Why Clothing Matters in Vietnam Today

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Why Clothing Matters in Vietnam Today

• Guest Lecture
• Prof. Ann Marie Leshkowich
• Sociology and Anthropology
• 15 April 2003

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Two types of clothing in Vietnam

• Ao dai (traditional)
• Western-style dress (modern)
• Questions
• Why resurgence of ao dai?
• Does Western clothing mean Vietnamese are
  becoming Westernized?
  
• Both modern and traditional are about global
  culture, Vietnamese distinctiveness

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Ao dai

• 10 September 1995 Miss Vietnam wins Best
  National Costume at Miss International Pageant,
  Tokyo
  
• Ao dai consists of
• Long, close-fitting tunic with mandarin collar,
  high side slits
  
• Loose pants
• Donut-shaped coiled hat

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Western-style Fashion

• As Vietnam becomes integrated into ASEAN and the
  world, the behavior and comportment of women is
  an issue of the utmost importance (Prime
  Ministers wife, March 1997)
• Fashion craze eat well, dress beautifully (an
  ngon, mac dep)

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Youth Fashion Contest

• Tet, February 1997
• Youth Cultural Center
• Not beauty contest
• About clothing selection
• Two sections
• Clothing for school, work
• Evening wear

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Criticism of Fashion Contest

• Minh Hanh (designer) The outfits chosen by the
  female contestants arent appropriate for their
  age, or for the lifestyle of the Vietnamese
  people You young women have gotten old, youve
  become supermodels and lost your innocence.
• Appropriateness (phu hop)
• Minh Hanh Vietnam in danger of becoming the
  second Hong Kong, because I think that Hong Kong
  doesnt have its own style. Although Hong Kong
  clothes are pretty and cheap, I think that
  theyre only copies cribbed from the other
  nations around the world.

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Fashion for the Forties(Thoi Trang Tuoi 40)

• March 1997
• Show women in their 40s how to choose clothing
  that is appropriate for their age and work
  circumstances, lifestyles fashions that are
  modern, worldly, yet rich in traditional color.

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Reactions to Fashion for the 40s

• From now on, Ill be more careful when I buy
  clothes. (participant, housewife)
  
• This is the most practical fashion show, from
  liberation 1975 until now. For so long, young
  people have paid attention to fashion shows
  primarily for fun! But here, these ladies have
  a genuine need, a real benefit. (male
  journalist)
• Prime Ministers wife

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Modernity and Mimicry

• Modernity goal for past 150 years, since French
  colonialism
  
• Homi Bhabha civilizing mission made colonized
  peoples not quite/not white
  
• Benefit of mimicry gain status, become modern
• Two dangers
• Copy not as good as original
• Lose uniqueness
• Solution borrow, adapt to be appropriate

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Women and Appropriate Mimicry

• Colonial era women as national symbols
• Male mimics in public sphere
• Females preserve tradition, purity in domestic
  sphere
  
• Today women symbolize dangers of modernity,
  materialism
  
• Womens mimicry needs to be supervised

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Youthful Mimicry

• Youth represent future
• Youth also marginal
• Eat well, dress beautifully (an ngon, mac dep)
• Eat enough, dress warmly (an no, mac am)

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Problem with Fashion Contest

• Young women attempted unmediated, inappropriate
  mimicry
  
• Resisted expert knowledge
• Not successful
• Seen as just mimics
• Audience applauded Minh Hanh