Wear a Beautiful Cheongsam for Chinese New Year

This post answers the question what to wear for Chinese New Year and shows photos for inspiration from such events in Fairbanks. February 1, 2022 starts the Chinese zodiac year of the tiger. Your zodiac year is the year you were born in. In honor of the New Lunar Year, this post presents the cheongsams (also called qipao), and other traditional outfits modeled in a fashion show at a Chinese New Year celebration as well.

Contents

What to Wear for Chinese New Year?
Which Shoes and Hair Dos Go with a Cheongsam?
Where to Find a Cheongsam, Hanfu or Tang Suit?
Chinese New Year Festivities Organized by UAF Students had a Tradition
The Typical Program
Great Cheongsam Dresses in the Traditional Ethnic Clothing Fashion Show
The Food
The Special Guests
A Culturally Diverse Audience
What the Audience Wore at the Chinese New Year Party: Red Clothes Are Key
Top of the World Style linkup No 194

Updated: 1/22/2022
Disclosure: The post contains affiliate links.

What to Wear for Chinese New Year?

Go for the traditional red, if possible. This color is the best for the occasion because it is associated with luck, happiness, passion, and scaring away spirits of bad fortune in the Chinese culture. In your zodiac year, red is an especially lucky color for you. On the contrary, black and white stand for unlucky and negative, for which you should avoid these colors. But there is no need to wear red. Today many Chinese also go for bright colors.

Traditionally, people wear a new qipao or Tang suit (aka as tangzhuang). Note that the new tangzhuang combines the riding jacket from the Qing dynasty and the Western suit. Why new clothing? Because new clothes symbolize new beginnings. However, for a party outside of China, western clothing in red, festive garments or re-wearing last year’s cheongsam are fine too, especially, for guests of other Nationality. See the outfit inspirations at the end of the post.

Accessorize with something old, read family heirlooms because the Chinese New Year typically is a sort of family reunion. It symbolizes honoring those close to you and your ancestors.

Avoid wearing clothing of your own Nationality because many Chinese outside of China feel uncomfortable with it, or at least ask the host whether they would feel offended.

Which Shoes and Hair Dos Go with a Cheongsam?

Black, red or nude shoes look nice with the cheongsam. However, you can also try a color of the embroidery or print.

Shoes make or break an outfit. - unknown #fashionquote #shoelove Click To Tweet

Picking up a color of the cheongsam with patent leather pumps is also a chic option like in the left outfit below. Another option a nude patent leather pumps or gold.

models showing what to wear at a Chinese New Year party — Red and black Chinese dresses shown on the catwalk

To show off the Mandarin collar, go with a ballerina-inspired up do when you have long hair. See the outfit inspiration below for how to style floral print clothing.

Important: Never use chop sticks for a hair do!

model on the catwalk showing off the long slit of a cheongsam — Velvet cheongsam with bolero side view to show the up do.

Where to Find a Cheongsam, Hanfu or Tang Suit?

When you want to go for new clothes here are some suggestions from where to start shopping for them.

Chinese New Year Festivities Organized by UAF Students

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Chinese Student Association and their adviser Rosalind Khan have organized a Chinese New Year party every year prior to COVID-19. They always have invited the Fairbanks community to the party. Many Chinese business owners in the Fairbanks metropolitan area (sounds big, but it is just Fairbanks population 32324, North Pole 2214 and Fox 417) supported the celebration by donating door prices, candies, beverages, and the food.

little red dress — Talk master announcing the next performance after the fashion show. She wanted to sell her cute red dress to get one of the traditional dresses. I like her look of flat booties with black tights and this short dress. If the dress were mine I would wear it with skinnies or black leather pants

woman in pink long formal attire with black lace — MC of the party announcing the special guests in a pink long attire with black lace

The Program

The program started out with the buffet dinner. Afterwards the kids performed two dances, and wished the adults a Happy New Year. In return, they got little red envelops with money and a fruit.

