The Chinese national costumes had over five thousand years of history with different dynasties, ethnic minorities and social values, which reflected the Chinese traditional aesthetics, philosophy and manual technique.
Qin and Han Dynasties (221 BCE-220 AD)
It is the Chinese oldest national costume, and the Han clothing was called Hanfu. It was a draggle-tail dress robe, the full-length robe of everyday clothes. The sleeves had a wide and narrow style, and the waist was tightly wrapped. The hem flared can highlight the curves of the woman's body. The most unique is the collar that was crossed, it can wear three layers of clothes like most, and the collar of each layer must be shown, which is also called "three layers of clothes"
Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties (220-589 AD)
At the beginning of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, clothing was influenced by the minority that the female costumes were extravagant, lightweight and elegant. This clothing was the same as the Qin and Han Dynasties' Hanfu. Still, the changes were reflected in the hem, which had a miscellaneous pendant layer upon layer as a decoration, and it was fluttering in the breeze and was long and loose.
Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD)
The Tang dynasty was most open to foreign influence. The neckline was opened large and low until the collar was wide open. Furthermore, the topless big-sleeved shirt in the Tang Dynasty with thin and transparent clothes made of tulle was used as a coat in the Tang Dynasty. It also created charm and sexiness for the Tang Dynasty women, and clothing major changed from conservative to erogenous.
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD)
The Ming Dynasty clothing of civilian women could only use in purple, green, pink, and other colours. Still, it can not use bright red, dark cyan and bright yellow, and gold embroidery, which symbolises the empress and noblewoman.
In the civilian, the patchwork clothes "Shuitian Yi" were also popular, made with various pieces of broken brocade materials and sewn together. It was the Ming civilian women’s favourite.
Source from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology
Qing dynasty (1644-1911 AD)
The women's robes were a crew neck, and collar left crossover the right, straight side seam, flat sleeves, and the length of the sleeves had two styles that were full length with decorative webbing and semi-short and wide cuffs with two-decorative webbing. The Qing Dynasty's various skirts style included hundred pleated skirts, horse-faced skirts, bound edge skirts, fish-scale skirts, phoenix skirts, moonlight skirts and more. It was embroidered with ornate patterns, such as flowers, birds, hexapods, and butterflies.
1911s to the 21st Century
In the 1911s, Qipao (cheongsam) was originally the clothing of Manchu women. In the 1920s, it was influenced by Western clothing culture. The silhouette of the robe gradually narrowed. It used the three-dimensional models for sewing pattern making of Western clothing, added waist and chest darts, and used shoulder seams and sleeves to make the style mature. the cheongsam combines the characteristics of ethnic groups and both Chinese and Western clothing styles. It has completely deviated from the original design after the improvement, becoming a unique style of Chinese clothing.
Illustration: Source from nancyduong.com