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Hang by a thread

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Cheongsam maker Lau On-hing has been using the same sewing machine for the past half-century and he has no intention of changing it. It's not nostalgia that prevents him, but a rather practical reason.

'The new ones sew too fast. You can't rush to make a cheongsam. It is too delicate. You can't risk missing a single thread,' says Lau.

The 63-year-old veteran has created cheongsam for countless celebrities including the likes of Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, Zhang Ziyi, Tang Wei and socialites such as Vera Waters and Christina Lee Lok Ngan-kwan. He's often approached by filmmakers and art directors such as Ang Lee and William Chang Suk-ping and he made costumes for Lee's Lust, Caution, Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love, 2046 and the still-in-production The Grandmasters.

Lau has spent almost 50 years in the trade, so he has seen the prime time of the traditional Chinese dress. But when asked about the future, he says with a sigh: 'The skills will be lost in Hong Kong before long. In future you will only be able to find ready-to-wear cheongsam, mass produced on the mainland, and perhaps with zips up the back.'

The traditional cheongsam style, according to Lau, subtly accentuates a woman's curves. The zip is always on the side of the dress and the slit should be no higher than three inches above the knee cap. The laces that are used to embellish the hems of the sleeves, collar and skirt are all hand-stitched.

'You can't call it a cheongsam just because it has a mandarin collar,' says Lau. 'It's impossible to make cheongsam with a machine. The measurement has to be so precise that it won't fit if the customer wears a different brassiere.'

The cheongsam, otherwise known as a qipao, is a traditional Chinese garment originating from the loose-fitting Manchu one-piece dress during the Qing dynasty. The much more body-hugging version was popularised in 1920s Shanghai, fashioned by socialites and upper-class tai-tais.

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