Finding a Chinese Dress

Isn't there a city closer to you with a decent size Chinatown? Maybe Portland? Even if you don't have the typical Chinatown, you must have a larger city with a population of Asians. Philadelphia has Chinatown, but lesser known is the areas where most Cambodians live. People do still tend to stick together. There must be Chinese restaurants or other businesses that you can find. Once you find one, start asking about dresses.

What site does she not like? Here are a few from google

http://www.chinabridal.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CB&Product_Code=CD1P&Category_Code=CDDG

http://chinashop.ecrater.com/p/11666230/chinese-velour-purple-long-dress

http://www.su-shion.com/category.php?id=23

@MrsC: Colorado is more of a Hispanic state. I've gone into dress shops with Asian owners and what not and even they don't know of any place. A lot of the Asian community are mostly American Asians. That's the trouble I've been running into.

@Hayley: I've tried eaststore, chinese clothing online, and EFU Tailor shop. All with no luck. East Store unfortunately I'm not trusting in part because everything is done online and no actual store information (location, phone number, etc).

Hi David! You might check with the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival Organization. They have a huge marketplace during the festival and might be able to point you to clothing vendors that exhibit during their event.

http://www.cdbf.org/

Nice to see another coloradan on the board!

@Hayley: I like the Su-Shion but there is no way to contact them. They don't have a valid email. Which raises red flags for me.

@Erin: We can take a look at it, but finances may not allow.

Try finding Asian supermarkets or little grocery type shops. They might know, and possibly have import contacts. I've never seen a Chinese wedding dress, but I've seen some little kid dresses sold in a Asian market. They're hard to spot cuz they're usually out of the way and not very prominently advertised. I live in WI which has quite a few Asians, but there was even a market in North Carolina when I went down there so I'm sure there might be some in Colorado. The storefronts are usually pretty nondescript looking, and easy to miss unless you know they're there.

I have done a lot of weddings with Chinese brides; this dress is always red.

I have done a lot of weddings with Chinese brides; this dress is always red.

Celia, the general feeling I get is that the bride isn't actually Chinese or is very American and doesn't want the traditional color. Otherwise the search for the dress wouldn't be hard. There's always somewhere to get traditional stuff, it's just a matter of knowing where and who(ask a relative of a relative sort of thing).

@Celia Milton and Pan S.: Sort of took over my fiance's response. But I'm 1/2 Chinese, 1/8 American Indian, and the rest Caucasian. Yes I know the traditional Chinese lucky color is red, but there's no saying that the dress can't be a different color. It doesn't always have to be red.

I had a white lace cheongsam custom made for my wedding. I tried really hard to find a seamstress that would do it here but it is practically impossible if you aren't part of a community that knows someone that knows someone. I asked tailors, etc. but no one made dresses from scratch!

I even tried to take to see if a caucasian seamstress would make one for me, but she wanted to take on of my silk cheongsams and cut it up to use as a template. I was like NO WTF.

I ended up having my dress made overseas and it turned out great. My mom also went home to Singapore and got her MOB dress (a peach silk cheongsam) custom made for her while she was over there.

Good luck!

I might run that by the Chinese contingent of the family. I know that when I've done Chinese weddings in the past, those clients have asked me not to wear all black (which I typically do) because it's an unlucky color associated with funerals.

You can, of course, do anything you want, but if you're going to honor that part of your heritage.....well, red is the way to go. (Purple would be fab though!)

@purplesun: what site did you use?

@Celia: My mom is full blooded Chinese born and raised in Hong Kong. She also had a more lighter almost lavender cheongsam. Her dad and stepmom approved of the color. I figure if it's ok with her dad within the family I won't be disrespecting my heritage.

But Ike my fiancé stated, to each thr own.

I ordered from the seller "babyonline" on dhgate.com. You can send them a drawing or a collage of pictures and describe the fabric, colors, etc. and they can custom make the dress to your measurements.

@PurpleSun: Haven't tried them. But I will definitely take a look. And I'm hoping you were satisfied with it?

Oh yea i love it! It is lined of course, since it is lace, and it is stuctured with sewn in cups. The only issue i have with it is there is a little extra fabric around the front because i have a small waist but thicker thighs and hips, but that can be easily altered for $25. The sewing is neat and the appliques and button up back are nicely done.

The customer contact i talked to was "Sunny" but they have other reps you can chat with online

I would look into a site that specializes in traditional chinese dresses before I'd order from dhgate.

I guess for $30 you can give it a shot, they have a white/purple one

http://www.dhgate.com/p-ff8080812c7b97b9012c8dd0470f2e0c.html?utm_source=GMC&utm_medium=Adwords&utm_campaign=family-love&utm_term=88912424&f=bm%7c88912424%7c%7cGMC%7cAdwords%7c%7cfamily-love%7cQL%7c%7c&gclid=CPKEr9nW87UCFZE-Mgod-HMAOQ

@Hayley: Looked at the site, price seems a little low. The one site I'm looking at is a little more expensive, but still within our price range.

What about Pearl River? It looks like they have a few options online and do custom dresses, they have a store in NYC.

http://pearlriver.com/v2/sub_clothing.html