What I Wore On Chinese New Year

February 16, 2019

What I Wore On Chinese New Year

As I was posting this short note for my Journalism class, I thought I'll paste it here for everyone to enjoy it equally.

One of the traditions growing up as a Chinese child is celebrating the annual Chinese New Year or the so-called Lunar New Year. A grant of a week off college deemed as a vacation dream is buried by the reality of long car rides and traffic congestion. Nonetheless, it’s great to reflect on this societal event as a fragment of life. Unlike past years, I noticed differences in myself as well as interpretations of the meaning of New Year this year. A brief list of items I’ve observed in myself as a young adult are as below:

I no longer term the visitation as “boring”, but rather “worthwhile” especially when people share their lives in the past. It sparks joy.
Chinese New Year is a time to be reunited with family and reconnect with friends whom we’ve not contacted for months or even years.
The occasion is not merely about food and ang paos, but the conversation and connection with other human beings.
I felt that the ritual of buying new clothes for the new year isn’t as prominent as before anymore as I value my virtue more and represent them in my outfit.
On the contrary, as a family, we still keep the tradition (not necessarily believing they're true) of “No sweeping on the first day of Chinese New Year” and “Lit up the firecrackers for good fortune”.
Up to this day, my all-time favourite moment of Chinese New Year has to be the steamboat on the eve of Chinese New Year.
Interestingly, tea (be it packaged green tea, chrysanthemum tea, or lemon tea) is still the most popular beverage served in most houses.
People barely live by “only reds on the first day” as I’ve seen a few people wearing black (Oh on that note, the colour of the year is mustard yellow.).
The celebration only ends on the 15th day of the start of CNY- so you’re allowed to visit them and receive angpaos or vice versa anytime within those days.
I attended several open houses, which I believe were the new norm (the custom was not widely practised back then) to share happiness and bring people together through food.
Oddly, Tupperware plastic containers are major table decors (they exist in nearly all the houses I’ve visited!) to display the snacks (signature/must-haves including bak gua, pineapple tart, kueh sepit, floss rolls, and kueh bangkit)

This is the end of the account of me celebrating the New Year. I wish you all a Pig Year of fortune, success, and happiness! Gong Xi Fa Cai x

As to what I'm wearing on the first and second days of CNY, my main fashion piece is the red slip-on sandals by MONKI. My outfit revolves around this pair of sandals which serves two different looks. In the first look, I styled this amazing vintage midi red dress with a pair of red cherry earrings and sandals.

The dress was made out of cotton, hence comfortable and great for hiding my food bump. The ruffle detailing on the sleeves and neckline is perfection. It even has a hideous pocket on the front, gah!

The second outfit is a combination of a top and a skirt. Leopard prints or animal prints, in general, are currently trending and I had to include them for the season. I styled my leopard skirt with a white crop top just so my red sandals can be the star of this look.

Again, the leopard skirt from the thrift store is so quirky that I had to have it. The pleated effect and the odd cut above it make it unique from generic ones in department stores.

Let me know which is your favourite and I'll speak to you soon! x