Imagine, for instance, donning a sari to school. Pretty difficult, is it not? And not exactly the most convenient thing you can do. Well, Vietnamese students still wear áo dài to high school! One of the most common visions in Ho Chi Minh City is that of girls in white áo dài and straw hats pedaling their bicycles. The áo dài had fallen into disfavour following the liberation of South Vietnam in 1975. However, a principal of Hồ Thị Kỷ High School in Cà Mau at the southern side of the Mekong Delta proposed to reintroduce the white áo dài as uniform for its female students in 1983. Citing the move as a demonstration of “beauty and equality in our socialist school”, the announcement was unexpectedly well-received by students and parents. Đàm Thị Ngọc Thơ, the said principal, also lobbied for the áo dài to be used in other schools in Vietnam. Articles citing the merits of having áo dài as school uniform were submitted to newspapers. Education authorities and parents were approached for support. Her persistence bore fruit as other schools in Vietnam began to accept the usage of the áo dài as uniforms by the 1990s.
In the present-day Vietnam, instead of wearing the robe and mortar hat, Vietnamese students wear áo dài at graduation ceremonies. Apparently, the inconvenience of performing one’s daily tasks while wearing the áo dài is perceived as an advantage when it comes to teaching students. It is widely believed that feminine values of modesty and refined mannerism would be taken up by those wearing áo dài:
“Something which must be noted about the áo dài of Vietnamese women is its ‘soul.’ It truly is appropriate only for those with the slight stature and slimness of Asian women. It demands that the wearer have a self-effacing bearing, cautious, moving deliberately, lightly. Because of that, it isn’t without reason that there was a time when people forced female pupils from sixth to twelfth grade to wear the áo dài as a uniform. The goal was to train girls in a modest, cautious, and refined manner in their dress and their bearing, so that they can become young Vietnamese women of grace and politeness.”
Apparently, the garb is not limited to students. Every teacher in Vietnam must own an áo dài, to be worn on the first day of the academic year. For the remaining time, they are free to wear Western clothing. Now that is perhaps less difficult to picture; I am sure most of us can recall at least one teacher who was always dressed in a cheongsam and sported a beehive hair. If the áo dài is used as an instrument of education for students, I guess it presents a form of authority in teachers? It showed the wearer as deserving of authority that had been traditionally derived from his/ her position.
References:
Ao Dai: Women’s Long Dress, Frequently Asked Question about Vietnamese Culture (Hanoi: The Gioi Publishers, 2006).
Ann Marie Leshkowich, “The Ao Dai goes Global”, in Sandra Niessen, Ann Marie Leshkowich and Carla Jones (ed.) Re-Orienting Fashion: The Globalization of Asian Dress (Oxford and New York: Berg, 2003).
“The World’s Most Graceful School Uniforms”, The Ao Dai blog, http://aodaiproject.wordpress.com/ (accessed on 02 April 2010).
In the present-day Vietnam, instead of wearing the robe and mortar hat, Vietnamese students wear áo dài at graduation ceremonies. Apparently, the inconvenience of performing one’s daily tasks while wearing the áo dài is perceived as an advantage when it comes to teaching students. It is widely believed that feminine values of modesty and refined mannerism would be taken up by those wearing áo dài:
“Something which must be noted about the áo dài of Vietnamese women is its ‘soul.’ It truly is appropriate only for those with the slight stature and slimness of Asian women. It demands that the wearer have a self-effacing bearing, cautious, moving deliberately, lightly. Because of that, it isn’t without reason that there was a time when people forced female pupils from sixth to twelfth grade to wear the áo dài as a uniform. The goal was to train girls in a modest, cautious, and refined manner in their dress and their bearing, so that they can become young Vietnamese women of grace and politeness.”
Apparently, the garb is not limited to students. Every teacher in Vietnam must own an áo dài, to be worn on the first day of the academic year. For the remaining time, they are free to wear Western clothing. Now that is perhaps less difficult to picture; I am sure most of us can recall at least one teacher who was always dressed in a cheongsam and sported a beehive hair. If the áo dài is used as an instrument of education for students, I guess it presents a form of authority in teachers? It showed the wearer as deserving of authority that had been traditionally derived from his/ her position.
References:
Ao Dai: Women’s Long Dress, Frequently Asked Question about Vietnamese Culture (Hanoi: The Gioi Publishers, 2006).
Ann Marie Leshkowich, “The Ao Dai goes Global”, in Sandra Niessen, Ann Marie Leshkowich and Carla Jones (ed.) Re-Orienting Fashion: The Globalization of Asian Dress (Oxford and New York: Berg, 2003).
“The World’s Most Graceful School Uniforms”, The Ao Dai blog, http://aodaiproject.wordpress.com/ (accessed on 02 April 2010).
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