The origin and evolution of cheongsam

The cheongsam  is a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women, also known as qipao and Mandarin gown. The stylish and often tight-fitting cheongsam or qipao that is best known today was created in the 1920s in Shanghai and made fashionable by socialites and upper class women.

History

During the Qing dynasty, certain social strata emerged. Among them were the Banners,mostly Manchu, who as a group were called Banner People.Manchu women typically wore a one-piece dress that retrospectively came to be known as the qípáo.The generic term for both the male and the female forms of Manchu dress, essentially similar garments, was chángpáo.The qipao fitted loosely and hung straight down the body, or flared slightly in an A-line. Under the dynastic laws after 1636, all Han Chinese in the banner system were forced to adopt the Manchu male hairstyle of wearing a queue as did all Manchu men and dress in Manchu qipao. However, the order for ordinary non-Banner Han civilians to wear Manchu clothing was lifted and only Han who served as officials were required to wear Manchu clothing, with the rest of the civilian Han population dressing however they wanted. Most Han civilian men eventually voluntarily adopted Manchu clothing while Han women continued wearing Han clothing. Until 1911, the changpao was required clothing for Chinese men of a certain class, but Han Chinese women continued to wear loose jacket and trousers, with an overskirt for formal occasions. The qipao was a new fashion item for Han Chinese women when they started wearing it around 1925.The original qipao was wide and loose. It covered most of the woman's body, revealing only the head, hands, and the tips of the toes. The baggy nature of the clothing also served to conceal the figure of the wearer regardless of age. With time, though, the qipao were tailored to become more form fitting and revealing. The modern version, which is now recognized popularly in China as the "standard" qipao, was first developed in Shanghai in the 1920s, partly under the influence of Beijing styles. People eagerly sought a more modernized style of dress and transformed the old qipao to suit their tastes. Slender and form fitting with a high cut, it had great differences from the traditional qipao. It was high-class courtesans and celebrities in the city that would make these redesigned tight fitting qipao popular at that time.In Shanghai it was first known as zansae or "long dress" (長衫—Mandarin Chinese: chángshān; Shanghainese: zansae; Cantonese: chèuhngsāam), and it is this name that survives in English as the "cheongsam".

Variation through historyThe modernized version is noted for accentuating the figures of women, and as such was popular as a dress for high society. As Western fashions changed, the basic cheongsam design changed too, introducing high-necked sleeveless dresses, bell-like sleeves, and the black lace frothing at the hem of a ball gown. By the 1940s, cheongsam came in a wide variety of fabrics with an equal variety of accessories.
The 1949 Communist Revolution curtailed the popularity of the cheongsam and other fashions in Shanghai, but the Shanghainese emigrants and refugees brought the fashion to Hong Kong where it has remained popular. Recently there has been a revival of the Shanghainese cheongsam in Shanghai and elsewhere in Mainland China; the Shanghainese style functions now mostly as a stylish party dress.

Fashion Timeline of Chinese Dress

In 1929, the Cheongsam was chosen by the National Republic of China to be one of the national dresses. In the 1930s, the fashion prevailed in Shanghai.

Traditionally, a Cheongsam is made of silk and embroidered with pearls and other decorations. Cheongsams are close fitting, and draw the outline of the wearer's body.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, due to the anti-tradition movements in China, especially the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the Cheongsam was seen as a feudal dress of the ancient times. It was abandoned as daily clothing, and people who wore Cheongsams were judged as being bourgeois, which was considered a political misbehavior at that time. For example, in 1963, when then president Liu Shaoqi was visiting four neighboring countries in South Asia, first lady Wang Guangmei wore a Cheongsam. She was later declared guilty in the Cultural Revolution for wearing a Cheongsam.

Since 1980s, with the trend of reevaluation of Chinese traditional culture, people in mainland China started to pay attention to the Cheongsam again. The Cheongsam is gaining popularity in films, beauty pageants, and fashion shows in both China and other countries all over the world. In 1984, the Cheongsam was specified as the formal attire of female diplomatic agents by the People’s Republic of China.

Modern use

Cheongsam belonging to the wives of past Singaporean political leaders on display in an exhibition entitled In the Mood for Cheongsam: Modernity and Singapore Women at the National Museum of Singapore in 2012

In the 1950s, women in the workforce in Hong Kong started to wear more functional cheongsam made of wool, twill, and other materials. Most were tailor fitted and often came with a matching jacket. The dresses were a fusion of Chinese tradition with modern styles. Cheongsam were commonly replaced by more comfortable clothing such as sweaters, jeans, business suits and skirts. Due to its restrictive nature, it is now mainly worn as formal wear for important occasions. They are sometimes worn by politicians and film artists in Taiwan and Hong Kong. They are shown in some Chinese movies such as in the 1960s film The World of Suzie Wong, where actressNancy Kwan made the cheongsam briefly fashionable in western culture. However, they are sometimes used as Halloween costumes in some western countries. They are also commonly seen in beauty contests, along with swim suits. Today, cheongsam are only commonly worn day to day as a uniform by people like restaurant hostesses and serving staff at luxury hotels.