On the program, there have been Chinese martial arts performances, traditional dances performed by students taking Chinese as a foreign language joined by other women enjoying to dance, Chinese songs and music, little sketches presented in either Chinese or English, a fashion show presenting Chinese traditional clothing, educational pieces about the Chinese culture. The tickets for the event were $16 in the past couple of years or so. They used to be $15 since 2002.

Alaska students performing in self-made costumes — Students and Fairbanks women performing a Jasmine Dance

Next was a Jasmine Flower dance performed by the students of Chinese 102 and 202 in self-made costumes. They had cut the long sleeves of white Tees to 3/4 and sewed lace on the sleeves and bottom of the Tees as finish. The greenery maxi skirts had a flare cut. The hand pieces were self-made paper flowers.

kung fu demonstration in Alaska — Chinese and American champion in kung fu posing after his demonstration

The beautiful dance was followed by an extra-ordinary kung fu demonstration by the Chinese and American kung fu champion. His movements were so fast that the camera couldn’t catch them except at the end when he took the applause.

over 40 years old woman in red and black sheath dress — Fairbanks woman singing a Chinese opera song in a back and red sheath dress and black patent leather pumps

The woman in her beautiful red and black sheath dress sang a Chinese opera song as well as a contemporary Chinese hit. She also performed in some of the dances. There was also a man’s vocal solo and a choir singing a gospel.

The UAF students of Chinese 102 and 202 performed Little Apple – a hip hop from China. Between the various performances there was drawing of door prizes.

Chinese dance costumes — Chinese veil dance in traditional costumes at the Chinese New Year celebration in Fairbanks, AK

Chinese traditional dance clothes for a van dance — Van dance in Chinese traditional costumes

Great Cheongsam Dresses in the Traditional Ethnic Clothing Fashion Show

fashion at any age Fairbanksans modeling authentic outfits — Group photo of all models in Chinese ethnic clothing

style blogger modeling a cheongsam on the runway — Front view of qipao to show the high side slit

Nicole in dress wearing the jacket over the shoulder and open-toe pumps — Cheongsam with the cropped jacket taken off

Side view of model in cheongsam with bolero over the shoulder in open-toe pumps — Side view to show armholes and collar

fashion blogger in New Year outfit and high plateau heels — Cheongsam with cropped jacket (borrowed) styled with own Judith Leiber charm belt, pantyhose, jade bangle, L.K. Bennett plateau snake print heels (all own), best girlfriends bracelet c/o Chico’s, and designer clutch c/o Bellorita

The clothing pageant presented various traditional Chinese clothes. Here are some close-ups of my favorite outfits.

White dress with a beauty printed on

fashion blogger over 50 donning an embroidered LBD

LBD with rose embroidery, multiple strands of pearls, van, and L.K. Bennett open toe pumps

Fairbanks high school student modeling a pink silk suit

Floral print top with black leggings and tall boots Traditional look of one of the many minorities with pleated decorated and embroidered skirt and top

Purple jacquard jacket with butterfly motives

Chinese traditional outfits for girls — These two young women present outfits that were traditionally worn by little girls. The left outfit is from cotton, the right one is from silk with embroidery on the front and at the bottom of the legs

what to wear for Chinese New Year when donning Chinese traditional clothes — Various Chinese outfits presented in the fashion show of the 2015 Chinese New Year’s celebration in Fairbanks, Alaska

outfit inspiration what to wear for Chinese New year — Silk brocade Chinese red traditional wedding dress

Modeling a Chinese dress — Royal blue Chinese traditional dress with turquois Salvatore Ferragamo pumps modeled by me in the fashion show

Chinese traditional dress in royal blue — Front view of Chinese dress with Salvatore Ferragamo pumps

midlife woman in embroidered traditional dress for Chinese New Year's party — Traditional Chinese embroidered silk dress from someone else’s closet with own pearl necklace, velvet jacket, and yellow square toe Christian Louboutain pumps

group photo of models wearing Chinese clothes — Group photo of models on the catwalk featuring traditional Chinese clothing from Fairbanks’ closets

I love this red and black dress with little cropped jacket in the photo below. It’s sort a variation of my sheath with cropped boxy jacket or with cardigan style. Furthermore, it comes very close to the traditional dress for the occasion, which is a red cheongsam. What do you think about this beauty? Black is my favorite color closely followed by red. Red means happiness, passion and luck. Especially, when it’s your zodiac year.

