In general, the main characteristics of women's fashion in the Tang Dynasty were: a shift from covering to exposure (in style), from simplicity to complexity (in patterns and decorations), from plainness to luxury (in clothing style), and from slim elegant new-style dresses to full-bodied ones (in body shape and physique). The female figurines and murals of the Tang Dynasty are vivid evidence of this. "They" defied propriety, went against tradition, and boldly expressed a pursuit for the beauty of human body art; especially in clothing, there was no need to say more about the Tang Dynasty. The globally known "Tang attire," although a general term for traditional Chinese clothing, is enough to illustrate the myriad forms and dazzling brilliance of Tang Dynasty clothing. According to the Old Book of Tang, women's clothing in the Tang Dynasty mainly consisted of three categories: upper shirts and lower skirts, Hu clothing, and men's attire. Among these, the most famous type of "Tang skirt" was the pomegranate skirt, while Hu clothing was an imported item for fashionable women. Yuan Zhen once said: "Women learn Hu makeup as Hu wives... For fifty years it has been a bustling scene." Some researchers believe that since the rulers of the Tang Dynasty originated from the Hu people, they valued martial arts, leading to the popularity of Hu clothing. As for why men's attire became popular in the Tang Dynasty, opinions still vary.
After the Song and Ming Dynasties, the state emphasized feudal ethics and norms, causing clothing development to gradually become more conservative, thus forming the elegant Song attire and the grand Ming attire. Men's clothing in the Song Dynasty generally followed the styles of the Tang Dynasty. Commoners mostly wore long robes with either crossed or round collars, in black and white colors. Retired officials and scholars often wore a type of double-breasted long robe called "zhiduo," with large sleeves, black borders on the cuffs, collar, and hem of the robe. They also wore a square bucket-shaped hat called Dongpo towel. Women's clothing in the Song Dynasty consisted of wearing narrow-sleeved short tops on the upper body and long skirts on the lower body. They usually wore another double-breasted long-sleeved small vest called xiapei over their top, which resembled a vest. The neck and front of the vest were embroidered with delicate and beautiful lace. However, during the Yuan Dynasty ruled by the Mongols, the clothing was relatively unique. At that time, Mongols often styled the hair on their foreheads into a small tuft resembling a peach, braided the rest into two plaits, and then coiled them into two large rings hanging behind their ears. They wore conical hats. The main clothing of Yuan people was zhisun clothing, which was a shorter robe, narrower and tighter, with many pleats around the waist. Noblewomen often wore a tall and long hat that looked strange, called gugu crown. These were also the fashion pursuits of Mongols at that time; from a certain perspective, this had some influence on the development of Han clothing. In the Ming Dynasty, officials wore wide, long robes made of blue cloth, with square flat caps on their heads. Commoners wore short clothes and wrapped headscarves. A 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 Qing Dynasty's "melon skin cap." Wealthy women in the Ming Dynasty mostly wore red large-sleeved robes, while ordinary women could only wear light pink, purple-green, and other pale colors. They commonly wore short tops and long skirts in daily life, with silk belts tied around their waists. The skirts were wide and came in various styles, such as the hundred-pleat skirt, phoenix-tail skirt, and moonlight skirt, etc.