---
node: fashion_tang
type: fashion
slug: tang_dynasty_fashion
title: "Fashion in the Tang dynasty"
lead: "Tang dress was open, colorful and cosmopolitan, enriched by Silk Road contact: women wore the high-waisted ruqun with a gauze shawl, and officials the round-collar robe with rank marked by color."
published: 2026-07-28
updated: 2026-07-28
image_file: tang_dynasty_fashion.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Court_Ladies_Preparing_Newly_Woven_Silk.jpg"
image_author: "Zhang Xuan (Song-dynasty copy)"
image_license: "Public domain"
change: "Published as a fashion sub-page under the history section, with a period image"
requester: internal
reason: "Per the owner's decision, fashion is no longer a standalone section but lives under each history era"
---

## Overview

Women wore a short jacket over a high-waisted long skirt (ruqun), draped with a long gauze shawl (pibo) and sometimes a half-sleeve overgarment (banbi), in bold colors; a fuller figure came into fashion. Strikingly, some women wore men's or Central Asian (Hu) dress and rode out freely.

## Key garments and style

Officials wore the round-collar robe (yuanlingpao) with futou headwear, rank shown by color — purple and scarlet at the top, green and blue below. Foreign fabrics, hats and music all left their mark.

## Transition

The Song would replace this openness with disciplined restraint.