every exquisite thing

The Diverse Styles of Traditional Áo Ngũ Thân

It might not be obvious, but there were differences between northern, central, and southern fashion of Nguyễn dynasty. Due to political and social reasons, these subcultures diverged and created distinct designs. The áo ngũ thân, the ancestor of áo dài, especially had interesting distinct looks.

However, keep in mind that these are not clear-cut boundaries. Some northerners may also want to wear southern styles, and vice versa.

北

Northern Vietnamese were the last to inherit the fashion of Lê dynasty, they refused to let it go, even when being forced to wear áo ngũ thân. Because of this, they were regarded as the center of traditional culture. Due to this phenomenon, many designs came about.

One was not buttoning and letting the dress hang to resemble an áo tứ thân, revealing the yếm, or underwear, at the chest. A rope could also be used to tie around the waist to resemble it even further. Either that, or tie the 2 front panels together like an áo tứ thân.

This is why many people sometimes confuse an unbuttoned áo ngũ thân with an áo tứ thân. However, one very clear distinction if the fact that áo ngũ thân had high collars while tứ thân did not.

The other was wearing the áo ngũ thân properly, but had skirts on instead of pants.

If they wore the entire dress properly, there were still clear distinctions. The flaps reached the floor, and were considerably longer than the central styles. Sometimes, several buttons would be ignored, either due to the heat or due to trying to resemble a cross-collared dress.

Even accessories were distinct. The north used turbans, called rí or khăn lươn, to wrap their hair, which was, at one point, banned in Vietnam. However, this didn’t stop northerners from wearing it. Another head wrap that only existed in the north was khăn mỏ quạ (crow’s beak towel). A type of very distinct slippers was also quite prominent in the north, where they would hook up like imperial shoes (except they were slippers).

中

Since the imperial palace was located in central Vietnam, it was the center of political power. Therefore, their áo ngũ thân were the most imperial and considered as the most regal.

The major difference between central designs with the other 2 was in the flaps, as they were considerably shorter, reaching the knees. This would expose the trousers at the bottom. Imperial ngũ thân were visually more vibrant due to the materials and patterns used. The collars and pants were properly buttoned and worn, respectively.

The headwear styles were especially diverse compared to the others. This was because central styles borrowed from both northern and southern while adding some more of their own. Another type of turban existed in the central, called khăn vành. Different from northern turbans, these weren’t towels that wrapped the hair, but towels that wrapped around the head. This was usually reserved for the imperial palace or during ceremonial events. In the palace, the amount wraps used defined one’s status, so servants would have less wraps than empresses. In modern time, khăn vành became simplified for important events such as weddings because instead of proper wrapping, the turban was glued completely together and put on like a hat. This modern style of fixed turban was called khăn đóng.

Another type of khăn lươn that existed in the central acted more like a headband than a turban.

In the later periods of Nguyễn dynasty, the women of Huế, the capital of Vietnam at the time, developed a new hairstyle called vấn trần, or “plain wrap.” This meant that instead of wrapping their heads with turbans, they would use their own hair to create an artificial head wrap.

南

The south followed the official standard laid by the imperial court. The áo ngũ thân was no different from the north, except southerners would wear them properly, all buttoned up and with proper trousers. However, since the south was the center of economic power, their excessive accessories such as necklaces and rings reflected their wealth.

In the early periods of the dynasty, imperial edicts forbade the use of turbans (which were all collectively referred to as khăn vấn). However, as we can see, it was used anyway, even in the capital and the palace. Turbans originated in southern Vietnam, but was later spread to the north during Nguyễn dynasty. However, the south would follow imperial laws, abandoning turbans, and adopted hair buns, which became their most popular styles. As mentioned before, turbans would then be preserved in the north. Southerners would have combs and hairpins on their hair, but they also preferred plain hair buns, sometimes held up by their own hair.

They also had another hairstyle in which towels were draped on their heads instead of being wrapped. The towels were usually white, but could also be of different colors, or even transparent.

Men’s

As always, men’s áo ngũ thân had the least differences, from north to central to south. The flaps always stayed near the knees, the buttons were always buttoned, and the trousers remained constant. In fact, all of them had turbans, called khăn xếp, which acted like khăn vành, but usually remained the same size. Just like khăn vành, the modern version became fixed like a hat and was also called khăn đóng.

Ethnic Minorities

During the Nguyễn dynasty, under Emperor Minh Mạng, Vietnam’s ethnic minorities suffered from constant genocide and assimilation. Under his rule, everyone, including the ethnic groups, had to adopt áo ngũ thân. This lead to the decrease of cultural diversity, since modern ethnic minorities considered these áo ngũ thân, or áo dài, as a cultural identity, uniting different groups together under one Vietnamese culture. This included the Chăm, Tày, Nùng, and so many others.

However, despite this forced assimilation, these groups still diverged from the standard áo ngũ thân and had their own designs of the same attire.

Despite the forces that tried to simplify their fashion, Vietnamese still found ways to diversify their clothing, transforming a simple áo dài into a dress with hundreds of different designs.

Joseph Inguimberty (French, 1896-1971)

Vũ Cao Đàm (French/Vietnamese, 1908-2000)