Ao Dai is a traditional Vietnamese costume. People wear Ao Dai with trousers, overhanging from the neck to the knees. Both men and women can wear it. However, now there are commonly more women wearing it than man do.
People like wearing Ao Dai on festive occasions, in environments that require solemnity and courtesy, a high school or college student uniform and it may represent the national costume in international relations. Most Vietnamese men choose to wear that for ethnic costumes at international beauty contests.
I. The history of Ao Dai
1. The history of Ao Dai for women
No one knows the time that Ao Dai originally was born and how it looked because there are no records and not many people research. The earliest vestiges of the Vietnamese, according to the engravings on the face of the Ngoc Lu drum several thousand years ago, showed the women in costumes with two long pieces of their dresses.
a. Tu Than Ao Dai (XVII – XX)
For the sake of the co-worker, people made a neat Ao Dai Tu Than with two front flaps being tightened together, and the two flaps turned into a dress. They had to pair two lapels behind to create deviant. As a costume of the popular class, people usually sewed Ao Dai Tu Than from dark fabrics for work. Less labor-intensive urban women often dressed in body-worn clothing to distinguish themselves from the working poor. It was like a four-piece dress, and they sewed it together into two front and back like a long dress.
b. Lemur Ao Dai (1939 – 1943)
The daring breakthrough that contributed to the design of today’s ao dai is the “Le Mur” style dress created by Cat Tuong in 1939. Unlike the traditional wide-sleeved shirt, Le Mur made the curves of the body slimmer with a lot of details such as the hand and puffy heart neck. People at that time s strongly condemned that image of Ao Dai so only gender Stylish modern style dared to wearers. By 1943, this style of dress gradually became forgotten.
c. Mrs. Nhu Ao Dai (1960 – 1965)
Madame Tran Le Xuan, who revolutionized a new style of Ao Dai with her daughter with the famous style of Ao Dai in Paris. Photo: John Leongard
In the early 1960s, Mrs. Tran Thi Xuan, the wife of Mr. Ngo Dinh Nhu, designed the style of open long neck and removed the collar. The famous Ao Dai called Mrs. Nhu met with a strong reaction against the tradition and fine customs of society at the time.
d. Tightening waist Ao Dai (1960 – 1970)
In the 1960s, tightening waist Ao Dai challenged the traditional view to becoming fashionable. At this point, women used a comfortable bra widely. Urban women with open minds wanted to bend the curves of the body through the waistcoat tight to the chest.
e. Modern dress (1970 – now)
After the 1970s, the renew of life made Ao Dai forgotten. However, from 1970 to now, Ao Dai has come back with many different designs and materials through the creative and innovative collections of designers. The dress was renewed from traditional designs to the wedding dress, short dress to wear with jeans …
See how Vietnamese people embrace the Ao Dai
2. The history of Ao Dai for men
The skirt with a pair of trousers and a headband are also the national costume for men. Women use cool colors while men are black, white, or dark. According to the edict issued from the Lord Nguyen Vu Vuong, the dress code for men was less restrictive and airy. Since 1952, Prime Minister Tran Van Huu has appointed a national dress for government officials. If the ceremony is religious or historical, then, a towel is black and silk pants are white. So if it comes to the traditional dress, the new dress is more bold, which legal documents regulated to (Lord Nguyen Vu Vuong) and the dress code is clearer Minh Mang King’s complete dress for the Ao Dai.
When it comes to Vietnamese dresses, both domestic and foreign people often think of Ao Dai. Vietnamese Ao Dai for men is not as popular as those for women. Ao Dai appears only at festivals bearing bold Vietnamese tradition or wedding ceremony. In particular, at the APEC 2006, high-level week held in Vietnam, during the launch of the Joint Declaration, leaders of APEC economies wore traditional costumes from the host country.
II. Design of mordern Ao Dai
Collar: The classic collar is about 4 to 5 cm high. Today, designers create a variety of types of long collar such as heart type, round neck, U neck and often embroider the collar.
Bodice: The bodice is determined from the neck down to the waist. The buttons are usually from the neck to the shoulder and pulled down to the hips. From the waist, the body of the shirt is split into two layers.
Layers: Ao Dai has two layers: the front and the back. In the past, the first troupe was shorter than the latter. The front dress is usually embroidered with patterns or poems.
Sleeve: The sleeve is calculated from the shoulder, may hug close to the arm, long past the wrist.
