The beauty of women dressed in “Ao Dai” always leaves a deep impression on foreign visitors to Vietnam. Girl students dressed in white long robes take to streets on the way to schools or back home, or gracefully sail on their bikes along streets. Female secretaries in delicate pastels greet you at an office door and older ladies in deep shades of purple, green or blue cut a striking pose at a restaurant dinner. The “Ao Dai” appears to flatter every figure.
Get Help With Your Essay
If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!
Early versions of the “Ao Dai” date back to 1744 when Lord Vu Vuong of the Nguyen Dynasty decreed both men and women should wear an ensemble of trousers and a gown that buttoned down the front. However, not until 1930 did “Ao Dai” appear partly similar to its look today. Now, Men wore it less, generally only on ceremonial occasions such as weddings or funerals. During the 1950s two tailors in Saigon started producing “Ao Dai” with raglan sleeves. This creates a diagonal seam running from the collar to the underarm and this style is still preferred today
“Ao Dai” is made individually to fit each customer’s shape to create the most graceful look. Its body-hugging top flows over wide trousers that brush the floor. The pants should reach the soles of the feet and flow along the floor. Splits in the gown extend well above waist height and make it comfortable and easy to move in.
Comfort ability is always taken into account for fashions and beauty. Tailoring must ensure the wearer’s freedom of movements. Despite it is a long robe, “Ao Dai”must be cool to wear. Synthetic or silk fabrics are preferred as they do not crush and are quick drying, making the “Ao Dai” a practical uniform for daily wear.
The color is indicative of the wearer’s age and status. Young girls wear pure white, fully-lined outfits symbolizing their purity. Older but unmarried girls move into soft pastel shades. Only married women wear “Ao Dai” in strong, rich colors, usually over white or black pants. However, “Ao Dai” is rarely seen in places where manual work is practiced. The nineties saw a real resurgence of ao dai. It has become standard and common attire for girl students as well as female staff at offices and hotels. Traditionally, “Ao Dai” has become the most preferred dress on formal occasions.
Today, “Ao Dai”has been a bit modified. Its length is cut shorter usually just below the knee. Variations in the neck, between boat and mandarin style, are common. And even adventurous alterations such as a low scooped neckline, puffed sleeves or off the shoulder designs are appearing as ladies experiment with fashion. Color patterns are no longer rigidly controlled and accesses to new fabrics have generated some dazzling results. However, most visitors to Vietnam have highly appreciated local tailors’ skills when making ao dai. It is hard to think of a more elegant, demure and charming outfit, that suits Vietnamese women of different ages, than ao dai.
Vietnamese Ao dai history
The traditional dress for women in Vietnam is the costume that is called “Ao Dai” literally meaning “Long Dress”. Early versions of the Ao Dai date back to 1744 when Lord Vu Vuong of the Nguyen Dynasty decreed both men and women should wear an ensemble of trousers and a gown that buttoned down the front. Nowadays, Ao Dai are a two-piece garment made of fabric, full-length dress worn over loose silk trousers reaching all the way to the ground. The dress splits into a front and back panel from the waist down. The dress length seems to be gradually shortening and today is usually just below the knee. Variations in the neck, between boat and mandarin style, are common and even adventurous alterations such as a low scooped neckline puffed sleeves or off the shoulder designs are appearing as ladies experiment with fashion. Women wear Ao Dai of various colors, often with intricate patterns and designs, in formal or work settings. Schoolgirls wear pure white, fully lined outfits symbolizing their purity.
Original design of Ao dai
Ao dai is literally the women’s national dress of Vietnam. It is a contoured, full-length dress worn over black or white loose-fitting trousers. The dress splits into a front and back panel from the waist down. There are many stylish variations in color and collar design. Originally, the ao dai were loosely tailored with four panels, two of which were tied in back. In 1932, a nationalistic literacy group called the Tu Luc Van Doan designed what is essentially now the ao dai.
A similar costume is worn by the men and is also called an ao dai. However, the man’s dress is shorter (knee length) and more loose-fitting. The color of the brocade and the embroidered dragon were worn only by the Emperor. Purple was the color reserved for high ranking mandarins while the blue was worn by those mandarins of lower rank. The dresses for mourning have frayed fringes a line up the back and may be either white or black, although white is the standard color for mourning.
