Ao-Dai's stylistic borrowings from traditional Cham attire
From: julie thi underhill
Date: Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 2:48 PM
To: "Vsg@u.washington.edu" <Vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear list members,
I am seeking any sources that identify/discuss the áo dài's stylistic borrowings (tunic and trousers, in particular) from traditional Cham attire.
Best wishes,
Julie Thi Underhill
Doctoral student
Ethnic Studies
University of California Berkeley
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From: William Noseworthy
Date: Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 3:04 PM
To: julie thi underhill <jthiunderhill@yahoo.com>, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear Julie et al.,
There are a number of discussions of the Aw that appear in the Tagalau series (most of which are now available through Wisconsin and ILL thanks to Inrasara) and there is a citation of such a discussion that occured in Vietnamese scholarship that appears in Li Tana's book on Ðàng Trong Vi?t Nam: Nguy?n Cochinchina. That said, I am sure there's more out there and would love to hear about it!
Best,
Billy
--
William B. Noseworthy,
PhD, c. History
UW-Madison
M.A. UW-Madison '11
CELTA ILA Viet Nam Oct. '07
B.A. Oberlin '07
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From: Eric Henry
Date: Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 3:54 PM
To: julie thi underhill <jthiunderhill@yahoo.com>, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To the best of my knowledge, the áo dài was originally the creation of one man, Nguy?n Cát Tu?ng (1911 – 1946), a professional clothes designer. He came from the Son Tây – Hà Tây region (not close to any Cham communities), and was a graduate of the Indochina Institute of Fine Arts (tru?ng Cao Ð?ng M? Thu?t Ðông Duong). For a time he ran a store at 14 Hàng Da ("Leather Goods") Street in Hanoi that sold women's then-fashionable "Le Mur" outfits. It was in 1934 that he introduced the áo dài to the public at large in an article he wrote for Phong Hoa entitled "Women's Clothing" (“Y ph?c c?a ph? n?"). He had five children who came to live in California, but they had few memories of him, because he died at a young age. His drawings and notes were lost. In light of this, it seems to me that the best thing to do might be to look up his 1934 Phong Hoaarticle in the hope that it might mention some of the sources of his ideas for the áo dài.
Best wishes,
Eric Henry
Eric Henry, PhD
Senior Lecturer (retired)
Asian Studies Department
CB 3267
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3267
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam
Date: Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 6:26 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
If we think of the ao dai in its mid-to late 20th century form, then, yes, it dates from Cat Tuong/Lemur. But pictures of Cochinchinese women from an earlier period show them wearing loose fitting ao dai. What Cat Tuong did was to make the existing garment worn by southern women fit more closely to the body (many northern women can still be seen in photos from 1915-1920 wearing yem and vay).
These ao dai are reminiscent of men's scholars garb (worn by many men still today for ceremonial occasions) and also of Chinese scholars' garb (see the famous photo of the young Mao atop a hill).
Some Vietnamese scholars have claimed that the modern ao dai is descended from the ao tu than; I have not seen any documentation about a possible connection with Cham clothing styles. On the other hand, we knew southern men who wore sarongs when relaxing at home.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Kenneth T. Young Professor
of Sino-Vietnamese History
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From: Martina T. Nguyen
Date: Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 4:35 AM
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Dear Julie and List,
Like Professor Tai, I have not seen any evidence that the ao dai was influenced by Cham clothing.
Having collected and read all of Lemur Nguyen Cat Tuong and his extant writings (one of my dissertation chapters dealt with his fashion design), I can say that Lemur did not use the "ao tu than" as his basis for reforming women's clothing. Rather, he used the "ao ngu than," the looser fitting tunic with a smaller inner flap (vat con). In the debates surrounding the "Ao Lemur," intellectuals of the time described the pants and mandarin collar as marks of Chinese influence. Some contemporary scholars have argued that Vietnamese women began wearing pants (as opposed to the vay) in the 19th century, when Minh Mang issued a sinocizing edict that forbade Vietnamese women from wearing "bottomless pants." However, a number colleagues working on Nguyen Dynasty archives have told me that they have no knowledge that such an edict ever existed. Nevertheless, the prevailing narrative in the scholarship is that the skirt (vay) is what Vietnamese (or perhaps Southeast Asian?) women traditionally wore before the Chinese introduced pants. I'm curious to see if any evidence confirms or refutes this.
What is also interesting to note is that Lemur himself never called his tunic the "ao dai." That term was later used to describe what will become accepted as the Vietnamese "traditional" national costume. I am curious to know when and where the term was first used--my guess would be in the 1950s or 60s in the South, with the introduction of the raglan sleeves. What Lemur did do, however, was to link clothing to a sense of nation (using the term quoc phuc), even though the Ao Lemur hardly resembled the modern Ao Dai.
I hope this helps. Feel free to contact me off-list of you have further questions.
Cheers,
Martina