Ao Dai is usually worn with a pair of pants instead of the old dress. Long pants are sewn heel and wide. The pant was made of sturdy fabric, now usually sewn with a soft cloth. The most common color is white. But fashion trends today, the clothes are long with the color of the shirt.
III. The role of Ao Dai in Vietnamese People's life
Vietnamese dresses are both traditional and modern. Therefore, women can wear Ao Dai anywhere, for office wear, school uniforms, outerwear or formal wear at home. The wearing of this dress is not frivolous or sophisticated, things are simple to wear: wear with silk pants or soft cloth, at the foot of comedy, clogs, or whatever shoes are. If you need a formal (such as bridal attire), add a traditional cape or blouse, or a Western crown as you like. The modern ao dai (modern ao dai) seems to have its own way of honoring everybody. The upper part hugged the body but the two flaps let loose on the wide pants.
The pair of lice saw on the waist makes the gesture of the wearer comfortable, the shape of the body, the feminine, just closed because the whole body is covered with soft silk, and also sexy because of the shirt. Exit to live waist. The modern one shows your personality highly. The tailor gets the measurements carefully. When the garment finishes, it is time to put on a new one.
1. Wearing Ao Dai in Tet Holiday
In Tet Holiday, it is easy to see the image of Ao Dai on the street. In addition to the traditional Ao Dai, in recent years, the trend of Ao Dai with young motifs, pants hugging is also very well received by women. Tet costumes with red, yellow, green, blue or flowery colors help the wearer to be young and attractive at the beginning of the year filled with joy and happiness.
People prefer red color for the holiday season because this color represents good luck, love, passion and a good start. Red is also the color that is not only fashionable in fashion but also showing the prominence, charm, and burns of women. Red comes in a variety of colors from bright red to dark red and can be matched with many other colors such as black, white, pink, purple … If you are not confident enough to wear the red outfits, you can start with small items like shoes, handbags, towels or hats.
2. Wearing Ao Dai in the engagement parties & weddings
a. Ao Dai for brides
Wearing two different dresses in the engagement party and wedding is not compulsory in the traditional wedding. However, the brides often do not want to miss anything, including the preparation of decent costumes to take pictures of each of the most beautiful moments of the day. Therefore, most of them will choose to have two Ao Dai for their engagement party and wedding.
Compared to brides’ Ao Dai, the one for mothers of bride and groom place more emphasis on comfort and decoration to hide the stereotype. However, designers still promote the splendor and elegance to suit a special occasion such as a wedding.
c. Ao Dai for bridesmaids
Lovely bridesmaids will be an impressive point in the big day. So, the bride and groom will never forget the special guests from the costumes, makeup, flower hands or accessories … suitable for party space. Catching up with this demand, domestic wedding fashion brands offer many beautiful designs for bridesmaids alongside wedding dresses.
3. Wearing ao dai in special occasions
In some special and important occasions, such as festivals and meetings, women dress Ao Dai as a way to show their respect. Especially, in the meetings of governments, staffs, and wives of authorities wear Ao Dai to make the meetings graver and more polite. Ao Dai represents the national costume in international relations. Most Vietnamese men choose to wear that for ethnic costumes at international beauty contests.
4. Wearing ao dai in daily life
Vietnam Traditional Tunic White Silk Ao Dai
In recent years, Vietnamese dress has become closer to everyday life. In the past, ao dai was only for fashion shows or used for festivals, Tet, nowadays, women wear long dresses when going to work, on trips. Many models always catch up with the trend and needs of the wearer. Besides, it is also considered as a high school or college student uniform. Up to now, the traditional Ao Dai has been changed and modernized. Vietnamese Ao Dai with many new designs, shorter dresses, can be worn with breeches, pants or dress with skirts.
IV. Ao Dai in Vietnamese Art
1. Ao Dai in Vietnamese Poetries
Many artists have recorded the image of Vietnamese women/girls with Ao Dai, most notably in poetry and music. The famous poem on ao dai can be described as “Ha Dong silk Ao Dai” by Nguyen Sa Poet, this song is popularized as a famous song and inspiration for a movie of the same name.
2. Ao Dai in Vietnamese movies
The movie “Miss Sai Gon” only attracted viewers by the simple story revolving around the Thanh Nu tailor store in Saigon at that time. In the seemingly simple story, it hides the ups and downs of the long dress with national soul. The “modern” costume of “Miss Sai Gon” from color to style makes the audience surprised and full of interest.
