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Recently, the Vietnamese traditional costume cultural experience event "Clouds Connecting the Ancient Stream" (part of the Hoa Van Phuc project), held at the Hanoi Museum on November 22nd, still resonates with many lovers of traditional culture. More than just a performance, "Clouds Connecting the Ancient Stream" truly became a bridge connecting the public to the world of Vietnamese traditional costumes through vivid, engaging, and emotionally resonant experiences.
"Clouds Connecting the Ancient Stream" is part of the Hoa Van Phuc project.
The project aims to make Vietnamese traditional clothing familiar, accessible, and applicable in modern life.
“Clouds Connecting the Ancient Stream” is part of the Họa Vân Phục project – a project undertaken by a group of students from the School of Interdisciplinary Sciences and Arts (Vietnam National University, Hanoi), in collaboration with the Đại Việt Phong Hoa research group, the Hanoi Museum, and the Hanoi Creative Activities Coordination Center. These young people are passionate about Vietnamese traditional clothing, bringing ancient garments back into life not only through knowledge, but also through experience, emotion, and interaction. With diverse activities, the event offers participants the opportunity to witness and appreciate the exquisite beauty of Vietnamese traditional clothing firsthand.
The Hoa Van Phuc project is supported by Travellive Media Group as the official media sponsor, contributing to spreading the spirit of preserving and promoting Vietnamese traditional clothing to a wider audience.
"Hoa Van Phuc" aims to make Vietnamese traditional clothing familiar, accessible, and applicable in modern life. Beyond showcasing traditional attire, the project encourages the use of Vietnamese clothing as a cultural material for sustainable art and lifestyle. The project is implemented in four phases: Initial Painting – Flowing Clouds – Gathering Clouds – Nurturing Clouds, with multi-platform communication activities through newspapers, social media, professional publications, videos, podcasts, and experiential events...
At the "Clouds Connecting the Ancient Stream" event, the highlight was the fashion show featuring 16 traditional Vietnamese costumes from the Ly, Tran, Le, and Nguyen dynasties. These designs, recreated from rare surviving historical documents, became vivid glimpses of history through their materials, colors, and silhouettes. This was a truly "rare" moment for the community of traditional costume enthusiasts.
The event's appeal lies in the fashion show featuring 16 traditional Vietnamese costumes from the Ly, Tran, Le, and Nguyen dynasties.
These designs were reconstructed from the few remaining archival materials.
The performance was attended by Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hoa – Director of the Hanoi Creative Activities Coordination Center; Dr. Nguyen Anh Thu – Deputy Head of the Faculty of Management and Creative Economics (School of Interdisciplinary Sciences and Arts); Mr. Binh Phan – professional advisor of the project, along with a large number of tourists and culture enthusiasts.
Besides the performances, the event also offers many attractive experiential activities such as: traditional archery, fortune telling, puzzle solving, card flipping, instant photo taking and printing, photo exhibitions and displays of traditional costumes.
Many experiential activities are available, such as traditional archery, fortune telling, puzzle solving, card flipping, instant photo taking and printing, photo exhibitions, and displays of traditional costumes.
The "Paintings and Photographs" exhibition also became a special highlight, showcasing many valuable paintings and documents such as: the "Ship Trading Scroll," "Map of People from All Nations," and a portrait of Nguyen Quan Nho. The exhibition space gently transports viewers back in time, revealing that clothing is not just about fashion, but also a story of culture.
Sharing insights into the research process regarding materials, patterns, and the history of Vietnamese traditional clothing, Linh Nguyen, a representative of the organizing committee, stated: "Initially, when developing the concept, we encountered a lot of information circulating on social media, making it difficult to distinguish what was reliable. For example, with just one definition of the predecessor of the ao dai, many sources mistakenly identified it as the ao giao linh, while in reality, the predecessor of the ao dai was the ao ngu than."
According to the organizers, Vietnamese traditional clothing is not yet truly popular with the public because people haven't had many opportunities to experience and interact with the diverse types of traditional attire. Some still believe that Vietnamese traditional clothing is only suitable for festivals and lacks practicality. Therefore, this event is expected to help young people understand and access Vietnamese traditional clothing more easily, while also recognizing its practical applications in modern life.
Following the event, Hoa Van Phuc hopes to continue implementing projects on Vietnamese traditional clothing, contributing to making traditional attire more familiar to the community. "Vietnamese traditional clothing in particular, and Vietnamese culture in general, will become more accessible and well-known, so that the younger generation can participate in preserving and promoting these precious cultural values," a representative of the organizing committee conveyed.
This event is expected to help young people understand and become more familiar with Vietnamese traditional clothing.