Ao dai as a national symbol of Vietnam
To the Vietnamese people, ao dai have always been synonymous with grace, and beauty. Throughout the many trials and tribulation of Vietnam’s history, the ao dai remained unchanged in its symbolism and the image it conjures in the hearts of all Vietnamese. Today, due to its timelessness, the ao dai remained the national dress for both Vietnamese men and women. The ao dai and what it represents transcends all ages and it reaches the lives of people from all walks of life. To the Vietnamese people, rich or poor, the ao dai is still the dress of choice on social occasion and enjoys a preference on special occasions as well
Since the dawn of Vietnamese literature and music, poets and musicians alike have expound the beauty of the ao dai and the grace and beauty it brings to people who wears it. Nowhere in modern literature does an article of clothing have the power to conjure drama, romance and fate like the ao dai in Vietnamese literature. Symbolically, one can argue that Vietnam is ao dai and ao dai is Vietnam. Although the trends in fashion brought to the traditional ao dai many changes in terms of materials and western influences, the ao dai remains a timeless article of clothing that has the strength to unify people.
Ao Dai, from an international point of view
It is an elegant, demure, and yet sexy outfit that suits people of all ages. Anthony Grey described the Ao Dai in his novel Saigon as “demure and provocative… women seemed not to walk but to float gently beneath the tamarinds on the evening breeze.”. The Ao Dai covers everything but its thin fabric hides almost nothing! That’s true, Ao Dai is so charming and so sexy.
Vietnamese ao dai is probably one of the best dresses in the world. Women look more beautiful (although they already are) as if there is magic embedded inside this national costume glowing tenderly over who wear it. Ao dai has over 300 years of history. Throughout the time, ao dai gradually gets beyond the border of Vietnam, reaches out to the world fashion. So, just browse through this site, enjoy the beauty of Ao Dai. It’s not a bad idea to get from aodai4u one for yourself, your wife, your mother, your daughter or your loved one and see them so lovely and happy with your gift.
The Ao Dai, literally meaning “long dress” or “long tunic,” is one out of many traditional Vietnamese costumes worn nowadays, most often by women. It is the national costume of the Vietnamese people. Male versions of the ao dai include the cotton áo the, traditionally for commoners, and the silk ao gam, traditionally for the noble classes.
History
Pronounced “ao yai” in the south, and “ao zai” in the north, the costume has had a short history relative to the country and people of Vietnam.
Early versions of the garment date back to the early 1700’s, and were influenced by imperial Chinese garb of the Qing dynasty, known as Xiao. Unlike its cousin the ciao, which is a tight fitted dress with slits on both sides (in its modern reincarnation), the Ao Dai is a looser tunic, which even in its tight-fitting form is still left wide and flowing at the bottom. Furthermore, the slits of the Ao Dai extend above the waistline, revealing a slight glimpse of the sides of the midriff.
The costume has faced countless modifications throughout the centuries but its basic form consists of a long flowing gown with a slit on both sides, often with a high fitted collar, worn over long silk pants.
Some historians have suggested that the Ao Dai was an evolution of different influences from many directions, including the ancient four-flapped tunic áo t? thân, one of the other more well known (and much older than Ao Dai) traditional Kinh costumes.
A modern design of the Ao Dai, While the indigenous áo t? thân costume (which existed for at least a thousand years in Vietnamese society) is viewed as having a large hand in the design of the Ao Dai, the closest form to the Ao Dai that is known today made its first appearance as the áo ngu thân which translates as “five-part dress”.
Áo ngu thân tended to be much looser fitting in general, sometimes designed with wide sleeves. In the past, rich Vietnamese often displayed their prosperity through clothing, often by wearing many layers at once. Some aristocrats were known to wear 3-5 layers of Ao Dai at one time.
The áo ngu thân had a major difference from the modern Ao Dai in the way it was made. 1800s áo ngu thân were made of five parts (hence its name): This consisted of two flaps sewn together in the back, two flaps sewn together in the front, and a fifth flap hidden underneath the front main flap. This five-part Ao Dai was similar to its current incarnation in that it still appears to be a two-flapped tunic with slits on both sides, but the front and back flap were generally much broader, and of course the dress was much more loosely fit.
