Vietnamese designer to give talk about ‘ao dai’ in Japan

Well-known designer Minh Hanh will give a talk about ao dai, which is Vietnam’s traditional long gown, the pioneering event of its kind, in Fukuoka, Japan on Thursday.

Minh Hanh is a fashion designer and currently the director of the Vietnam Fashion Design Institute in Ho Chi Minh City.

She specializes in combining traditional designs with modern clothing, and is famous for her ao dai designs.

Her works were shown abroad for the first time and won the New Designer Award at the Makuhari Grand Prix in Tokyo in 1997, making Hanh the first Vietnamese designer to be awarded an international prize.

At the invitation of UNESCO Japan, Hanh will tell the audience about the development of ao dai from the beginning of the 19th century until the present time.

The typical versions of ao dai throughout history, from Le Pho ao dai in 1930, Le Mur ao dai in 1930, the ao dai of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to the ao dai of the 21st century and the ao dai of the future, will be donned by Miss Vietnam 2010 Ngoc Han and models Thuy Tien and Kim Dung at the talk.

A poster for the talk on ao dai by designer Minh Hanh in Fukuoka, Japan on November 8

In her career, Hanh has introduced ao dai at various international events around the world, but this is the first time a talk on the traditional Vietnamese costume takes place in Japan.

The designer has also exerted great effort in promoting Vietnam’s ao dai for it to be recognized as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage throughout the years.

In 2015, she was presented with the prestigious Arts and Culture Prize of the Fukuoka Prize in Hanoi.

She is the second Vietnamese to receive the prize after Professor Phan Huy Le, a historian, in 1996.

According to a source close to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, Hanh has also been invited to introduce the traditional Vietnamese dress to the Russian audience in Moscow in the middle of this month.

Previously, an ao dai designed by Hanh was displayed at the State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow on the occasion of its 100th founding anniversary.

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