Weimao (Chinese: 帷帽; lit. The weimao was a popular form of head covering during the Tang dynasty. It was invented during either the Sui or the early Tang dynasty, according to Liu Zhiji and Zhang Yanyuan. In the early and middle Tang dynasty period, it was fashionable for aristocratic women to wear weimao when they went on excursions, a practice which these women borrowed from the northwestern nomadic men. By the end of the Sui dynasty, the mili, which was previously worn, became less conservative and evolved into the weimao as it was no longer required to conceal the entire body and instead only the face had to be concealed. By the time of Wu Zetian’s ascendancy, the weimao was in fashion while the mili had gradually disappeared. The fashion of wearing weimao eventually declined and disappeared in the 8th century before being revived in the 10th century in the Song dynasty. In the Song dynasty, some scholar officials, such as Sima Guang, advocated that women should cover their faces when going out. The weimao-style hat was revived in the 10th century when women started to wear mianyi (Chinese: 面衣; lit. It is likely that the practice of wearing veiled hats, which was continued by these Song dynasty women, was due to them being unaware of its foreign and masculine origins. A variation of the weimao is a hat lacking the necessary holes to attach a veil. Chinese: 蓋頭; lit. The Song dynasty gaitou (蓋頭), also known as mianyi (面衣; veils or “facial clothes”), traditional qipao chinese dress follows the style of the Tang dynasty weimao; the gaitou was worn by women when riding donkeys and horses or when they would walk on the streets. The gaitou was a veil hat where a whole piece of purple gauze would hang from the hat from the front to the back sides with 4 ribbons of different colours hanging down the shoulders. China : dawn of a golden age, 200-750 AD. Instead of a veil, the rider would wear a black balaclava under the hat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Yang, Shao-yun (2017). “Changing Clothes in Chang’an”. James C. Y. Watt, Prudence Oliver Harper, Metropolitan Museum of Art. China Review International. 24 (4). University of Hawai’i Press: 255-266. doi:10.1353/cri.2017.0064. Xu, Man (2016). Crossing the Gate : Everyday Lives of Women in Song Fujian (960-1279). Albany. Zhu, Ruixi; 朱瑞熙 (2016). A social history of middle-period China : the Song, Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasties. Bangwei Zhang, Fusheng Liu, Chongbang Cai, Zengyu Wang, Peter Ditmanson, Bang Qian Zhu (Updated ed.). This article related to the history of China is a stub. This clothing-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may apply. This page was last edited on 21 June 2023, at 03:50 (UTC). By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.