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In prehistoric times, aside from using animal bones and shells as decorative necklaces, human beings used hides and leaves not only for protecting themselves against cold weather, but also for personal adornment. Thus apparel became our earliest aesthetic and cultural manifestation.
Different national garments around in the world have been tailored according to the development of different regions and different people along with environmental differences. One line of garment is just like one kind of language with its own consistent changes and developments.
Some say that if language is a kind of packaging for thinking and feeling, then garments would be the more substantial cultural packaging for different peoples.
Of course, the development of one line of garment, sometimes, is faster than that of language. For example, when the revolution led by the Chinese Communist Party won its victory in 1949, it gave rise to the social reformations which made Chinese women give up their colorful Qipao (cheongsam) and put on the blue and grey Lenin style suit of jacket and trousers.
Qipao (Qi is Chinese for banner, and Pao, gown) was originally the common dress worn by the Manchu women of Eight Banner (the Manchu organized all people in a military fashion, namely Eight Banner) around the time when Manchu military forces entered into China proper by route of the Shanhaiguan Pass in the northeast, and Qipao was also worn by the Mongolian women.
The basic style of Qipao is a standing collar, right-side-buttoning front, long sleeves, and straight tailoring from top to bottom only with a wider lower hem. Usually there is floral embroidery around the collar, front and bottoms of sleeves and lower hem.
This kind of Qipao was at that time a fashion in the north of China, while most of the women of south China still wore Chinese-style jackets and skirts inherited from the Ming Dynasty.
After more than three hundred years Mongolian women still wore gowns fastened with sash for the convenience of horse riding.
After the Revolution of 1911 female students adopted the fashion of wearing jackets in white or green and short skirts in black, but ordinary women whether in the north or the south used to have their simplified Qipao, especially the cotton-padded Qipao as a must against the bitter winters.
Typically, if the Qipao were in white or other solid color, the collar, the front and the lower hem had to be trimmed with small-floral embroidery appliques. At that time there were already cheap machine-made embroidery appliques instead of hand embroidery.
If the fabric had decorative pattern, this suit of Qipao must then be trimmed with piping in dark color.
Many changes took place in the tailoring methods of the Qipao.
In the 1930s, there were a lot of changes in the style of Qipao. For example, the long sleeve was shortened, even up to the shoulder in a sleeveless style.
The dress length was extended even down to the heel, and only by wearing high-heeled shoes could the Qipao not drag on the ground.
The most outstanding change in tailoring was the bias of the Qipao began to closely follow the curves of the graceful female figure with a narrower lower hem and right as well as left side-slits up to the knees.
This kind of Qipao was prevalent first in Shanghai's upper-class society, and undoubtedly it had been influenced by the Western-style evening dress with the feature of exposing the curves of the female figure curves.
After the 1940s the fashionable length of the Qipao became shorter and shorter, even going above the knees and it was, of course, influenced by the mini.
After World War II with the increase of visits and dialogue between different countries as well as cultural international exchanges, fashion trends have become globalized. In recent years fashion shows with Italy and France playing the lead and the fashion trends in Europe and America have all explicitly presented the influence of the Qipao.
The fashionable style of evening dress is basically the close-fitting gown, and even the casual long skirt has taken on a style of narrow lower hem with slits in the back or on both sides.
For the past 50 years the standard garment for Chinese women in Hong Kong and Taiwan has been the Qipao which is also the formal dress for special occasions such as the weddings, funerals, and diplomatic activities.
As for the style of the Qipao since the 1930s and 1940s the most popular change has been the height of the slits rising nearly to touch the buttocks.
Since the 1980s in Mainland, China with the implementation of the reform and opening policy to the outside world, the Qipao has been the fashionable dress for those women who host special performances or ceremonies or those maitre d's in high-class hotels and restaurants.
The present Qipao has made its own great developments from its original style in the Qing Dynasty.
Taking the traditional style as the foundation China's newly emerging garment industry and the top fashion designers of the new generation will naturally integrate the quintessence of the Chinese art of clothing and accessories to create a more beautiful and more effective Qipao.
As said earlier, national dress is also a kind of cultural packaging which can take on the role of communicating with other peoples.
As people feel emotional and nostalgic upon hearing one's own mother tongue, so does the same feeling arise with the Qipao's basic style which manifests the meaning and charm of Chinese culture.
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