[email protected]

Models walked through time and fashion history at the East Meets West fashion show Saturday.

The UK Confucius Institute presented the fashion show in Haggin Auditorium at Transylvania University, ringing in the Chinese New Year season with style.

The East Meets West fashion show started with flair unseen by many Americans on a regular basis. It was not only models walking a runway, but a journey through ancient Chinese fashion, with introductions to Chinese music, dance, and traditions.

According to artistic director Shuling Fister, giving the audience a show and a history lesson was exactly her mission.

“It’s really not about just the fashion. The dresses carry through the whole show but we also incorporated the dance movements, so you could see the Chinese culture inside,” Fister said.

The show started with an interpretive dance and light show that ushered gasps from the audience. The master of ceremonies told the history of the first dresses presented, named Hanfu, which came from the Han Dynasty. Each model came out one by one, so the audience had a good view of each robe and their intricate designs.

The show debuted upwards of 50 different dresses, all designed and sewn by the shows designer Qi Zhou.

“Some of the dresses take me 40 hours, some of them 50 hours,” Zhou said. “I sew in my basement, and did it all myself. I wanted to bring all my ideas together, but make them popular too.”

Zhou said not only the beauty of her own culture, but a certain local figurehead, inspired her. One dress that stroke familiar with the audience was in a shade particular to the community: Kentucky blue. Another had a peacock design on its train that took 20 hours to hand sew.

“I like to blend the Eastern culture and Western culture,” Zhou said. “There’s such beauty in Eastern culture, which is not familiar with Western audiences. I want to show that beauty.”

Aside from the clothing, there were also traditional dances performed. Dancing sisters Chaoriya and Xiaoriya De performed a jazz number to Bing Crosby’s “On A Slow Boat To China.”

The master of ceremonies explained how jazz had a big influence on Eastern culture after the Han Dynasty fell.

Qipao was the popular style then. The Qipao style features long, form fitting dresses with high slits, and keyholes in the torsos. This style, according to the master of ceremonies, is familiar to most Americans because it is seen in movies and even weddings.

The last dance of the night was performed with thin oil paper umbrellas, that when twirled, caught the light.

One dance, known as the “water sleeve dance,” included dresses with sleeves that reached toward the ground and had the appearance of trickling water when shaken. Katie Holmes, an audience member, said that the water dance was her favorite part.

“They looked so cool,” Holmes said. “Those spins were crazy, I could never do anything like that. I love the way their sleeves moved. It was magical. I felt like I was in China.”