C23 Chapter 23

Xia Bing pointed to the asymmetrical front and went on, “Your frog-button design is excellent. Everyone knows the buttons are the soul of a qipao—good ones can really make the whole piece come alive. Yours are especially rare because they’re made of fabric. Fabric frog buttons carry a wonderful meaning and give the dress a very distinctive traditional flair. And these are clearly handmade at a glance—the workmanship is intricate, refined, and elegant. You must have put a tremendous amount of effort into them.”

She hadn’t expected the woman to praise her. Du Yawei’s face immediately lit up with pride.

So she did have an eye for quality after all!

Those few frog buttons alone had taken her three straight days and nights of handwork to finish, until the pads of her fingers had grown stiff.

“What a pity,” Xia Bing said, shaking her head with regret. “That asymmetrical front could have been your strongest feature, but instead, you turned it into the biggest flaw of the whole design!”

“Hm?” Du Yawei frowned deeply, glaring at Xia Bing.

She wanted to snap back at her, but she also wanted to hear exactly how the asymmetrical front she was so proud of had become a flaw.

The people watching were just as confused. The asymmetrical front looked beautifully designed, so why was this woman bold enough to call it a mistake?

Xia Bing folded her arms, a trace of mockery in her light laugh. “Because your asymmetrical front closes left over right. Traditionally, that style was used for dressing the dead—what people commonly call burial clothes.”

“Hiss—!” The surrounding designers all sucked in a sharp breath.

Oh my God—burial clothes!

If this dress had gone to market, who would have dared buy it? Nobody would want to invite that kind of bad luck.

And if someone bought it without knowing, then later found out what that front closure meant, they’d probably come back and tear the store apart.

Good thing someone who knew what they were looking at pointed it out first. From now on, if they ever saw a garment with a left-over-right front like that, they’d know to steer clear.

Du Yawei was a well-known designer. Since she’d chosen the qipao as an element in her new collection, how could she make such a basic mistake?

Xia Bing had hit the nail on the head, and Du Yawei instantly looked flustered and uneasy.

The truth was, she hadn’t really taken the time to understand qipao culture in any depth. She simply thought qipaos were beautiful, and that incorporating their style into her competition designs would make them stand out. She hadn’t expected there to be so many rules and traditions behind them.

Even after Xia Bing pointed out two major flaws in a row, Du Yawei still tried to sound confident. “Those are all old-fashioned rules. If these clothes are meant for young people today, then of course they should feel modern. I happen to think a left-over-right closure looks better. Besides, at this year’s Paris Fashion Week, didn’t Chanel design a modern qipao with a left-over-right closure for top star Zhang Xiaobing? And didn’t it still get rave reviews from the fashion world?”

“Chanel’s designer is a foreigner, so not understanding the cultural significance is one thing. But you grew up in this culture, and you still made such a basic mistake. To me, that’s inexcusable.”

“Those are just your personal standards, and they’re based on outdated conventions. The pieces I designed are aimed at the international fashion scene. To me, those tiny imperfections are completely insignificant.”

“What? The international fashion scene? Hahaha...” Xia Bing laughed out loud without the slightest restraint.

“What are you laughing at?” Du Yawei frowned, her expression puzzled and hostile.