It takes a couple of months to craft a quality qipao at HanartQipao and every piece is handmade by the 40 tailors in the workshop. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]

Haute couture

Since 2012, after French fashion house Christian Dior held its first haute couture show in Shanghai, the term "haute couture" has been widely abused by domestic fashion brands that hope to add some luster to their collections. However, industry experts said China's fashion creations are still not as sophisticated as the people demanding for them.

"The pitfall (of Chinese brands and designers) is that they always look outside and try to mimic, if not copy, what the Western industry is making. But I think one can only know where he should be headed if he knows where he comes from," said Zhou.

It takes between three weeks and three months to craft a qipao at HanartQipao and every piece is handmade by the 40 tailors in the workshop. Last year, the shop sold 2,000 dresses which were made using a variety of premium fabrics such as silk, leather and velvet.

"Our clients are mostly successful businesswomen or the wives of successful businessmen who have adopted a rather genteel Chinese traditional lifestyle that includes drinking tea, reciting poems and collecting antiques," said Zhou.