Hospital gowns get makeovers

Beijing hospital clothing is breaking out of its prison. The old blue and white striped gowns are out, and in fashion are yellow smocks for gents, pink for ladies. Well, at least that's the hope for the newly launched redesign of medical uniforms making their way into Beijing's 21 hospitals since the start of April.

"People were saying that the old design of blue and white lines looked like prisoner's uniforms," said Yu Zhen, director of the basic operation department of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals, the sponsor of the endeavor. "We wanted to reduce the notion of the patient as a sick person in hospitals by introducing gentle, light colors on their gowns that make them feel at home."

Yu said that the color is one major focus they wanted to put into the new design.

"Given that color can impact mood, we adopted a pale yellow color for men and pale pink color for women," he said.

Pale yellow is a gender-neutral color that was selected because it alleviate negative feelings. Pale pink was chosen because it is a pleasant color for females, according to the a brochure created by the designer.

The design was made to match the patients' uniforms with the medical staff. For instance, the patients of the obstetrics department wear pink, and doctors wear a complementary red color, said Yu.

"Clothes with the same color intensity are able to match each other," he said, noting this narrows the gap between patients and medical staff.

Colors weren't the only concern. Function played a significant role in the redesign.

"For instance, the two pockets on both sides of the garment have holes that allow access to medical tubes without having to take the patient's clothing off," he said.

Patients from different types of wards will find that their gowns are very practical. Patients with leg injuries will find that they do not need to roll up their trousers or take them off for a doctor's inspection. The new garments have zippers on either side of the trouser legs for easy inspection.

The new mother's gown also shows smart new functionality. Women who have just given birth will have a dress with a collar overlapping with two large pieces. When the patient needs to breast-feed her baby, she will take off the button that holds the two pieces together and lift one of the pieces up to feed the baby discreetly.

Off the rack

This uniform redesign has been in the works since the end of 2011. It started with a nationwide bid invitation, with six firms winning out, and then moved on to a call for design concepts.

Yu said they wanted a fresh new style to replace the old-fashioned hospital wares.

The winner from this competition is Beijing native Shen Zedan.

"Actually, she appealed to us exactly because of her little experience in it," he said.

In 1999 and 2004 Shen won China Fashion Week awards, for designing men's clothes.

In order to get feedback about the new designs, Shen invited presidents, doctors and nurses of hospitals to try the clothing on and share their opinions of the new look.

"We didn't ask patients to try the new uniforms, though," Yu said. Instead, the designer asked her family members to try them.

Shen said that there might be traditional Chinese elements involved in the design of the new clothes, but added that you could also find many of the same elements in similar Western attire. For instance, the V-shape collar gown and the rope that fasten the cloth is for the convenience of medical tests.

Unlike the old outfits, which were 100 percent cotton, the new ones are 30 percent polyester, which makes them more wrinkle resistant and long-lasting.