretty.
Personally I think what truly defines perana