Qipao are designed to flatter the figure of Chinese women, offering a mixture of elegance and sensuality.

"Qipao made history in those years by demonstrating women's shape. After gaining popularity in Shanghai, led by young students, it became standard attire nationwide," said Bao, an expert in China's fashion culture and history.

With the import of apparel fabric, China ushered in its first fashion season. Shanghai's leading fashion dress company, Hongxiang, invited movie stars to qipao runway shows. Six dresses made by Hongxiang were shown at the Chicago World Expo in 1933.

Soong Ching-ling, whose husband Dr Sun Yat-sen was the founding father of the first Republic of China, had a classic look of wearing a cardigan with qipao, which triggered a fashion of mixing and matching among female intellectuals.

However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, people dedicated themselves to work, so labor clothes replaced qipao, and it was abandoned during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

The fashion design industry prospered in the 1980s but designers and consumers under Western influence favored jeans and boots. "Qipao, which was left out for three decades, seemed outdated," Bao said.

The trend of wearing qipao finally returned in the 1990s when people reexamined the traditional culture. The dress began to reappear frequently in films, fashion shows and beauty contests.

Women wear qipao at important occasions at home and abroad today and students bring the dress when they go overseas for education.

"I wore qipao at balls and banquets with students from all over the world because it's a widely recognized Chinese identity. I don't need to introduce myself and people will know I'm from China," said Wang Yijia, 26, who went to the United States for graduate study in 2013.