aodai national costume of Vietnam

Vietnam to host Miss Asia 2008

The aodai (áo dài) is a Vietnamese national costume for women. In its current form, it is a tight-fitting silk dress worn over pantaloons. Together with a nón lá hat, it creates an ensemble that is instantly recognizable as Vietnamese. Áo dài is pronounced /ˈáʊ ˈjàɪ/ (ow yai) in the South, and /ˈáʊ ˈzàɪ/ (ow zai) in the North. Áo is derived from a Middle Chinese word meaning “padded coat” .In modern Vietnamese, áo refers to an item of clothing that covers from the neck down. Dài means “long.”

The word áo dài was applied to various garments historically. The five-paneled áo ngũ thân, or “traditional aodai,” was a 19th century aristocratic gown. Inspired by Paris fashions, Hanoi artist Nguyễn Cát Tường redesigned this gown as a dress in 1930.In the 1950s, Saigon designers tightened the fit to produce the version worn by Vietnamese women today. The communists, who have ruled all of Vietnam since 1975, generally disapproved of the dress and argued for utilitarian clothing.In the 1990s, the aodai regained popularity. The equivalent garment for men, called an áo gấm (”brocade robe”), is also worn on occasion, such as at a wedding or a death anniversary.

Academic commentary on the aodai emphazises the way that the dress ties feminine beauty to Vietnamese nationalism, especially in the form of the “Miss Aodai” pageants, popular both among overseas Vietnamese and in Vietnam itself. “Aodai” is one of the few Vietnamese words that appear in English-language dictionaries.

Early gowns

Until the twentieth century, peasant women typically wore a skirt (váy) and a halter top (áo yếm).Influenced by Chinese norms, aristocrats favored less revealing clothes. In 1744, Lord Nguyễn Phúc Khoát of Huế decreed that both men and women at his court wear trousers and a gown with buttons down the front. The members of the southern court were thus distinguished from the courtiers of the Trịnh Lords in Hanoi, who wore a split-sided jacket and a long skirt.

The áo tứ thân, a traditional four-paneled gown, evolved into the more fashionable ngũ thân in the early 19th century. Ngũ is Sino-Vietnamese for “five,” a reference to the gown’s five panels, which may refer to the five elements in oriental cosmology. The ngũ thân had a loose fit and sometimes had wide sleeves. Wearers could display their prosperity by putting on multiple layers of fabric, which at that time was costly. Despite Vietnam’s tropical climate, aristocrats were known to wear three to five layers.

The ngũ thân had two flaps sewn together in the back, two flaps sewn together in the front, and a “baby flap” hidden underneath the main front flap. The gown appeared to have two-flaps with slits on both sides, features preserved in the later aodai. Compared to a modern aodai, the front and back flaps were much broader and the fit looser. It had a high collar and was buttoned in the same fashion as a modern aodai. Women could wear the dress with the top few buttons undone, revealing a glimpse of their yếm underneath.

The modern dress

In 1930, Hanoi artist Cát Tường, also known as Le Mur, designed a dress inspired by the ngũ thân and by Paris fashions. It reached to the floor and fit the curves of the body by using darts and a nipped-in waist. When fabric became inexpensive, the rationale multiple layers and thick flaps dissappeared. Modern texile manufacture allowed for wider panels, eliminating the need to sew narrow panels together. The áo dài Le Mur, or “trendy” aodai, created a sensation when model Nguyễn Thị Hậu wore it for a feature published by the newspaper Today in January 1935. The style was promoted by the artists of Tự Lực văn đoàn (”Self-Reliant Literary Group”) as a national costume for the modern era. The painter Lê Phô introduced several popular styles of aodai beginning in 1934. Such Westernized garments temporarily disappeared during World War II (1939-45).

In the 1950s, Saigon designers tightened the fit of the aodai to create the version commonly seen today. Trần Kim of Thiết Lập Tailors and Dũng of Dũng Tailors created a dress with raglan sleeves and a diagonal seam that runs from the collar to the underarm. The infamous Madame Nhu, first lady of South Vietnam, popularized a collarless version beginning in 1958. A brightly colored áo dài hippy was introduced in 1968. The áo dài mini, a response to the mini skirt, featured shorter panels and slits that extended above the waist.
Clad in a white aodai, this woman displays her engagement ring while sitting in front of Hoàn Kiếm Lake in Hanoi.

Other design variations included the use of floral or checkered patterns and the use of gossamer fabrics, as well as longer or shorter tunic lengths. The most popular style fits tightly around the wearer’s upper torso, emphasizing her bust and curves. Although the dress covers the the entire body, it is thought to be provocative, especially when it is made of thin fabric. “The aodai covers everything, but hides nothing,” according to one saying. An aodai must be individually fitted, which can require multiple visits to a tailor. Vietnamese women often make their own aodai.

The aodai has always been more common in the South than in the North. The communists, who gained power in the North in 1954 and in the South in the 1975, had conflicted feelings about the aodai. They praised it as a national costume and one was worn to the Paris Peace Conference (1968-73) by Vietcong negotiator Nguyễn Thị Bình. Yet Westernized versions of the dress and those associated with “decadent” Saigon of the 1950s and 1960s were condemned. Economic crisis, famine, and war with Cambodia, combined to make the 1980s a fashion low point. Overseas Vietnamese, meanwhile, kept tradition alive with “Miss Aodai” pageants (Hoa Hậu Áo Dài).

The aodai experienced a revival beginning in 1989 when 16,000 Vietnamese attended a Miss Aodai Beauty Contest held in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). The Miss International Pageant in Tokyo gave its “Best National Costume” award to an aodai-clad Trường Quỳnh Mai in 1995, triggering an “aodai craze” that lasted several years.The aodai is now common for weddings, for celebrating Tết, and for other formal occasions. A plain white aodai is a common high school uniform in the South. Companies often require their female staff wear uniforms that include the aodai, so flight attendants, receptionists, restaurant staff, and hotel workers may wear them.

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