What do you know about Vietnamese traditional costumes?
Vietnam is a small country, but it has a long-term history. Moreover, Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups and each group has their owned traditional costumes. Therefore, Vietnamese has several kinds of traditional costumes through the ages of Vietnam. The traditional costumes of native Vietnamese nations are woven with natural fiber, such as hemp, silk or cotton. These materials are fine, stable and light, appropriate for a tropical climate. Because of the diversity and abundance of Vietnamese ethnic clothing, I will only introduce the traditional clothing of the Vietnamese, the most common natives of Vietnam in this blog.
“AO DAI” (Áo Dài) Referring to the Vietnamese tradition, it must be mentioned that the ao dai, which has become the "national" symbol of national emblems. The ao dai has a very long age, on the field and Dong Son people have found pictures of the long dress. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the ao dai began to become a masterpiece that could not be lacking in Vietnamese social life, from the royal princesses in the imperial palace to formal dresses, embroidered gold only... to the women, dress to go to school, to work, market, walking street.
Today, the Ao Dai has become the Vietnamese women’s choice of fashion for special occasions, and it comes in many variations, compared to the Ao Dai in the past. In daily life, the traditional Vietnamese styles are now replaced by Western styles. Traditional clothing is worn instead on special occasions, with the exception of the white Ao Dai commonly seen with high school girls in Vietnam.
However, in some traditional occasion such as a wedding, lunar new year, etc., men also wear Ao Dai as their formal costume.
The growing of the country day by day requires the need of changing and the ability to adapt. The traditional Ao Dai is not the exception. Because the traditional Ao Dai is inconvenient in daily life, it must be “modernized”. Indeed, the design of the Ao Dai is no longer suitable for working or traveling on transportation. Moreover, the extreme weather in Viet Nam makes citizens uncomfortable when wearing the Ao Dai. Thus, people change the Ao Dai in its designs and materials so that wearers find it more comfortable and convenient. It was not until the end of the year 2016 did the modern Ao Dai become so popular with hundreds of new designs. It is modified in the collar, the sleeves or the length of two flaps. Furthermore, instead of wearing pants with the Ao Dai, people nowadays prefer to wear culottes and skirts inside it. Not only the change in designs, people also use different materials for the modern Ao Dai like silk, brocade fabric or voile fabric.
“Conical hat” (Nón lá) The Vietnamese conical hat appeared thousand years ago. Old Vietnamese people have learned to take leaves as rain cover, sunshine. Non la is made out of such simple and available materials as palm leaves, the bark of Moc tree and bamboo.
Non la can serve numerous uses such as a personal sun proof, a basket for women going to market, a fan for a plowman on hot summer days, or even a keepsake to memorize. The image of a young lady wearing Non la and Ao Dai is a beautiful symbol of Vietnam; Non la is also an object which, as part of the national spirit, closely links Vietnamese people, so many travelers enjoy taking a Non la as special souvenirs from Vietnam.
“AO YEM” (Áo yếm) Although Yem has appeared since ancient times, in the 19th century under the Nguyen Dynasty, Yem became one of the nation's "national costumes". An angle was cut to the neck and had two strings attached to fix it to the body. Yem, usually made of white silk, helps show a women’s attractiveness by highlighting the tapered shoulders and bee-shaped waist. On New Year's holidays, the colors of brown, white and soft Yem are replaced by bright colors such as red Yem, peach Yem, etc.
“AO TU THAN” (Áo tứ thân) The Ao tu than was worn widely by women centuries before the Áo Dài. As Vietnamese expanded southward, Ao tu than gradually became associated specifically with northern women.
Ao tu than in modern-day Vietnam tends to be extremely colorful, using different hues throughout the dress, from the tunic to the bodice and the skirt. Ao tu than is now obsolete in terms of its daily use in Vietnam. However, it can be seen often on traditional occasions such as festivals, especially in northern Vietnam.
“AO BA BA” (Áo bà ba) Ao ba ba is a traditional southern Vietnamese garment. It is most associated with rural southern Vietnam, especially in the Mekong Delta. Often worn as a top and bottom set, the áo bà ba is typically a long-sleeved, button-down silk shirt with a scooped neck paired with silk pants. The Ao ba ba will be somewhat long and split at the sides of the waist, forming two flaps, customarily with two pockets.
In overall, Ao Dai is the most popular costumes and it is also a national Vietnamese costume which is known by all over the world. Of course, there are still many kinds of Vietnamese costumes, but I cannot describe all of those costumes for you. However, if you are interested in Vietnamese costumes, I am very pleased to answer you anything. If you have any questions, please contact me at my email: minmin8579@gmail.com. I hope you are satisfied with these above costumes I have mentioned.
References http://www.vietnam-culture.com/clothing/traditional-vietnamese-clothing/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81o_d%C3%A0i http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/special-reports/151794/vietnamese-ao-dai--from-dong-son-bronze-drum-to-int-l-beauty-contests.html https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%B3n_l%C3%A1 https://www.vietnamonline.com/culture/non-la.html http://vietnamhuetourism.vn/lang-nghe/lang-nghe-non-la.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81o_t%E1%BB%A9_th%C3%A2n http://vovworld.vn/en-US/colorful-vietnamvietnams-54-ethnic-groups/traditional-clothes-of-viet-women-152390.vov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81o_b%C3%A0_ba
