What is up with Mrs. Meers?
I'm currently watching it now and it seems she's a white women playing a stereotypically Asian women with stereotypically Asian servents. I'm confused.
It's called Chinoiserie, a Chinese influence in style and art very popular in the 1920's. It formed and then fed a fascination with all things Oriental, including mah jong, embroidered robes, Charlie Chan, the "Yellow Peril" and Anna May Wong. It pretty much all came to a boil with SHANGHAI EXPRESS. Since Mrs. Meers is in cahoots with a Chinese white-slave operation, it would be perfectly natural (and absolutely hilarious) for her appearance to be thusly influenced. And the two laundrymen aren't her servants, they are neighborhood laundrymen also in cahoots with Mrs. Meers and the white-slave ring. ("Laundly, lady?") It all goes toward defining Mrs. Meers as a "dragon lady".
If you think of how Auntie Mame's apartment looks when Patrick and Norah first arrive (and Auntie Mame herself), THAT'S Chinoiserie.