A talk about Ao Dai

The researcher Trinh Bach sharing his own researches on Ao Dai

The researcher Trinh Bach has shared about the four-panel ao dai and the five-panel ao dai. The four-panel ao dai is a "truc linh" type (with the bodice cut along the middle of the front flap), with short and narrow sleeves; meanwhile, the five-panel ao dai is a type of "thu linh" (with the round vertical neck).

He also presented interesting information about ao dai Vietnam in the influence of Indian culture, the traditional five-panel ao dai in the innovation in the 1930s, and the differences among ao dai Vietnam, from the details of vertical neck, and buttons, etc.

According to Trinh Bach, the traditional ao dai, undergoing five centuries, has been dearly and spiritually imprinted on the Vietnamese soul. Vietnamese people have created their own unique features on the ao dai so that it has a special position in the international fashion world these days, which is on a par with the Kimono of Japan, and the Salwar Kameez of the Indo-Islamic countries. Nowadays, the globally famous Encyclopedia Britannica also has a separate entry on Ao Dai Vietnam.

Story and photo: Minh Hien