Memories of Vietnamese fashion through the long-term family drama “Miss Sai Gon” is a very special feature that we often remember Saigon with a long dress with flower print highlight, in combination with long black pants non-glossy hairstyle, gentle glazed hair or long black hair.
Ao Dai of the old Saigon women does not make people shake by modern fashion. Although dominated by many cultural flows from the West, it still holds a special place in the national culture; as well as typical fashion of Vietnamese women. There are still some emotions choked from our grandmother, our mother, by accident they caught a glimpse of their own silhouette that year. Elegant ladies with innovative ao dai gowns, bandages, curly hair, and eyeglasses walk along the streets of Saigon in turbulent years.
In 2008, drama “Bong Dung Muon Khoc” directed by Vu Ngoc Dang attracted the attention of Vietnamese audiences by the content of novel films, the story of love between the girlfriend orphan named Truc and a playboy but sincere who names Nam. The film is well thought out in terms of visuals and costumes. For the actress, she almost had to wear a white Ao Dai for most scenes of the movie. She dressed it in a bicycle having full of books, chasing the streets of the city to earn a living has become one of the unforgettable images in the hearts of fans.
The purity of the film and the purity of it blended together, giving each other a view of the emotional spectrum of hard to describe. Since anyone can be sympathetic, one can also find a part of themselves in these stories. All these things together to paint the springtime innocent and beautiful.
3. Ao Dai in International & Vietnamese Fashion Shows
There have been many designs and performances of ao dai held in Vietnam as well as abroad. The designer Minh Hanh, who has held the highest position in many Vietnamese Fashion Week or big festivals, is one of the people who has achieved great success when introducing and promoting the collection of Ao Dai.
a. Ao Dai in International Fashion Shows
The designs of Ao Dai introduced to Japan was based on two-skinned silk fabric, neck and sleeves are arranged in layers of kimono. The main color is pink chalk and pink peach which is inspired by cherry blossom. The collection in England with 100 Ao Dai was inspired by patterns in British costume and combined with the colors of the Vietnamese national costume.
Lan Huong ‘s collection to America was in a collection of jeans and lotus flowers that combined tradition and modern, and express the delivery of Vietnamese American culture. She is also the designer of the new ao dai dress for Vietnam Airline with its bold innovations that trigger multi-dimensional debate. Silk Ao Dai, which appeared in the Paris By Night 106, was performed live on the first and second seasons of 2012 at Planet Hollywood Resorts and Casino, Las Vegas.
In the beauty contests of world class such as Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss Earth, the representatives of Vietnam always invest and prepare thoroughly for the costume contest. It is not uncommon for that to cooperate with the owner of the costume. The stylized black dress with the tail of the beaded neck helped Miss Vietnam Mai Phuong Thuy make the top 20 contestants wearing the most beautiful national costume contest Miss World 2006.
b. Ao Dai in Vietnam Fashion Shows
The dress ” Truly Vietnamese” with the design of two layers of clothes by the design of Queen Nam Phuong helped Miss Thuy Lam to top 10 beauties performing the most beautiful traditional costume at the Miss Universe 2008. Inspired by oriental dragons, with brocade motifs characteristic of northern mountainous Vietnam, Miss Universe 2012 also reached the top 10 national costumes that were the most beautiful site by the Missosology beauty pageant.
Especially, the image of lotus flowers inspired to designers to create Ao Dai with two main colors: red and yellow, the crown of the royal crystal of runner Truong Thi May at the Miss Universe pageant in 2013 is voted to stand topping the list of the most beautiful dresses; and in this contest, this dress also ranked 4th in the top 10 most beautiful ethnic dress.
Ao Dai
Traditional Vietnamese female dress through the ages
As a traditional / national symbol of Vietnam, Ao Dai has its own elegance and beauty. This traditional Vietnamese dress has also undergone considerable changes over the centuries, for cultural, historical and aesthetic reasons before reaching its present form.
Ao dai is made as of a set that includes a silk dress adherent to the bust, which arrives in the middle of the leg, split from two sides to the upper part of the pelvis and trousers. This dress is divided into two parts. The upper part of Ao dai covers almost the whole body. The neck is tight on the body. Includes long and two low sleeves with closed collar. The bottom is in the form of wide pants so long that it touches the feet. With its long history, Ao dai has experienced changes like the development of Vietnamese history.
