"Stranger Vietnamese" recreates the beauty of Vietnamese traditional costumes

With the name "Strange Vietnamese?!? - 1000 Years of Vietnamese Fashion" - the new project of Vietnam Centre has attracted thousands of followers and attention from young people, in the context of ancient Vietnamese costumes appearing more and more on art channels, from painting, music to movies. After being released, the video attracted a large number of comments from domestic and international viewers.

For more than 3 minutes, traditional Vietnamese costumes from over 1000 years of history, from the Ly, Tran - Le So, Le Trung Hung and Nguyen dynasties were recreated one after another, making viewers excited by the familiar yet strange images. Familiar with the black tooth smile "like the sunny autumn", with the five-panel standing collar (the predecessor of the modern ao dai). Strange with the "dynamic" short hair of women of the Tran dynasty, with the way of mixing clothes that some people still thought could not exist in Vietnam.

Therefore, Vietnam Centre decided to name the project "Strange Vietnamese?!?". When watching this video, many people must have wondered if those images were of Vietnamese people? And do Vietnamese people today find the shirt and smile in the video strange?

To help interested people better understand the costumes introduced in the recording, the Vietnam Centre team continues to post images of each costume by period, along with the data sources used when creating the images.

According to the Vietnam Centre group, they carried out this project based on the remaining reliable historical data such as the text passages in Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu, Su Giao Chau Thi Tap, Kien Van Tieu Luc, descriptions by Chu Khu Phi... Besides, the group also referred to the illustrations in the paintings Truc Lam Dai Si Xuat Son Do, An Nam Lai Uy Do Sach, Hoang Thanh Chuc Cong Do, the carvings at Doc Loi communal house, Nghe An...

From now until the end of January, Vietnam Centre will continue to post images of each costume with explanations on the fanpage, to provide viewers with more detailed information about each type of costume.

“When talking about Vietnam, international friends and even many Vietnamese people seem to only know about the War and nothing else. That fact makes us sad, because a brilliant national culture with a thousand-year history in Asia is defined by a war that happened not long ago.” - Quoted from the founder of Vietnam Centre. That is also the reason for the birth of Vietnam Centre and their dedicated projects.

In addition, before that, in June 2020, Vietnam Centre launched its first project - the first bilingual book on Vietnamese traditional costumes called "Weaving a Realm". The book went through a crowdfunding process for more than 6 months to reach readers, showing a great interest in traditional Vietnamese culture in general and Vietnamese traditional costumes in particular.

The book outlines the Vietnamese traditional costumes in the royal court during the Early Le Dynasty, from the most basic styles such as Giao Linh (cross-neck), Vien Linh (round neck), Doi Kham (straight flap), to the costumes of some classes in the royal court such as the Emperor's Royal Robe, the Queen's Dich Y, etc. With each chapter being an item of clothing, readers are led on a journey to learn about many fashion histories from a fresh perspective, thanks to classical paintings combined with works from young but prestigious painters and photographers in the ancient style world such as Hieu Sicula, Nguyen Hoang Duong, Nguyen Hung, etc.

In the context of a society that is constantly changing thanks to the constant development of science and technology, ancient projects like the publication "Weaving the Dynasty" or the video "Strange Vietnamese?!? - 1000 years of Vietnamese costume" are truly valuable. They help us understand more about the old traditions of our grandparents and ancestors, so that those good cultural values ​​are not lost over time.

Rosemary