In the spirit of Lunar New Year this past weekend, I want to talk about traditional Vietnamese fashion. Traditionally speaking, Vietnamese fashion was heavily influenced by Chinese’s style clothing. The most famous style today is arguably the modern áo dài (literally means long shirt or dress). The clothing is consisting of a long tunic that is worn over long – usually black or white – trousers. It has a high neckline, long sleeves, and is split to the waist on both sides.
Only worn during special and formal occasions like Tết or wedding or by people in certain occupations, áo dài are either decorated with various prints – often floral or nature-like designs – or plain colored – often white or other soft colors. Áo dài are made primarily for women to wear as a way to express both feminine beauty and nationalism, and it is extremely popular in the Southern part of Việt Nam. As áo dài is for women, men have áo gấm (brocade tunic) that are worn only on special occasions such as wedding and Tết.
In the 20th century there were various controversy stylistically and politically involving áo dài. While the garment has always been popular among southern Vietnamese, during the first couple of decades of the communist power in the 1970s, there were conflicted feelings towards it by northern Vietnamese. The [modern] dress that we know today is the westernized version of the traditional áo dài. Shortly afterward, war and famine caused the garment to fall out of style throughout the early and mid 1980s in Việt Nam. However, by the end of the decade, there was a revival and the dress was adopted into uniforms by schools and other occupations.
As áo dài have long sleeved and high neckline and is worn with long pants, hot weather in Việt Nam makes it difficult to wear it continuously. Additionally, its long stature makes difficult to use bikes and motorbikes that are the primary mode of transportation in Việt Nam. As previously stated, while most modern Vietnamese people have generally moved away from wearing áo dài on a daily basis, some women in certain formal occupations such as teachers, students (high school seniors and above), flight attendance, and many others still wear it on a regular basis.
Beauty pageants held within and outside of Việt Nam since its revival made áo dài Việt Nam’s national garment. Throughout the world, Vietnamese communities hold countless áo dài festivals and pageants. In fact, one of the most famous áo dài festivals is held every year in San Jose, California.
Since áo dài is arguably one of Việt Nam longest lasting artifacts, it is considered to be one of the country’s national garment similar to that of the Japanese’s 着物 (kimono) or the Korean’s 한복 (hanbok). Traditionally, áo dài are either white or dyed with soft colors like baby blue and light pink in order to express feminine beauty. However, during some festive occasions such as Tết or weddings, bright colors such as red, bright pink, purple, orange, and et cetera can also be worn.
Replies
Hi Han!
I am slightly addicted to online shopping and have spent quite a bit of time while at home browsing the internet because I really like fashion, style, and clothing. Your post was really informative to read! I looked up photos of the áo dài and it is such a beautiful article of clothing. It was interesting to compare this áo dài to the traditional Korean Hanbok. The áo dài is much slimmer than the Hanbok but they are both such beautiful dresses. The history of the dress is also very interesting and I was surprised to see that school uniforms and some occupations use the áo dài. I agree that these traditional dresses like the áo dài and the Hanbok restrict movement and thus are typically reserved for special occasions. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful post, Han!