How a dress became a cultural symbol

During the Qing dynasty in the 17th century, women of the Manchu 'Banner People' popularised a loosely fitting one-piece dress known as the qipao (banner quilt), whose simple utilitarian design traced its origins to a nomadic lifestyle.

In the coming centuries, regional variations of the qipao - whose chaste baggy cut concealed the female figure and revealed only the head, hands and toes - became standard wear across China.

Over time, the dress was adapted to hug the body and reveal more by accentuating the gracefulness of the feminine physique.

Developed in Shanghai at the turn of the 20th century, the dress's modern version featured a slender cut and was prized by fashion-conscious wealthy socialites. Thanks to Western influence, the qipao began to resemble party dresses and ball gowns with low necklines, bell-like sleeves (or no sleeves at all), slit skirts and lace frothing.

During its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s, the qipao came in a wide variety of fabrics with an equal selection of fashion accessories. It became the era's most popular outfit for Chinese women.

Young Companion Pictorial and other popular magazines contained columns on the latest qipao styles, while hugely popular calendar posters featured fetching models wearing trendy versions. Not to be outdone, celebrated film stars such as Hu Die and Ruan Lingyu regularly appeared in chic qipao outfits, setting versatile fashion trends.

The prim fashion tastes of communism triggered a decline in the dress's popularity across the mainland after the 1950s, and before long the qipao completely disappeared from use.

Although the qipao continued to remain popular in overseas Chinese communities, within a decade, though, the dress lost ground to the increasing popularity of Western-style garments.

Yet in Hong Kong, where it's known as cheongsam (long clothing), the qipao has never vanished entirely. Enjoying a latter-day renaissance, it continues to serve as a uniform for students and waitresses, as a wedding dress and as the national costume for Hong Kong representatives in world beauty pageants.

Thanks to its popular representations, the qipao has become a surpassing cultural symbol for Chinese women and, as such it, often functions not merely as a piece of clothing but as a patriotic statement.

In recent decades, trademark features of the qipao have begun to be adopted into modern international fashion designs, so the traditional dress is gaining a new lease of life in flamboyant redesigns.

As the 'Evergreen Classic: Transformation of the Qipao' exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of History demonstrates, the rise of the qipao from a workaday clothing item into an enduring cultural symbol testifies to the dress's unique charm, versatility and staying power.

Although the qipao's shape and features are simple, the dress's shell fabric, collar, sleeves, hem, piping and binding, buttons and other small details offer infinite possibilities for creativity.

As the basic traditional form has adapted to the changing whims of fashion by accommodating modern elements, the qipao has transcended trends and has become an 'evergreen classic'.