Vietnamese traditional costumes

Traditional costumes of the Vietnamese people tend to be very simple and modest. Men wear brown shirts and white trousers. Their headgear is simply a piece of cloth wrapped around the head and their footwear consists of a pair of plain sandals. 
 

 

For formal ceremonies men would have two additional items, a long gown with slits on either side, and a turban, usually in black or brown made of cotton or silk. In feudal times, there were strict dress codes. Ordinary people were not allowed to wear clothes with dyes other than black, brown or white. Costumes in yellow were reserved for the King. Those in purple and red were reserved for high ranking court officials, while dresses in blue were exclusively worn by petty court officials. Men's dress has gradually changed along with social development.

The traditional set of a long gown and turban gave way to more modern looking suits, while business shirts and trousers have replaced traditional long sleeved shirts and wide trousers. Traditional costumes still exist and efforts are increasingly being made to restore traditional festivals and entertainment which incorporate traditional costumes.

Young women wear light brown-colored short shirts with long black skirts. Their headgear consists of a black turban with a peak at the front. To make their waist look smaller, they tightly fasten a long piece of pink or violet cloth.On formal occasions, they wear a special three layered dress called an "ao dai", a long gown with slits on either side.

 

The outer garment is a special silk gown called an "ao tu than" which is brown or light brown in colour with four slits divided equally on its lower section. The second layer is a gown in a light yellow colour and the third layer is a pink gown. When a woman wears her three gowns, she fastens the buttons on the side, and leave those on the chest unfastened so that it forms a shaped collar. This allows her to show the different colors on the upper part of the three gowns. Beneath the three gowns is a bright red brassiere which is left exposed to cover the woman's neck.

Over time, the traditional "ao dai" has gone through certain changes. Long gowns are now carefully tailored  to fit the body of a Vietnamese woman. The two long slits along the side allow the gown to have two free floating panels in the front and at the back of the dress. The floating panels expose a long pair of white silk trousers.

An elegant looking conical palm hat, which is traditionally known as a "non bai tho" (a hat with poetry written on it), is worn as part of a woman's formal dress. This traditional conical hat is particularly suitable for a tropical country such as Viet Nam, where fierce sunshine and hard rain are commonplace.

 

To make a conical hat, a hat maker chooses young palm leaves that have been been dried under continued sunshine. Attached beneath the almost transparent layers of dried palm leaves is  a drawing of a small river wharf. Below the drawing,  there is a piece of poetry  to be recited by the hat wearer.

In recent years some foreign fashions have been introduced to Viet Nam; however, the traditional "ao dai" remains preferable to women in both urban and rural settings.

In general, Vietnamese clothing is very diverse. Every ethnic group in Viet Nam has its own style of clothing. Festivals are the occasion for all to wear their favorite clothes. Over thousands of years, the traditional clothing of all ethnic groups in Viet Nam has changed, but each ethnic group has separately maintained their own characteristics.

 

In the mountain areas, people live in houses built on stilts, wear trousers or skirts and indigo vests with design motifs imitating wild flowers and beasts. In the northern uplands and the Central Highlands, the young women have made skirts and vests with beautiful and coulourful decoration in a style convenient for farm work in terraced fields and to travel on hilly slopes and mountain gorges.

Source: http://www.vietnamtourism.com

Vietnam - Exciting Destination

A country of extraordinary diversity, Vietnam has more distinctive experiences to offer than any other country in South East Asia. From the westernized and progressive south, with its bustling and frenetic cities, to the palm fringed beaches of the country’s centre; from the cultural and refined north to the cooler climes of the mountainous highlands; each offers a unique experience to the international visitor. Rice paddies, shopping, hill tribes, high-rise, historical marvels, natural wonders, imperial dynasties… Vietnam has it all. From a tragic past, Vietnam has risen like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes and is today a country of astounding contrasts and diversity, embracing a newfound freedom and future.

With some very important milestones in its not too distant past, Vietnam has quickly realised its dream of shining on an international stage. Infrastructure developments in the past ten years have been phenomenal. International hotel properties, new aircraft fleets and improved roads. And despite the unstoppable progress Vietnam somehow retains its charm and traditions that enrich the visitor of today.

Saigon in the south

Saigon, the largest and busiest of Vietnam’s cities is surely one of the most evocative place names in Asia. The most Western in atmosphere of Vietnam’s cities, Ho Chi Minh City (to use it’s official name – although to residents and visitors alike it is universally and affectionately known as Saigon) has a population of 6 million, and a booming free-market economy. It is a city of amazing contrasts: elegant new international hotels, exclusive restaurants and trendy bars side-by-side with roadside noodle stalls, street children and vociferous cyclo drivers. Golf courses, bowling alleys and shopping malls vie for space with markets, pagodas and karaoke rooms. Bustling, booming, crowded, noisy – all words that barely scratch the surface of the addictive and often mesmerising chaos that is Saigon. And yet there are the elegant colonial French boulevards and buildings, the Cathedral, the riverfront, the quiet moments at a sidewalk cafe watching the world literally go by you at breakneck speed.

Hanoi in the north

At the other end of the country lies its capital – Hanoi. A city of lakes and parks, of tree-lined streets resplendent with French colonial villas and mansions, Hanoi is a European capital in the heart of Asia. The Old French Quarter is a maze of crammed narrow alleyways that are still named after the goods that were once traded there – Silk Street, Gold Street, even Fried Fish Street! With intonations of a bye-gone era, Hanoi is home to sidewalk cafes and pavement barbers. Wide bicycle-filled boulevards, faded but elegant architecture, the grandeur and solemnity of Ho Chi Minh’s monumental Mausoleum, the incongruous rustic simplicity of the house in which ‘Uncle Ho’ lived out his final years, the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ where so many prisoners of war were incarcerated, the religious pride that constructed so many serene temples and pagoda complexes – it’s all here in Hanoi, a microcosm of Vietnamese culture.

Points in-between

In between these two marvelous cities lies a country with its agricultural society at its heart. Journeying throughout the country one will find endless emerald rice fields backed by rugged mountain ranges and a coastal landscape that takes a dramatic turn at every corner.

Popular beach resorts of Phan Thiet and Nha Trang in the south lead the traveler to the centre of Danang and the quaint merchant town of Hoi An.

Da Nang

Hoi An

If Hoi An is not enough to hold one’s interest there is the nearby lure of My Son, the central site of the Cham civilization or Imperial Hue, a destination in its own right and home to the tombs of twelve Emperor’s and the World Heritage site, the Imperial Citadel. All along this coastal route are the sweeping sands of Danang and its nearby bays and lagoons with many world class beach resorts at your convenience.

Mekong Delta, the far north and Halong Bay

Besides the central and coastal areas of Vietnam there are added attractions of the Mekong Delta with its floating markets and mystical boat journeys and the rugged far north, with its former French hill stations and villages communities of ethnic groups, not to mention superb territory for trekking or mountain hiking.

Mekong Delta

Ha Long Bay

And then there is Halong Bay, a massive area of limestone karsts and mountains in an emerald sea. Sail through this area in a reconverted junk boat or kayak to one of the many hidden lagoons.

Always surprising

Most visitors will find it hard to focus in on one part of the country for there is simply so much to offer. It is hard not to return time and time again to a destination that simply this much diversity and cultural history – a destination that continues to surprise at each corner.

Source: http://www.destination-asia.com