Most Vietnamese people wear new clothes to celebrate Tet to promote a fresh beginning to the year. Although Western-style outfts are more convenient for daily chores, the traditional tunic reappears each Tet. These tunics add to the festival’s formal atmosphere. Long ago city ladies had their ao dais made from colorful silk brocades and lampas. French influence popularized velvets in shades of burgundy, dark green and dark blue. While town women wore fve-paneled dao dais, or nam tas, women in the countryside had front-opening four-panel ao dais called tu thans. The rural tu thans were made from hemp-based fabrics, normally in a brown or brownish-fuchsia color. With Vietnamese people’s innate pride in their culture, it will not be long before the city is full of women in colorful ao dais celebrating Lunar New Year this month.
Model: Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien
Clothing: Thuy Design House (www.facebook.com/thuydesignhouse)
Photographer: Chanh
Make up: Xi Quan Le
