If thou speakest not I will fill my heart with thy silence and endure it. I will keep still and wait like the night with starry vigil and its head bent low with patience.
The morning will surely come, the darkness will vanish, and thy voice pour down in golden streams breaking through the sky.
Then thy words will take wing in songs from every one of my birds’ nests, and thy melodies will break forth in flowers in all my forest groves.
In the Mood for Love is set in 1960s Hong Kong, where qipaos persisted in their popularity despite having virtually disappeared from mainland China. The qipaos in the film are “revised” qipaos (“revised” qipaos refer to those zipped up rather than enclosed with traditional pankous), consistent with what was popular in this era. All have exactly the same cut and style, but with a stunning variation in material, piping and adornments.
The cut is an extremely slim one, with a diagonal joint down the front of the right chest, a hemline reaching just below the knee, and two side slits. They are either sleeveless or have small capped sleeves, no pankous whatsoever, and the most striking feature of all is the high, stiff collar, sometimes almost reaching the chin. In fact, the collar of some of the dresses seem to be stiffened by an acrylic backing of sorts, as the material looks distinctly different from the rest of the qipao.
Even though most of the dresses appear at least twice in the film, Mrs Chan definitely has her favourites, with some qipaos being much more prominent than others. And that is also the way I have chosen to list them, starting with ones seen the most often and making the most visual impact.
Films - Hereditary, Titanic, La la land, Wolf of Wall Street, The Unbearable lightness of being, Potrait of a lady on fire, In the mood for Love, Goodfellas, Jojo Rabbit, Drive
