Portrait from the road
Day 5: A tailor’s tale
Xie Guangsheng has been a tailor for nearly three decades.
“This is the worst job now,”? he says. “I get 2 Yuan [27 cents] for shortening a pair of pants. You can barely survive on this.” Then there’s the demanding customers.
Chen Jing, a 32-year-old insurance agent and the mother of a 10-year-old boy, walked into his shop, carrying her son’s pants. They were ripped at the cuff.
Chen: “The lining is torn. And he likes to wear it rolled up like this so the inside is showing.”
Xie: “But that way is not attractive.”
Chen: ‘Maybe, but that’s the style.”
Xie: “But it’s not durable that way.”
Xie gave in, fixed the pants, and kept talking about the 1970s-era outfits that westerners call Mao Suits. In China, they are known as Sun Yat-sen suits, named for the founder of modern China. Xie pointed with his shears at an old lady walking by, wearing a bright blue Sun Yat-sen suit.
Xie: “See, that was the style in the 70s.”
Old lady: “Are you saying my clothes are out of style?”
Xie pretended not to hear, and continued. “These days, people follow the fashion. There is more freedom to wear what you want. In the old days, it was all uniform. Everyone went to work. Everyone dressed the same.”
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