What, you may ask, is this thing? I know it isn’t loaded with lace or hoop skirts or any of those strange items before mentioned, but this outfit is a historical costume. It’s an Ao Dai dress from Vietnam, and although these dresses are older than most of our outdated fashions, they still are worn today. What makes such an old style last so long? My reply is function and beauty. It’s kind of hard to see, but the gold garment visible through the slit actually is a pair of very loose pants. In fact, they are so loose that when I first saw one of these dresses, I mistook the pants for a skirt. Any outfit that gives an illusion of a full skirt but actually includes a pair of pants gets a ten on my function scale. Wondering where the beauty comes from? I think it’s easy to see; the shape is so simple. Anyone could look good in one of these dresses. Also, Ao Dai dresses come in every color and any pattern imaginable. Sometimes these dresses depict entire scenes, such as a sunrise in a rural village.
This example happens to be a wedding dress. No, it’s not white because in a lot of Asian cultures, they wear red to get married. In the US, red wedding dresses usually signify a naughty girl, but to the Vietnamese, red is a color of celebration.
As you may have guessed, I would celebrate if I had one of these dresses. Surprisingly, they’re not very expensive. They usually cost 70-80 dollars. Unfortunately, I can’t even spare that right now.
