This marriage suit is heavily ornamented with dragon and phoenix motifs. In Chinese visual culture, the phoenix symbolizes beauty. It was a favoured and popular motif for ceremonial costumes of empresses in imperial China. Therefore, the phoenix on a bride’s marriage suit implies that she is the “empress on her wedding day”. The dragon, on the other hand, is an emblem of imperial authority and fertility. The dragon on this marriage suit is flying down to the phoenix, which symbolizes the bride. By the mid-twentieth century, many Chinese Canadian women wore Western clothing in everyday life. Still, they chose to wear traditional Chinese suits on special occasions such as weddings and graduation ceremonies to highlight their Chinese heritage, reclaim their cultural visibility, as well as show respect to their Chinese families.