Peter Calafiura, beside a poster of his daughter Tova in an elegant white Mae Mae dress, next to his company's booth at the Expat Show in Beijing on Saturday, April 5, 2008. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]
"That's my daughter," Peter Calafiura said as he pointed at a poster in the "Mae Mae" booth. In the poster, Peter's three-and-half-year-old daughter Tova looks like a flower girl in a white dress designed by her mother Ms. Lu Qin, the co-creator of the Mae Mae clothing line.
Peter recalls when he first met his Chinese wife he called her "Mei Mei," a nickname for all the lovely girls in Qin's Sichuan hometown. Years later, this nickname has turned into a beautiful clothing line named "Mae Mae." The inviting slogan for the clothing line calls out, "Be my Mae Mae today!"
Peter Calafiura, an American doctor who first came to China in 1996 says that he has always been interested in clothing and style. Having been all around the world, he finally decided to combine the fashion of the West with the fashion of the East and settled down in Shanghai with his three lovely children to begin his clothing dream.
Among the more than 150 booths at the Expat Show, "Mae Mae" is unique with its strong Chinese elements. A large variety of children's wear is displayed in the company's booth, including smartly designed bibs for newborns, colorful baby clothes crafted with Chinese brocades and refined fashionable silk dresses for young girls.
Unlike most business people, Peter and Qin also sell their clothing concept to the customers. They create garments that not only look beautiful but also feel beautiful to wear.
Qin took a delicate baby girl's bib from a stand and explained that the brocade on the bib is completely covered with PVC to make it easier to clean and the button in the back of the bib is actually a decorative knot.
In Qin's opinion, a girl's real sense of beauty grows and is cultivated from a very early age.
Peter also stresses the importance of educating people about fashion in order to cultivate a natural urge for buying clothes.
"In China in the past, the emphasis was on keeping your children warm. So that's a cultural thing. A lot of Chinese families would dress their children in four or five layers of clothing. But as life got better, you could wear one layer and stay just as warm as the previous four. There are lots of new materials, very light weight but just as warm."
According to Peter, their main customers are from overseas. Products made from silk and brocade are very stylish and sought out by Americans looking for attractive fashions. So Mae Mae sells very well in the States. However, in China, Mae Mae's best customers are the Chinese and not the visiting foreigners, because foreigners in China often buy the fabric for themselves and find a tailor to make the actual clothing. However, Chinese people are becoming more and more willing to spend money for fashionable clothing.
"A part of sales is selling your dream," Peter further says that children are the most precious part of a family. Mae Mae has created nice catalogs for people to get a taste for what the company offers. The catalogues allow people to imagine how beautiful their kids could look in a Mae Mae dress at a social gathering or a party.
Business is business, but Mae Mae is more than just a business, because the company crosses over nationalities and cultures. Peter who also owns a couple of other companies, is never sure exactly what his next project might include but right now he has come to the Expat Show to meet the people and see how they react to his clothing line.
Wearing a unique tie adorned with Chinese Buddhist writing, Peter says he likes China very much. People often notice the cute rabbit on the "Mae Mae" logo, and Peter says the rabbit is on the logo because he was born in the Year of the Rabbit, according to Chinese calendar.