The cheongsam is a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women. It is known in Mandarin Chinese as the qipao Wade-Giles ch'i-p'ao, and is also known in English as a mandarin gown. The stylish and often tight-fitting cheongsam or qipao (chipao) that is most often associated with today was created in the 1920s in Shanghai and was made fashionable by socialites and upperclass women.