As a kind of dress combining traditional and modern design, pleated cheongsam is becoming increasingly popular among Chinese users. However, the current design of pleated cheongsam has the problem of mismatch with users’ modern aesthetics and demands, which causes serious homogenization of pleated cheongsam and low sales volume. Therefore, the optimal design of pleated cheongsam was discussed from three aspects:consumer demands, design features, and comprehensive evaluation. The Kano model was used to sort out 12 user demands in three aspects: functionality, usability, and emotion. The House Of Quality (HOQ) method was used to establish the mapping matrix of “user demand-design requirement,” and the priority of 11 design requirements was determined. Finally, the best optimization proposal was screened and evaluated by the Pugh matrix and the live streaming data of pleated cheongsam brand. The experimental results demonstrate that the Kano–HOQ–Pugh model provides a scientific and engineered attribute framework for improving the acceptability and attractiveness of pleated cheongsam and provides a theoretical basis for brands to develop pleated cheongsams with ethnicity, modernity, and differentiation.