2002.103.8

Cheong sam or qipao is white cotton plain weave, with a design of 'patches' of several different, small-scale designs with a nautical theme (ship wheels, sailboats, rope, nautical flags, anchors, etc.), printed in black. Dress has a silver color metal zipper, in the proper right side seam, opening into an asymmetrical flap extending to the proper right side collar which snaps closed with eight silver color metal snaps. Dress has elbow-length sleeves and a mandarin-style, stiffened collar. The neck, side front opening, sleeve cuffs, hem, and small slits in either side seam at the hem are bound with with a wide band of black cotton plain weave bias tape, with a narrow band appliqued next to it. Dress has a label written in Chinese at the center back neck, white with red characters. Dress belonged to Rose Sezto, also known as Sezto Fong, who was born in Manila, Philippine Islands in 1921. She was living in Canton, China when she married Harold Wong in 1941 in Taishan District, Guangdong Province. They had two sons, Peter and John. Her husband served in the U.S. Army during World War II. She and her two sons immigrated to the U.S. under the terms of Public Law 271, 79th Congress Act, of December 28, 1945. Rose had two more children in the United States, where she worked as a dishwasher in a hotel and a hostess in a restaurant in San Francisco. She died in San Francisco in 1996.

Used: Rose Sezto | Adult | Female