Hong Kong cheongsam master in the mood to retire after 75 years

Bent over a magenta chiffon fabric, an elderly Hong Kong tailor wearing thick glasses meticulously stitched on embroidered butterflies, working to transform the shimmering material into an elegant, high-collared Chinese dress known as a cheongsam. Its high-neck collars, knee-length slits and streamlined fits evoked a sense of city glamour, and by the 1960s the dress was everywhere in Hong Kong.