Cultural Blog: Vietnamese Traditional Costume

Vietnamese Traditional Costume - Ao Dai

Clothing is an essential and indispensable part of any culture and costume is one of the most important topics discussed when referring to any country. With the richness and diversity of the number of traditional costumes in the world, people may notice a unique clothing design in the traditional Vietnamese costumes, "Ao dai."

Vietnam has a variety of clothing styles with sixty ethnic groups, comparable with bright colors, inconsistent and brilliant patterns.

Traditional Vietnamese Dress for Men

The traditional Vietnamese dress for men is a long silk tunic with a standard looking snug collar and buttoned-down on the left side. The tunic falls to the knees and generally comes with comfortable pants underneath.

In the past, the tone of the Ao Dai symbolized a man's position in society. Gold is the color that represented royalty in ancient Vietnam. The Kings' Ao Dai was decorated with dragons to represent their power and strength. High-ranking officials usually use purple Ao Dai's, and the civilians dress different tones of blue.

In modern society, Vietnamese people are not commonly wearing Ao Dai on an everyday basis. However, Ao Dai is a symbol of purity and grace; Vietnamese people usually use these unique costumes in traditional occasions such as weddings and Tet (Lunar New Year).

Traditional Vietnamese Dress for Women

The Ao Dai symbol is mostly close to the Vietnamese woman, expressing the gentleness, naivety, and humility of Asian women. Similar to men, the female version of Ao Dai has one noticeable difference - the silk tunic flows to the ankles.

Women's Ao Dai has two primary varieties - a four-part variety, which consists of flaps in the front that women button up, and a five-part variety, which include an extra flap on the right to adjust the Ao Dai.

The Southern Part of Vietnam wears the Ao Dai in a slightly different manner than the Northern Part.
In the North, ladies usually wear the four-part type of Ao Dai with a long skirt and Non-Quai Thao, a hat made of leaves. Meanwhile, the Southen ladies wear Ao Dai with loose-fitting trousers. These trousers are colorful, but mainly in black and white. The dresses split into front and back panels from the waist.

Another popular thing comes with traditional Vietnamese costume is Non-La, a unique hat made from palm's leaves that no other country has. The slanted hats protect the wearer from both the sun and the rain.