Designer dresses APEC leaders
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E-mail China Daily, November 14, 2014
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| Designer Chu Yan introduces her design at a workshop in Beijing. [Photo by Wang Jing/China Daily] |
![Designer Chu Yan introduces her design at a workshop in Beijing. [Photo by Wang Jing/China Daily]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20141114/001ec949ff5c15cf9bb601.jpg "Designer Chu Yan introduces her design at a workshop in Beijing. [Photo by Wang Jing/China Daily]")
APEC is an event where world leaders and their spouses don't have to worry about what to wear－standardized outfits with regional characteristics are a tradition, harking to the "family photo" snapped at every meeting since 1993.
The world has been abuzz since the portrait of heads of state and their significant others clad in Chinese designs was snapped on Monday night.
"We've done our best to make the pieces classic and beautiful, and have also paid attention to detail to ensure they're flawless," says Zhang Zhifeng, NE Tiger Fashion Co art director and chief designer of leaders' spouses' attire.
The patterns－peonies, daffodils and baoxiang (treasures and "fairy flowers")－are hand-embroidered. Each takes an experienced artisan about 20 days.
The company sent 60 masters to Beijing to work around the clock.
"The wool used in the specially designed shawls for leaders and spouses can be called the 'king of cashmere'," says Wang Zhen, founder of 1436, a high-end cashmere brand that supplied the garments.
The wool is shorn from Aerbasi goats' shoulders and sides when they're just a year old. Every 500 kilograms of raw cashmere from the goats－raised on Erdos' grasslands in China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region－produces 1 kg of material, Wang says.
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The outfits feature top-quality fabrics. [Photo by Wang Jing/China Daily] |
![The outfits feature top-quality fabrics. [Photo by Wang Jing/China Daily]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20141114/001ec949ff5c15cf9c1802.jpg "The outfits feature top-quality fabrics. [Photo by Wang Jing/China Daily]")
The patterns demonstrate traditional Chinese culture and modern style, says Chu Yan, Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology instructor and one of the outfits designers.
Both male and female leaders' and their spouses' clothes feature a traditional standup collar and duijing (Chinese jacket with buttons) that has been used for about seven centuries.
The menswear got an innovative addition－kaijin, a traditional open-front shirt without buttons in which the two sides are folded in and attached with a belt.
The attire is adorned with sea and mountain images that covered imperial and official robes in dynastic times.
"But the sea and mountain patterns on the APEC garments are modified to reflect the close relations of the economies, which are connected by seas and mountains," Chu says.
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