Today, traditional features like a tight-fitting waist and bottom and pleated lower half are often cherry-picked or discarded alongside modern twists, such as an exaggerated, loose-fitting lower half or straight-line collar, shaped like the Chinese character "一," while keeping a conservative style for the other half. Other concessions include the introduction of modern fabrics such as polyester. A popular modern and traditional mix seen today is a qipao-style long shirt made in classic and modern fabrics matched with tights or skinny pants, which also increases comfortability and mobility while maintaining the qipao element in the meantime.

This year, Gege's patterns include lucky symbols from paper-cut art, such as "double fish playing with peony" and "squirrels eating grapes," inspired by original Qing symbols of happiness, fortune and harvest, while turquoise blue, yellow, and red will be the dominant colors. Come to Saturday's show and see for yourself when the contestants of the Miss Laowai competition show their true qipao colors.

To celebrate the 2010 Qipao Festival, Metro Beijing will host a cocktail party at 1949, The Hidden City. Look for a voucher for free-flow cocktails in next week's newspaper.

Date: May 29, Saturday

Time: 8:30 pm - 11 pm

Price: Ladies with voucher or in qipao, 50 yuan; gentlemen 150 yuan

Venue: Club Décolleté, 1949, The Hidden City, Courtyard 4, Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang district Dress code: Qipao are welcome!