By Karun Yee
How you dress gives everyone the first impression of you. That’s how people the world over could tell your status in life, unless of course, you were in disguise and were trying to fool someone. Our Chinese fashion show was inspired by this idea. One focus the Chinese American Council of Sacramento Foundation is Historical Preservation. We partnered with the Fiddletown Preservation Society to put a new roof on the Chew Kee herb store. By producing an unusual and fun event, we wanted to increase awareness for this important community project. Karun and Doug Yee collected antique Chinese embroidered robes (plus Joyce Eng) and thought this would be a good opportunity to educate our friends about their historical significance.
On July 14, 2018 CACS ad FPS gathered 150 people to witness this beautiful collection and have a delicious lunch at Happy Garden Restaurant as a fund raiser to save this important Chinese building. The most important claim this building has, is the fact it is the only standing Chinese built rammed earth store with original contents intact from the 1850’s (Gold Rush Days). People from the around the world, and school children have made a special effort to see this special place. CACS and the Sacramento Pioneer Association recently made field trips to Fiddletown to meet author Elaine Zorbas. Private funds have also been given by generous donors; big and small.
The show was rehearsed by our models; Anne Leong, Julie Nyugen, Nancy Yee, Julia Yee, Kaeli Kaneshiro, Debra Balagtas, Brenda Fong, Katie Kaneshiro under the guidance of wardrobe mistress Betty Louie and Sue Maggio. The great team of Merlayna Yee Chin and Beth Squire checked guests in; commencing our program at 11:55am. A brief history of Fiddletown was presented . A scrumptious lunch was served. We began the show with Cathy Wei’s Chinese history of fashion slide show. Every dynasty had a different style from the Han to the Qing; a period of over 2000 years. From plain to elaborate embellishments marked the time period with unusual fabrics, hairstyles and footwear (bound feet).
Karun presented some of her collection in the form of slides because of the fragile age and nature of the clothing. The parade of models came forth showing each article of clothing emphasizing the delicate forbidden and satin stitch artistry of each piece. Karun explained what the embroidered symbols meant like the dragon, phoenix, butterflies, bats, various flowers and Buddhist signs.
We also had help from the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop in Laureen Anderson, Bernice Woo, the Fiddletown Preservation Society in Beth Squire, Janet Migliore, Alice Kaiser, Duncan Herring, Rhea Irvine and The Shen Yun Group. Previous promotion of the event was a radio spot with Jim Chong and Karun. A TV Channel 31 spot with Courtney Dempsey, Brenda Fong and Karun on Monday July 9 was a fun experience for both of us. Newspaper articles in Currents thanks to Patty Fong , Locke newsletter ( Stuart Walthall,) and API news ( Dennis Lee) were printed. The CACS Foundation board was proud to promote this endeavor; John Cho, Franc Martinez , Doug Hsai, Cathy Wei, Honey Lum, Brenda Fong, Greg Jung, Merlayna Yee-Chin, and Karun Yee.
