Redefining the Icon

Redefining the Icon examines the qipao as a visual symbol historically shaped through an outside lens, particularly in Western media, where it has often been reduced to something exotic, decorative, or romanticized. By placing the garment in contemporary urban environments—city streets, concrete walls, sidewalks, and modern architecture—the project rejects nostalgic or imagined settings and grounds the qipao in everyday life. The subjects meet the camera with deliberate poses, direct gazes, and a strong sense of presence, emphasizing autonomy and self-representation rather than performance. Drawing on the language of fashion and editorial photography, the work presents the qipao not as a fixed cultural emblem but as something dynamic and lived, negotiating between history and the present. By centering the agency of those who wear it, Redefining the Icon reframes the qipao as a symbol shaped from within rather than imposed from outside.