The high collar, buttoned in the same fashion as modern Ao Dai was still intact, but women could also wear the dress with the first few buttons undone, revealing a glimpse of the áo y?m bodice underneath.
Modernization
Female students of Hanoi University of Technology wearing Ao Dai, in 1930, the Vietnamese fashion designer Cát Tu?ng, known to the French as Monsieur Le Mur, modified it. He lengthened the Ao Dai so that the top reached the floor, and made it fit the curves of the body closer. With the import of an abundance of foreign fabrics in 20th century Vietnam, including broader fabric, the modernized Ao Dai required less material to be made and as a result the flaps also became generally slimmer.
In Saigon during the 1950s, Tran Kim of Thiet Lap Tailors and Dung of Dung Tailors modified the Ao Dai to a form closest to what is seen today. He produced the gowns with raglan sleeves, creating a diagonal seam that runs from the collar to the underarm.
Ao Dai only continued to become more form-fitting with time.
In the 1960s the collarless Ao Dai style was popularized by the infamous Madame Nhu (former first lady of South Vietnam).
Despite the two major modifications to the Ao Dai in the 20th century, it has also seen slight changes throughout each decade as fashion changes constantly. Everything from floral to checkered patterns, the use of transparent fabrics, the tunic length being largely reduced or lengthened, has all been seen throughout different eras of Vietnamese history.
The Ao Dai has always been more prevalent in the south than in the north, and has faced a surge in popularity in recent years, even with overseas Vietnamese.
In recent decades it has inspired worldwide renowned fashion designers such Chanel and Ralph Lauren, among other big names, to create entire collections of Ao Dai.
The most popular style of the Ao Dai as we see it today is tight-fitting around the wearer’s upper torso, emphasizing her bust and curves. For this reason, the Ao Dai, while it covers the whole body, is said to be provocative, especially when it is made of thin or see-through fabric.
The Royal/Wedding
the royal costume most commonly known today would be the Ao Menh Phu of the Nguyen dynasty. It is predictably more festive (in color and decoration) and includes a long flowing outer robe (with large, wide sleeves).
This costume, once mandatory for royal women of the Nguyen dynasty to wear at public functions, has subsequently become the mandatory costume for Vietnamese brides.
In addition, brides often wear Khan Dong, a crown-like headgear which is made from silk brocade.
The Ao Dai and its place in modern-day Vietnam
Although it disappeared somewhat for a short period due to the extravagance and elegance of the costume being seen as an excess, it has surprisingly come back with a vengeance both for Vietnamese in Vietnam and overseas.
In addition to being worn at traditional and festive occasions, plain white Ao Dai is the uniform for female students in Vietnam in some middle schools, most high schools and some universities. Many companies also require their female staff to be attired in the Ao Dai, whether flight attendants, receptionists or women working in restaurants and hotels.
In 2007, the Vietnamese film The White Silk Dress was released to high acclaim worldwide, centering in particular on a white silk Ao Dai that is the sole legacy a mother in a poverty-stricken family has to give to her daughters. The film emphasizes the huge cultural significance the Ao Dai plays in Vietnamese culture and how it symbolizes the spirit of Vietnamese women.
The Ao Dai, literally meaning “long dress” or “long tunic,” is one out of many traditional Vietnamese costumes worn (nowadays) most often by women. It is the national costume of the Vietnamese people. Male versions of the ao dai include the cotton Ao The.
In 1930, the Vietnamese fashion designer Cát Tuong, known to the French as Monsieur Le Mur, modified it from Ao Tu Than. He lengthened the Ao Dai so that the top reached the floor, and made it fit the curves of the body closer. With the import of an abundance of foreign fabrics in 20th century Vietnam, including broader fabric, the modernized Ao Dai required less material to be made and as a result the flaps also became generally slimmer.
In Saigon during the 1950s, Tran Kim of Thiet Lap Tailors and Dung of Dung Tailors modified the Ao Dai to a form closest to what is seen today. He produced the gowns with raglan sleeves, creating a diagonal seam that runs from the collar to the underarm.
