A lasting impression for any visitor to Vietnam is the beauty of the women dressed
in their "AO DAI".
The national dress of Vietnamese women, the ao Dai (which literally translates to: long gown) is a
close-fitting high collared knee-length or longer gown, split to the waist and worn over trousers.
Both alluring and provacative, the ai dai covers everything but hides almost nothing. Considering the
country's long history, the ao dai is a relatively recent creation. It replaced the traditional dress
whose colour and design were dictated and regulated by ceremonial requirements, social and professional hierarchy.
In 1744 Lord Vu Vuong of Hue's Nguyen Dynasty, which ruled from central Vietnam southward, ordered
a change in Vietnamese dress more or less alonf the lines of the Chinese style of he time.
Buttoned coats and trousers replaced the skirts and split coats tied in the front.
In the 1930's, an artist from a liberal political and cultural reform group, the Tu Luc Van Doan, attempted to modernize the Vietnaese women's dress through employing a greater variety of colours and designs. His new creation, a longer coat, used different materials ans colours and could even be bare shouldered, although it was not overly popular with the modest Vietnamese. His Innovations, gradually tempered with some moderation, eveolved to become today's ao dai.
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