A couple of months ago i received an email from Susan, a film and television student from Sweden. During a recent trip to China she had a cheongsam tailored made for herself and decided to film the tailor at work. The resulting footage was put together on her return to Sweden. Below are background notes on Susan's film and some stills.
The Lu couple are fifth generation tailors. Mrs. Lu says her great grand-dad used to make clothes for the emperors family. Mr Lu had several working-offers from Japan and France, but he turned them down because he did not know the languages. He has been a tailor for over 20 years, he is now 44 yrs old. During 1966 (culture-revolution) he was situated on the countryside and had to work as a farmer for two years.It takes them about two weeks to make a dress and they cost from 600 yuan and up. Mine was 800 yuan.
They live in an ordinary Beijing Hutong area, and share two rooms and a small kitchen with their 17 year old daughter. They, like most Chinese, share a toilet with the entire hutong-area (100-150 persons)
We, the film-team, found the Lu's through our Chinese guide Jenny. Apparently he is famous and has made clothes for a lot of different occassions.First he took my mesurements and in a few hours he cut and sewed the dress for an intial try on. Then we decided what material to use for the sides and collar. After a week we came back and the dress was ready.END |