Ao Dai only continued to become more form-fitting with time.
In the 1960s the collarless Ao Dai style was popularized by the infamous Madame Nhu (former first lady of South Vietnam).
Despite the two major modifications to the Ao Dai in the 20th century, it has also seen slight changes throughout each decade as fashion changes constantly. Everything from floral to checkered patterns, the use of transparent fabrics, the tunic length being largely reduced or lengthened, has all been seen throughout different eras of Vietnamese history.
The Ao Dai has always been more prevalent in the south than in the north, and has faced a surge in popularity in recent years, even with overseas Vietnamese.
In recent decades it has inspired worldwide renowned fashion designers such Chanel and Ralph Lauren, among other big names, to create entire collections of Ao Dai.
The most popular style of the Ao Dai as we see it today is tight-fitting around the wearer’s upper torso, emphasizing her bust and curves. For this reason, the Ao Dai, while it covers the whole body, is said to be provocative, especially when it is made of thin or see-through fabric.
A lasting impression for any visitor to Vietnam is the beauty of the women dressed in their ao dais. Girls dressed in white pick their way through muddy streets going home from school or sail by in a graceful chatter on their bikes. Secretaries in delicate pastels greet you at an office door and older ladies in deep shades of purple, green or blue cut a striking pose eating dinner at a restaurant. The ao dai appears to flatter every figure. Its body-hugging top flows over wide trousers that brush the floor. Splits in the gown extend well above waist height and make it comfortable and easy to move in. Although virtually the whole body is swathed in soft flowing fabric, these splits give the odd glimpse of a bare midriff, making the outfit very sensual. Rapidly becoming the national costume for ladies, its development is actually very short compared to the country’s history.
Find Out How UKEssays.com Can Help You!
Our academic experts are ready and waiting to assist with any writing project you may have. From simple essay plans, through to full dissertations, you can guarantee we have a service perfectly matched to your needs.
View our academic writing services
Long dress is National costume, (also: national dress, regional costume, folk dress or traditional garment), expresses an A nation is a body of people who share a real or imagined common history, culture, language or ethnic origin. The development and conceptualization of the nation is closely related to the development of modern industrial states and nationalist movements in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, although nationalists would trace nations into the past along an uninterrupted lines of historical narrative.
Benedict Anderson argued that nations were “imagined communities” because “the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion”, and traced their origins back to vernacular print journalism, which by its very nature was limited with linguistic zones and addressed a common audience.
Though “nation” is also commonly used in informal discourse as a synonym for state or country, a nation is not identical to a state. Countries where the social concept of “nation” coincides with the political concept of “state” are called nation states through The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances represented or described, or to a particular style of clothing worn to portray the wearer as a character or type of character other than their regular persona at a social event such as a masquerade, a fancy dress party or in an artistic theatrical performance. which usually relates to a geographic area or a period of time in history, but can also indicate social, marital and/or religious status. Such costumes often come in two forms: one for everyday occasions, the other for an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on some unique aspect of that community.
Among many religions, a feast or festival is a set of celebrations in honor of God or gods. A feast and a festival are historically interchangeable. However, the term “feast” has also entered common secular parlance as a synonym for any large or elaborate meal. When used as in the meaning of a festival, most often refers to a religious festival rather than a film or art festival.
In the Christian liturgical calendar there are two principal feasts, properly known as the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord (Christmas) and the Feast of the Resurrection, (Easter). In the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican liturgical calendars there are a great number of lesser feasts throughout the year commemorating saints, sacred events, doctrines, etc and Formal dress (UK) and formal wear (US) are the general terms for clothing suitable for formal social events, such as a wedding, formal garden party. The Western style of formal evening dress, characterized by black and white garments, has spread through many countries; it is almost always the standard formal social dress in countries without a formal national costume.
A dress code is a set of rules governing a certain combination of clothing; some examples are black tie and morning dress. Formal dress is the grouping of all the dress codes which govern clothes worn to formal events. The traditional rules that govern men’s formal dress are strictly observed; from these derive the evening dress variants worn on many occasions, such as high school prom dances, formal dances, and entertainment industry award programs.
