Week 9 Blog - Winnie Chen

This week’s topic of national aesthetics continues on the discussion of Vietnam, in particular about Vietnam’s culture and people, because these two elements create the basic foundation of production and consumption that allows culture to continue and evolve. When one thinks of Vietnam, the Ao Dai is the Vietnamese traditional wear that evokes Vietnamese culture and its people. According to the article “Ao Dai: A Modern Design Coming of Age”, Kieu Linh Valverde and Robin Treen argue that though the ao dai symbolizes as the most “visible essence of Vietnamese culture,” modern artists have reinterpreted and remade the piece of traditional clothing into an aesthetic object that is able to reach the modern world market. Vietnam’s national aesthetic in a cultural context is the ao dai because it not only represents the culture, national identity, tradition, and femininity that makes Vietnam what it is, but it is also a modern image of resistance and resilience of the Vietnamese people throughout history since Vietnam’s beginning, as well as representing the change in dress styles in the different eras of Vietnamese history. The ao dai is Vietnam’s national aesthetic; however, this national aesthetic is typically worn for special occasions. My proposal for maximizing the ao dai as Vietnam’s national aesthetic is to impose Vietnam’s control and influence by incorporating styles of the ao dai into daily fashion, so that the ao dai can eventually become a common piece of clothing that all Vietnamese can wear.

Question: As the ao dai is seen as a representation of femininity, how can the ao dai be incorporated into masculine images of Vietnamese culture and identity?

Works Cited:

Valverde, Kieu Linh Caroline, and Treen, Robin. Áo Dài: A Modern Design Coming of Age. San José, CA: San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, 2006. Print.

Video: Asiatrend.org. "Miss Vietnam Ao Dai Fashion Show - Asian Cultural Festival 2013." Online video clip. Youtube. Asiatrend, 22 May. 2013. Web. 24 February. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suSLO5oGKJU>