Jan-chan’s Tidbits

Over the weekend Al and I went shopping for qi pao (Chinese dress/gown). Aside from the traditional designs, the have lots of different style now which I don’t really think it’s all that pretty. We went to Richmond as well as Chinatown to look for them. The ones at Richmond didn’t offer that much selection and are more expensive. Out of the two in Chinatown, the ones at K.K. Boutique has more variety and offers the custom made option, which is nice because qi pao looks very weird if it’s not fitted.

Since I’m buying one for the wedding, I have to wear one that is red.  I tried to cheat and picked one that is a darker shade of red and has black dragons on it but was told it wasn’t appropriate for weddings. The sales there made me try on ones that are in bright red and I looked like those red Chinese sausages… I didn’t really want to get a red one since I want something that I could wear again but I was told I can’t even wear gold coloured ones. T___T Oh they also made me try on this bright magenta/purple one…I’m like a glow stick…no thanks.

The only one I found that I really liked is this dark green ones with gold colour seems and orange/gold flower design. Too bad I couldn’t wear it for the wedding or I would’ve bought it already. It was on sale for $59!

Oh another thing I found while trying on qi pao is that they have built in cups! I’ve never seen them before (then again I’ve only tried on qi pao once when I was 17). It was very weird because I’d have to make sure the extra paddings are sitting in the right place or it’d look very weird. Also, since I was wearing a bra underneath, they made my chest look like it’s sticking out a little too much to be normal (LOL) or maybe I’m just not used to seeing them poke out like that…

Anyways, we didn’t get anything after trying all those qi paos. They’ll be having new shipment in the summer so will go back and look again. I’ve always liked qi pao so hopefully I’ll find one that fits the occasion without making me look like walking red stick.