用英語介紹旗袍

 

“旗袍”在英語中有一個固定的詞，不過是一個loanword，外來語，寫做cheongsam，是從廣東話Cantonese里來的。我們也可以拼寫為qipao或者chipao：

The cheongsam is a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women; the male version is the changshan. It is known in Mandarin Chinese as the qipao or chipao, and is also known in English as a mandarin gown.
旗袍是中國一種緊身的連衣女子服飾，男子的被稱為長衫。英語中也用mandarin gown來表示這種服飾。

清朝時候的旗裝是很寬松的，1900年之后，在上海，旗袍的樣式發(fā)生了改變：

The modernized version is noted for accentuating the figures of women, and as such was popular as a dress for high society. As Western fashions changed, the basic cheongsam design changed too, introducing high-necked sleeveless dresses, bell-like sleeves, and the black lace frothing at the hem. By the 1940s, cheongsam came in a wide variety of fabrics with an equal variety of accessories.
現(xiàn)代版的旗袍很貼身，更能顯出女子的身材，為上流社會的女性所推崇。旗袍的式樣也跟隨西方時尚而變化，出現(xiàn)了高領(lǐng)無袖、喇叭狀袖子和黑色蕾絲泡泡鑲邊的款式。到上世紀四十年代，旗袍已經(jīng)有很多種不同材質(zhì)和配飾。

旗袍和長衫的那種標志性小立領(lǐng)被稱為mandarin collar，a short unfolded stand-up collar style，而旗袍的那種盤扣被稱為frog，或者Chinese frog，frog在這里不是青蛙的意思哦，意為一種用細繩做的扣飾：

A frog (sometimes referred to as a Chinese frog) is an ornamental braiding for fastening the front of a garment that consists of a button and a loop through which it passes.
盤扣是一種裝飾性的編織狀扣子，用來扣住一件衣服的前襟。