The dress codes considered formal in the evening are white tie and black tie. In the UK, morning dress is standard formal day time clothing (a lounge suit being still considered informal dress), but in the US morning dress is rare, having been replaced with the stroller and then the lounge, or business, suit. Morning dress, however, does remain in certain settings in Europe, Australasia, and Japan. Some countries still have the semi-formal daywear code, the stroller
In United States usage the term “costume” is used in the sense of “fanciful dress”, and so “national dress” is used to avoid this connotation.
the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes, depending on the particular manner of practice, the language, race, culture, religion and customs of the “nation” in its primal sense of those who were “born” within its culture. This form of nationalism arose in reaction to dynastic or imperial hegemony, which assessed the legitimacy of the state from the “top down”, emanating from a monarch or other authority, which justified its existence. Such downward-radiating power might ultimately derive from a god or gods
Among the key themes of Romanticism, and its most enduring legacy, the cultural assertions of romantic nationalism have also been central in post-Enlightenment art and political philosophy. From its earliest stirrings, with their focus on the development of national languages and folklore, and the spiritual value of local customs and traditions, to the movements that would redraw the map of Europe and lead to calls for “self-determination” of nationalities, nationalism was one of the key issues in Romanticism, determining its roles, expressions and meanings
an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground. The word is derived from 15th century French meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin or outlying administrative district (when the Roman Empire became Christian, these outlying districts were the last and this gave rise to “pagan” as a religious term). The term peasant today is sometimes used in a pejorative sense for impoverished farmers.
Peasants typically make up the majority of the agricultural labor force in a Pre-industrial society, dependent on the cultivation of their land: without stockpiles of provisions they thrive or starve according to the most recent harvest. The majority of the people in the middle Ages were peasants. Pre-industrial societies have diminished with the advent of globalization and as such there are considerably fewer peasants to be found in rural areas throughout the world (as a proportion of the total world population).
Though “peasant” is a word of loose application, once a market economy has taken root the term peasant proprietors is frequently used to describe the traditional rural population in countries where the land is chiefly held by smallholders. It is sometimes used by people who consider themselves of higher class as slang to refer pejoratively to those of poorer education who come from a lower income background.
In many pre-industrial societies, peasants comprised the bulk of the population. Peasant societies often had well developed social support networks. Especially in harder climates, members of the community who had a poor harvest or suffered other hardships were taken care of by the rest of the community. Peasants usually have one set of clothing, two at most. Also, a peasant usually owed their lord 20% of their earnings. They also owed the priest or bishop 10% of their owning. Of course, knights could, and would usually demand tributes for keeping them alive. Overall, the peasant usually retained only 10-20% of their total work and earnings.
Peasant societies can often have very stratified social hierarchies within them. Rural people often have very different values and economic behavior from urbanites, and tend to be more conservative. Peasants are often very loyal to inherited power structures that define their rights and privileges and protect them from interlopers, despite their low status within those power structures.
Fernando Braided devoted the first volume-called The Structures of Everyday Life-of his major work, Civilization and Capitalism 15th-18th Century to the largely silent and invisible world that existed below the market economy.
Since it was the literate classes who left the most records, and these tended to dismiss peasants as figures of coarse appetite and rustic comedy, the term “peasant” may have a pejorative rather than descriptive connotation in historical memory. Society was theorized as being organized into three “estates”: those who work, those who pray, and those who fight, came to serve as models for all that appeared genuine and desirable. Their dress crystallized into so-called “typical” forms, and enthusiasts adopted it as part of their symbolism.
In areas where contemporary Western fashions have become usual, traditional garments are often worn in connection with special events and celebrations, particularly those connected with cultural traditions, heritage, or pride.
In modern times there are instances where traditional garments are required by law, as in Bhutan, where the traditional Tibetan-style clothing of go and kea for men, karat and to ego for women, must be worn by all citizens — even those not of Tibetan heritage; or in Saudi Arabia, where women are required to wear the abaca in public. he use of symbols to represent things such as ideas and emotions. Symbolism is sometimes used to refer specifically to totemic symbols that stand on their own, as opposed to linguistic symbols
In psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung envisioned symbols as being not of the mind, but rather the mind’s capacity to hold information. The mind uses symbols to form free association, organization, and connections between symbols. Jung and Freud diverged on the issue of common cognitive symbol systems and whether they exist within the individual mind or among other minds, whether cognitive symbolism was innate or defined by the environment.
