Celebrating high fashion from China's highlands
A public welfare fashion show featuring more than 400 embroidered patches by women embroiderers from Dongxiang County of northwest Gansu Province was staged during the 2021 AW Shanghai Fashion Week.
Designers Zhao Zhaoda (right) and Zhang Kaihui (second from right), Dongxiang local women embroiderers, and models acknowledge on the stage at the end of the unique show.
The embroidered patches, made by about 50 women embroiderers from mountainous regions in Dongxiang over 12 days and nights and decorated on fashionable dresses designed by top Chinese designers Zhang Zhaoda and Zhang Kaihui, present the world with couture by women from China’s mountainous inland.
During a ceremony ahead of the fashion show, Country Garden Holdings, a top home builder in China, donated 10 million yuan (US$1.54 million) to China Women’s Development Foundation. The fund will be used to support a women’s embroidery project in Dongxiang County in the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture.
Five Dongxiang local women embroiderers, accompanied with Wu Minxia, an Olympic diving champion, and several actresses, led the runway show.
Deng Yaping, a renowned Olympic ping-pong champion, was selected as one of the ambassadors for the women’s poverty-alleviation cause.
