Who Were My Participants?
My participants told the stories of nine Chinese Canadian women, spanning the history of one hundred years. Among them, seven out of nine came from Vancouver, British Columbia, one was from Montreal, Quebec, and one was from Oakville, Ontario. However, some of these women have lived across many provinces in Canada and travelled around the world.
Representing the 1910s, Lillian Ho Wong was a second-generation Chinese Canadian woman from Vancouver’s Chinatown. I interviewed her nephew, Paul Yee, about her life and fashion choices. I chose Lillian for this decade because her coming of age experiences engaged with Canada’s anti-Chinese exclusion acts, making Lillian struggle with racism and discrimination. I was interested in Lillian’s relationship with Chinese culture, whether she used clothes to distance herself and highlight her status as a Canadian-born citizen or embraced Chinese culture with pride to preserve connections.
Representing the 1920s and the 1950s, an interview with Jeanette Lee on her grandmother Wong Shee and her mother Rose Lee shed light on generational differences in fashion among Chinese Canadian women. I was curious about how Wong used handmade Chinese-style slippers to teach Chinese culture to later generations and how Rose, as a second-generation, tried everything she could to assimilate into Canadian culture by refashioning her identity.
Representing the 1940s, Lillian Sam, a second-generation Chinese Canadian woman from Vancouver, showed how Hollywood culture and celebrity fashion impacted women in the mid-twentieth century. I interviewed Lillian’s granddaughter Marielle Lowe on Lillian’s life and wardrobe. I chose Lillian because I was conveyed that her adoption of Hollywood fashion was a survival strategy; imagining a fancy life with privileges helped her through the harsh realities of living in poverty and cultural isolation.
Representing the 1970s, Karen Dar Woon, a third-generation Chinese Canadian woman from Vancouver, participated in a beauty pageant competition. Karen refined her relationship with the Chinese community and her place in the world through participating in the pageant. I chose Karen to represent this decade because she grew up under the Hippie influence, felt disconnected from Chinese culture, and rebuilt her identity through cultural events. I was interested in how Karen’s first time wearing a cheongsam in the pageant evoked curiosity and creativity, allowing her to explore complicated issues of ethnicity, cultural belonging, and representation.
Representing the 1980s, I found three participants: Linda Tzang, Linda Yip, and Cydney Mar. I decided to have more than one woman to define this decade because I realized these Chinese Canadian women’s experiences captured the dynamic nature of the 1980s, where young women used various ways to fight social restraints. They each took a different journey to connect with their cultural identity, express individuality and gain empowerment. Linda Tzang is a first-generation Chinese Canadian who fell in love with the rebellious New Romantic culture, where I found her adding a unique perspective to communicate the 1980s experience. Linda Yip is a fourth-generation Chinese Canadian who travelled the world at her coming of age. I thought her story shed light on how one’s identity is fluid and constantly evolving as one grows and encounters new cultures. Cydney is a third-generation Chinese Canadian. Her career as a fashion designer was perfect for my project, and I was curious how her relationships with multiple cultures potentially communicated her identity and worldview through her clothing designs.
Representing the 1990s, Joyce Wang, a first-generation Chinese Canadian, demonstrates how the Point System and China’s rise as an economic power significantly changed the lives of new Chinese immigrants. I chose Joyce to represent this decade because her life interacted with various historical events in Chinese and Canadian histories. The remaining impacts of the Chinese Cultural Revolution shaped her experience as an adolescent in China, while the changing immigration policies in Canada allowed her to come through the Skilled Workers Program. I was interested in how Joyce used fashion to navigate the two worlds and whether her generation of immigrants showed more cultural confidence through their bold clothing choices.
Representing the 2010s, Tiffany Le, a first-generation Chinese Canadian, shows how the millennial generation used Western-appropriated Chinese clothes to challenge people’s perception of Chinese fashion and reclaim agency. I chose Tiffany to represent this decade because she had a strong sense of fashion consciousness by working in the industry. Her creative mix of Western and Chinese clothes and accessories corresponded to the emergence of “global citizens” in the contemporary Chinese diaspora.
For the decades of the 1930s, 1960s, and 2000s, I could not connect with any suitable participants. There were failed attempts to find participants or schedule interviews for these decades. However, my 3D model designs for the described decades (the 1930s and 1960s) were inspired by members from the Yip family in the 1930s and Donna Lee Chan, a second-generation Chinese Canadian woman coming of age in the 1960s.
