With a passion for learning about cultural history, Mr. Vu Duc (29 years old, Hanoi) - founder of Great Vietnam group - a team of young people with a shared passion for researching and providing solutions about Vietnamese traditional costumes.
Great Vietnam focuses on researching and restoring Vietnamese costumes from hundreds of years ago.
The story of passion originating from love of history
Starting from amateurs working in other fields, but with a love for traditional culture, the group of young people found each other to pursue the ambitious dream of recreating the beauty of Vietnamese traditional costumes as accurately as possible. Established in 2019 and officially put into operation in 2020, Great Vietnam focuses on researching and restoring Vietnamese costumes from hundreds of years ago.
Mr. Vu Duc shared with Travellive: “The inspiration for me and Great Vietnam to start recreating ancient costumes comes from a special interest in the culture of royal and scholarly costumes, along with the realization that our ancestors' costumes still have many problems that we can contribute to making better.”
Each type of clothing has its own unique characteristics, thanks to which we can distinguish their designs and names.
When mentioning traditional Vietnamese costumes, many people immediately think of the image of the Ao Dai. However, Vietnamese traditional costumes are a treasure trove of many different types of costumes. Through each feudal dynasty in history, we have had costumes that carry the cultural identity of the nation through each period. "Vietnamese traditional costumes have many types, but due to some historical factors, we have forgotten many forms. This is a disadvantage of Vietnamese traditional costumes compared to other countries in the region," Duc confided.
Each type of costume has its own distinctive features, thanks to which we can distinguish their designs and names. In ceremonial events, traditional costumes have types such as court costumes, sand costumes, common costumes, convenient costumes, etc. If distinguished by the collar, there are: giao linh shirt, truc linh shirt, lap linh shirt, etc.; according to the flap of the shirt, there are: doi kham shirt, dai kham shirt, etc.; or according to the body of the shirt, there are: tu than shirt, ngu than shirt, etc.
Vietnamese traditional costumes are a treasure trove of many different types of costumes.
Through each feudal dynasty in history, we have costumes that carry the cultural identity of the nation through each period.
In addition, there are also meticulous differences between dynasties, such as the Nguyen Dynasty popularized the five-panel shirt - the predecessor of the modernized ao dai that we often see today. This type of shirt is quite simple with four main panels and one sub-panel, a standing collar, buttons on the right side, narrow sleeves combined with a white undershirt inside and long pants.
On the path to recreating details in traditional costumes, finding sources of historical and cultural documents in Vietnam still faces many difficulties. “In our country, the research field on traditional costumes has not yet been formed, so there is a lack of experts or parties capable of recording and updating new research in the past 10 years. Young people are alone in this journey, leading to a series of major obstacles in accessing documents, applying art, communication, education…”, Mr. Duc shared.
To restore a complete prototype of an ancient costume, it is necessary to go through many stages. After having a unified drawing, Great Vietnam will print the fabric and sew it into a real model. With embroidered shirts, accessories and hats, they will be sent to artisans in craft villages to make. Regarding materials, young people also look for craft villages such as: Van Phuc, La Khe, Buoi, Nha Xa, Nam Cao, Ma Chau, Tan Chau...
With each costume model, when posted on the fanpage, the group always attaches documents so that the public can receive and learn about Vietnamese traditional costumes in the most complete way. “The initial mission is to correct errors or omissions in official information about Vietnamese costumes. This is a heavy job and requires a lot of time and support, it cannot be done overnight,” Mr. Duc added.
When posting on the fanpage, the group always attaches documents so that the public can receive and learn about Vietnamese traditional costumes in the most complete way.
Spreading Vietnamese traditional costumes in modern life
Great Vietnam is increasingly affirming its name and becoming known to many young people. The brand actively participates in events that leave special impressions, typically the live performance project "Quintessence of Vietnam" - Grand World Phu Quoc (2021); the project "Dai Trieu Phuc - Quan Vien" (2021 - 2023); the project "Diem Anh Dan Thanh" - "Revive the Timeless" (2021); the book project "Weaving the Dynasty" (reprinted 2022); the project "Nhut Binh Y" (2022), the project "Trieu Phuc - Royal" (2023 - 2024) ...
In addition, Great Vietnam also participated in contributing achievements at events honoring culture, creativity and costumes such as: "The Resplendent Vestiges"/"Golden and Golden Marks" exhibition in Sydney, Australia (2019); "Vietnamme Talk 01 - Passive" art exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City (2019); creative fair: Hanoi has "X" and Workshop "Vietnamese people draw Vietnamese costumes" in Hanoi (2020); "Green Hair and Ao Dai" Vietnamese costume festival in Ho Chi Minh City (2021); "Vietnam Summer Fair" cultural industry festival in Hue (2022), "Hundred Flowers Walking" Vietnamese costume festival in Hanoi (2022), "Essence and Integration" cultural festival at Ho Chi Minh City National University Urban Area (2023)...
Participating in many events contributes to bringing the name Great Vietnam in particular and Vietnamese traditional costumes in general to a more popular reach to young people.
Participating in many events has contributed to bringing the name Great Vietnam in particular and Vietnamese traditional costumes in general to a more popular audience among young people. It can be seen that society and young people today are gradually paying more attention to traditional costumes. Many young people have chosen traditional costumes for holidays, wedding photos, graduation photos, etc. This shows encouraging signs of the need to learn and enjoy the beauty considered old and classic.
In the future, the Great Vietnam team will continue to recreate the appearance of costumes (from complex to simple, from the most recent to the most distant dynasties), helping to make this database more and more complete, and the gap in Vietnamese traditional costumes will be filled more and more. "The team only hopes to contribute to speeding up this still long and arduous journey of traditional costumes, given the fact that it started too late," said Mr. Duc.
Many young people have chosen ancient costumes for holidays, wedding photos, yearbook photos, etc.
In the context of social development, restoring, preserving and spreading traditional cultural values of the nation is extremely important. Bringing ancient Vietnamese costumes back to modern life, helping them have their own role and life is the most effective method of preservation. Success in preserving ancient costumes will contribute to the preservation of national culture and the development of the fashion industry with Vietnamese identity.
Sharing more with Travellive readers, Mr. Duc sent a message: "I hope that those working in culture and arts will pay more attention to and respect the values of traditional costumes, and should not misunderstand and underestimate the story of national costumes."