Symbolism is important to religion. Some religious oracles divine by interpreting symbols. Max Weber described religion as a system of sacred religious symbolism
The ao dai (áo dài) is a Vietnamese national outfit primarily for women. In its current form, it is a tight-fitting silk tunic worn over pantaloons. Áo dài is pronounced approximately woozy in the North, and with a y sound for the z in the South. Áo is derived from a Middle Chinese word meaning “padded coat” . Dài means “long”.[1]
The style worn today is a modernization of the áo ngu thân, a 19th century aristocratic gown influenced by Manchu Chinese fashions. Inspired by Paris fashions, Hanoi artist Nguy?n Cát Tu?ng and others redesigned the áo ngu thân as a dress in the 1920s and 1930s. The updated ao dai was promoted by the artists of T? L?c van doàn (“Self-Reliant Literary Group”) as a national costume for the modern era. In the 1950s, Saigon designers tightened the fit to produce the version worn by Vietnamese women today. The dress was extremely popular in South Vietnam in the 1960s and early 1970s. The Communist Party, which has ruled Vietnam since 1975, disapproved of the dress and favored frugal, androgynous styles. In the 1990s, the ao dai regained popularity. The equivalent garment for men, called an áo g?m (“brocade robe”), is also worn on occasion, such as during T?t, at weddings or death anniversaries. Today however, the áo g?m is most frequently worn by old men.
Academic commentary on the ao dai emphasizes the way the dress ties feminine beauty to Vietnamese nationalism, especially in the form of “Miss Ao Dai” pageants, popular both among overseas Vietnamese and in Vietnam itself. “Ao dai” is one of the few Vietnamese words that appear in English-language dictionaries
18th century
Peasant women typically wore a skirt (váy) and halter top (áo y?m). Influenced by the fashions of China’s imperial court, aristocrats favored less revealing clothes. In 1744, Lord Nguy?n Phúc Khoát of Hu? decreed that both men and women at his court wear trousers and a gown with buttons down the front. Writer Lê Quý Ðôn described the newfangled outfit as an áo dài (long shirt). The members of the southern court were thus distinguished from the courtiers of the Tr?nh Lords in Hanoi, who wore a split-sided jacket and a long skirt.
[edit] 19th century
The áo t? thân, a traditional four-paneled gown, evolved into the five-paneled áo ngu thân in the early 19th century. Ngu is Sino-Vietnamese for “five.” It refers not only to the number of panels, but also to the five elements in oriental cosmology. The áo ngu 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 topical climate, northern aristocrats were known to wear three to five layers
Two women wear áo ngu thân, the form of the ao dai worn in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
The áo ngu 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 ao dai. Compared to a modern ao dai, 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 ao dai. Women could wear the dress with the top few buttons undone, revealing a glimpse of their y?m underneath.
20th century
Modernization of style
In 1930, Hanoi artist Cát Tu?ng, also known as Le Mur, designed a dress inspired by the áo ngu 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 disappeared. Modern texile manufacture allowed for wider panels, eliminating the need to sew narrow panels together. The áo dài Le Mur, or “trendy” ao dai, created a sensation when model Nguy?n Th? H?u wore it for a feature published by the newspaper Today in January 1935. The style was promoted by the artists of T? L?c van doàn (“Self-Reliant Literary Group”) as a national costume for the modern era. The painter Lê Phô introduced several popular styles of ao dai beginning in 1934. Such Westernized garments temporarily disappeared during World War II (1939-45)
In the 1950s, Saigon designers tightened the fit of the ao dai to create the version commonly seen today. Tr?n Kim of Thi?t L?p Tailors and Dung of Dung 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. The ao dai was most popular from 1960 to 1975. A brightly colored áo dài hippy was introduced in 1968. The áo dài mini, a version designed for practical use and convenience, had slits that extended above the waist and panels that reached only to the knee.
The comm
Cite This Work
To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below:
