Shanghai was established as a treaty port in the 19th century and became a major modern metropolis by the 1920s, internationally known as "the Paris of the East".

Shanghai Glamour: New Women 1910s-40s, explores how Shanghai women and their fashionable dress epitomized the seduction and mystery of this legendary city as it was modernizing in the early 20th century.

The exhibition, guest-curated by scholar Mei Mei Rado, features 12 exquisite outfits from the 1910s to 1940s on loan from the China National Silk Museum in Hangzhou on view for the first time in the United States and three dresses from prominent private New York collections. They will be presented alongside more than 50 accessories, posters, lifestyle magazines, and period images.

Focusing on the unique Shanghai allure represented by women of different roles and their dresses, the exhibition examines how Shanghai women initiated styles that expressed their identities in relation to the city and how each archetype of femininity came to be associated with a certain characteristic Shanghai look.

The show will describe styles from various corners of Shanghai society - the student, socialite, courtesan, movie star, artist, dancing girl, and housewife - to reconstruct the social and cultural pulses behind the many facets of Shanghai glamour.

Date: April 26-September 29

Venue: The Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre Street

Website: www.mocanyc.org

(China Daily 05/24/2013 page23)