(101 Things About Shanghai) The ShiLiuPu Fabric Market Part 2

I got my stuff. Oh, god but it’s lovely.

 

I’m ready for my close-up, Mr DeMille

 

Pretty flowers, pretty dragonflies

 

Dragonflies, up close

 

The trousers are a deep burgundy cotton, very flared

 

Dragonfly tunic makes me happy

 

Tiny embroidered flowers on a sea of soft blue silk, oh yes

 

The fit! The fit! It…fits!

 

Everything here was made by Shirley in shop #216 in the fabric market at 168 DongMen Road in Shanghai. She’s awesome.



13 thoughts on “(101 Things About Shanghai) The ShiLiuPu Fabric Market Part 2”

    • Yay! I have this horrible fear that I’m going to have to get everything copied in 20 shades of silk and my whole wardrobe will consist of wide nepalese trousers and fake shalwar kameezes…. They’re made of awesome, aren’t they?

  • Beautiful! You’ve SO made me miss getting new clothes made a the tailor. I love the green one.

    Asian-style tops like that were totally in style when I left Lahore and I had a few made. Had to specify “Chini” style at the tailor. They wore them with capri pants.

    • The interesting thing about these tops is that they were copied from the Indian tops I’d picked up in Mumbai years ago (the cotton ones that died a slow death) and made with very Chinese fabrics. The tailor said she’d never made any tops quite like these (they have some key differences with the standard qipao). The trousers are copied from a pair that my old home-made man in Istanbul made eons ago, also a pattern she’d never encountered. It was kind of cool blending all the styles and fabrics into something totally unheard of before.

  • I love the one with the red neckline. It really suits you. They’re ALL lovely and I’m so happy you have new clothes!

  • They are beautiful! I’m totally jealous. Once I found the right tailor in HCMC we went nuts as well. I think we took something to be copied about every third week or so. It’s addictive. Unfortunately I talked my Mum into getting something made up in Hoi An at a place I obviously didn’t know and we ended up looking like to baloons covered in shiny “silk” tied on with strings around our waists. Lesson learned.

    • I went back yesterday to get the two collarless ones copied again, in midnight blue and purplish silk… It’s like crack! The shiny silk balloons in Hoi An are hilarious- I once got a long skirt made back in Kayseri, the very traditional, religious city I lived in during my first 2 years in Turkey (back in 2002!). It was awesome- an ankle length, lined, dark olive green soft cotton that still fits brilliantly, made to measure, for 16 million tl (about 1.2 million TL to the US$ at the time– under $15) including fabric. I loved it so much I asked them to copy it in black. And they did. But the copy was somehow distorted and so wide I couldn’t wear it.

  • Too funny. I too had some clothes made from Shirley #216 and it turned out great! I will definitely use her again next time I’m in Shanghai.

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