While traditionally black and white are No-Nos, the young generation wear what they want. I’m not an Old Lady and I always wear what I want. According to my friend, it’s also a thing to wear something sentimental. Thus, the jade bangle which is a gift from a girl-friend who moved to the DC area seemed a good fit as an accessory. Jade is also the Alaska state gem. Why now wearing Alaska jewelry when you live there, right? You want the right accessories for great style.

Well there are also some cool looks from Fairbanks women wearing what is Fairbanks Formal. See the link for a definitions and further examples. Enjoy the fashion show of traditional looks.

plus size woman in a teal ethnic blouse — Woman in teal ethnic blouse with dress pants

over 60 years old woman in trendy purple silk coat with bird pattern — Trendy purple silk coat with bird pattern

High school students in classic tops — High school students in classic red tops

teenager in pink traditional silk suit and man in silk jacket — Traditional men’s suit and teenager suit

models ethnic clothes with male model wearing a hanfu — Models at the New Year’s traditional clothes fashion show with male model wearing a hanfu

mature woman wearing flat shoes with a white floral embroidered maxi dress — What not to wear for Chinese New Year

young mother with floral top and daughters in tulle skirt dresses — Little kids and their Mom showing what to wear for Chinese New Year

Group photo of all models in the fashion show

All items on the catwalk stem from Fairbanks’ closets. People provide their items for the models to show off. Thus, the beautiful dress I am wearing in the photos below is not mine. 🙁

On the catwalk showing off the high slit of the chic sleek dress.

Back view of the Chinese dress I presented at the fashion show. I love this tea length dress. But unfortunately a black dress is on the list of NoNos with respect of what to wear for Chinese New Year.

The Food

As aforementioned, the event started with a delicious Chinese buffet prepared by AK Buffet Restaurant, a local restaurant in East Fairbanks in a mall on Third Street. There was Asian style cooked fish, various dishes with beef, pork or chicken, chicken kebab, vegetables delight, a variety of filled dumplings, flour dumplings, white rice, fried rice and fried noodles. There was American style strawberry and chocolate cream cake as a dessert.

fashion blogger over 40 traditional Chinese clothes — My friend Rosalind Khan wearing a raw silk Chinese style jacket over a white Tee and me. Rosalind coached the dancers and helped with the organization of this traditional Fairbanks community event. She also moderated the clothing pageant

In former years, there was the original New Year’s rice cake with raisins as dessert. To be honest, I prefer the rice cake over the cream cake, but I guess they tried something different as there were always large leftovers of rice cake. Looking at this event’s leftover desserts reveals that people were just full from the delicious dishes and hence skipped dessert.

I decided to forego taking a picture of my plate. Because of the long queue, the servers had put the various dishes onto the plate aiming at being fast. In other words, the arrangement of the food on the plate was not Instagram worthy. 😉 However, it smelled and tasted delicious. 🙂

The Special Guests

An employee from the Chinese embassy in San Francisco, the Chancellor and his wife, and the Chinese and American Kung Fu champion were among the special guests. I am not good at estimating how many people were there. According to the numbers on the tickets, there must have been over 400 people assuming the ticket numbers started with 1 and no number was left out.

