In short, the main features of women's fashion in the Tang Dynasty were: shifting from covering to exposure (in style), evolving from simplicity to complexity (in patterns and decorations), moving from plainness to luxury (in clothing style), and transitioning from slim elegant new-style women's wear to fuller figures. The female figurines and murals of the Tang Dynasty are vivid evidence of this trend; "they" defied propriety, broke tradition, and boldly expressed a pursuit of the beauty of body art. Especially in terms of clothing, there is no need to elaborate on the Tang Dynasty. The globally recognized term "Tang suit," though a general term for traditional Chinese clothing, sufficiently illustrates the myriad forms and dazzling brilliance of Tang Dynasty attire. According to records in the "Old Book of Tang," women's clothing in the Tang Dynasty was mainly divided into three categories: upper shirt and lower skirt, Hu clothing (foreign styles), and men's clothing. Among these, the most famous "Tang skirts" were pomegranate skirts, while Hu clothing was an imported trend for fashionable women. Yuan Zhen once said: "Women imitate Hu wives with Hu makeup... For fifty years, it has been a chaotic scene." Some researchers believe that since the Tang rulers originated from non-Han ethnic groups, their preference for martial arts led to the popularity of Hu clothing. As for why men's clothing became popular in the Tang Dynasty, opinions remain varied.
After the Song and Ming Dynasties, the country emphasized feudal ethics and norms, leading to increasingly conservative developments in clothing, resulting in the refined elegance of Song Dynasty attire and the grandeur of Ming Dynasty dress. Men's clothing in the Song Dynasty largely followed the styles of the Tang Dynasty, with commoners typically wearing long robes with either crossed or round collars, in black and white colors. Retired officials and scholars often wore a type of double-breasted robe called "zhiduo," with large sleeves, black borders around the cuffs, collar, and hem of the robe, and a square bucket-shaped hat known as Dongpo towel on their heads. Women in the Song Dynasty wore narrow-sleeved short tops over long skirts, usually adding a double-breasted long-sleeved undergarment called "beizi" or "xiapi" over their tops, which resembled a vest. The collars and front edges of the beizi were embroidered with delicate and beautiful floral borders. However, during the Yuan Dynasty, ruled by the Mongols, clothing styles were somewhat unique. At that time, Mongolians styled their hair into a small tuft resembling a peach on their foreheads, while the rest was braided into two plaits coiled into large loops behind their ears, and they wore bamboo hats. The main clothing of the Yuan people was the "zisun" robe, a shorter style of long gown, relatively narrow and tight-fitting, with many pleats at the waist. Noblewomen often wore tall, elongated, and rather strange-looking hats called "gugu guan." These also represented the fashion pursuits of the Mongols at the time, and to some extent influenced the development of Han Chinese clothing. In the Ming Dynasty, officials wore wide and loose long gowns made of blue cloth, with square flat-topped headwear called "sifangpingdingjin," while commoners wore short clothes and headscarves. A type of small cap sewn from six or eight pieces of fabric appeared at this time, resembling a half-cut watermelon. Originally worn by servants, it became widely popular due to its convenience, becoming the precursor to the "guapi xiaomao" (melon-peel cap) of the Qing Dynasty. Wealthy women in the Ming Dynasty mostly wore red large-sleeved robes, while ordinary women could only wear peach-red, purple-green, and other light-colored garments. They commonly wore short tops and long skirts, with silk sashes tied around their waists. The skirts were spacious and came in various styles, such as the hundred-pleat skirt, phoenix-tail skirt, and moonlight skirt.