Hong Kong cheongsam master in the mood to retire after 75 years


By AGENCY
Master Yan - who also teaches at a learning centre near his shop - said his students were 'far from ready to make real clothes for clients'. Photo: AFP

Bent over a magenta chiffon fabric, an elderly Hong Kong tailor wearing thick glasses meticulously stitched on embroidered butterflies, working to transform the shimmering material into an elegant, high-collared Chinese dress known as a cheongsam.

At 88, Yan Kar-man is one of Hong Kong's oldest master tailors of the cheongsam - literally "long clothes" in Cantonese - a dress recognisable for its form-fitting silhouette which was famously featured in Wong Kar-wai's film In The Mood For Love.

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