"The Fragrance of Vietnam" celebrates traditional Vietnamese Ao dai

THE HANOI TIMES — The "Fragrance of Vietnam" featured a breathtaking light and music display to celebrate Vietnam's traditional Ao dai and Hanoi culture.

In the flow of history, Ao dai is an endless source of inspiration for theater, painting, poetry and music, Nguyen Thi Tuyen, President of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Women's Union, said at the event held in Hanoi on April 13.

"It has truly become a typical cultural asset, a symbol of the quintessence of Vietnamese culture, containing the beauty of Vietnamese women and carrying the soul of the Vietnamese people," she stressed.

"This is a cultural event that contributes to the preservation and development of traditional values and celebrates the unique beauty of Vietnamese culture through the Ao dai," Tuyen said.

Set to a backdrop of soulful music, the performance featured a stunning lighting show and captivating displays to celebrate the beauty of the national costume and express love, solidarity and responsibility in preserving and promoting traditional cultural values and identity.

Since 2019, the Vietnam Women's Union has been coordinating with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to organize a series of events under the theme "Ao Dai - Vietnamese Cultural Heritage", with the aim of making it a national intangible cultural heritage and proposing it to UNESCO to be declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity .

The occasion honors the attractiveness of Vietnamese women and spreads awareness of the costume worldwide.

It also seeks to uphold the cultural significance of the costume in today's society, while giving local women an opportunity to express their love, unity, and commitment to preserving and promoting the nation's cultural heritage.

Nguyen Thi Tuyen encouraged women to wear the national costume during commemorative activities and important events at their workplaces. This is a practical measure to preserve, promote, and disseminate the value of traditional ao dai.

Tuyen emphasized that the modification of Ao dai in contemporary Vietnamese life has both positive and negative aspects.

She said the efforts are expected to make Ao dai soon recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage and then a World Cultural Heritage.

The program honors outstanding Ao dai designers, representing more than 10,000 female graduates of the "Starting a Business from Ao Dai" training program conducted by the Vietnam Women's Union in collaboration with renowned designer Do Trinh Hoai Nam for the period 2023-2025.