A Culturally Diverse Audience

Since there was no dress code on the tickets or event fliers, Fairbanksans did showed up in what ever they wanted. At the long tables with red table clothes, you could see the dressed-up woman in a cocktail dress sitting side-by-side with someone who was dressed as if they had mushed with their dog team to the event. Many women and little kids wore traditional outfits. Only few men did so.

The audience is culturally quite diverse. There were many immigrants from all over the world. Of course, people born in China or Taiwan, but also people born in Russia, the Philippines, Australia, India, Kenia, Cuba, and Germany, just to mention a few. There were many people who were former Peace Corps Volunteers, university officials, and long-term Fairbanksans including those born in Fairbanks. Faibanksans celebrate cultural diversity and they are interested in, respect for and curiosity about each other’s traditions and culture is a big thing for many Alaskans.

Audience to show what to wear for Chinese New Year — View into the audience after the delicious traditional Chinese New Year’s dinner to illustrate the diverse audience

The photos in this posts are snap shots from the event illustrating the diversity and capturing some high lights of the show. You can find other posts on Fairbanks’ cultural diversity at the post at the link: Star Trek artificial intelligence – whom do you talk to.

The Fairbanksans wore Fairbanks formal dress code. In this post, I want to show you my favorite looks from the party as well as some looks from the fashion show. Thus, expect a great mix of ethnic clothes, and cool street chic.

Do you know what is Fairbanks Formal? Find out here. #trivia Click To Tweet

What the Audience Wore at the Chinese New Year Party

Keeping with the Chinese tradition of red for New Year, this woman wears a little red dress. However, she goes modern and trendy by choosing her LRD in lace in a fit-and-flare style. She goes classic by adding black ballet flats.
Happy Chinese New Year. #ChineseNewYear Click To Tweet

woman wearing a red lace fit-and-flare dress for Chinese New Year — Fairbanks woman in a chic red fit-and-flare lace dress filling her plate at the buffet at the Chinese New Year party

The Fairbanks woman in the photo below went for a modern version of the traditional cut. The slits are not up to the lower hip bone (see photos of me modeling a traditional cut), the length is just above the knee and the piece has a modern abstract print with lots of traditional red. This modern version asks for flats and not for heels like the tea-length traditional cut.

ethnic style abstract print dress in cheongsam cut with embellished flats — Young woman in modern cheongsam dress with abstract print and embellished flats showing what to wear Chinese New Year

The woman in the photo dons great personal style. I love her eclectic mix of punk, and romantic. She dyed her hair in various shades of purple and is wearing a romantic style inspired LBD with Victorian Era inspired embroidered and embellished pumps. Her look fits the Fairbanks Formal dress code. She is wearing a cocktail dress and clean shoes.

#hairover50 mature woman with purple hair — Mature Fairbanks woman with unique personal style donning purple hair, LBD, and embroidered pumps at the party

When there is a celebration or festive event, many Fairbanksans dress up or at least go with the vibe, while trying to protect themselves from the cold. This compromise and/or balancing act between dressing up and staying warm makes for a unique streetstyle as is documented in the following photos.

Examples of Fairbanks street style. Left: Many fashionistas like this young lady wear summer outfits year-round except for the footwear. Her legs are naked. Lady on the right: Wearing a thermal sweater with a denim skirt, woolen tights and heavy boots. Her bag adds pops of color.

Fairbanks street style interpretation of the black and white trend. The young Fairbanks fashionista paired black tights with white pumps

Uggs with bare legs means this fashionista dressed up and will probably throw some down pants over when going home. It is a custom to check your down or thermal pants and coats, and even boots at the coat clerks’.

posh midlife woman in Alaska street style outfits at the Chinese New Year's party — Two women in Fairbanks street style going with the theme of the event with their tops, but staying warm on the bottom with wool clothing

The woman below solved the problem of what to wear at a Chinese New Year party by wearing a red item. Otherwise, she held on to all warm, comfortable clothes. This look is a typical example of going with the vibe, without compromising for thermal comfort.