HCM CITY — More than 3,000 female artists and women in áo dài (Vietnamese traditional dress) will parade on HCM City’s Nguyễn Huệ Street in District 1 as part of the annual Áo Dài Festival opening today. 

The city’s singers and dancers will dance and sing songs in praise of the country, women and áo dài in a music and fashion show called Áo Dài- Xu Hướng Thời Trang và Ứng Dụng (Vietnamese Traditional Dress- Fashion Trends in 2018). 

“Through our event, we hope to encourage people, both men and women, to love and wear áo dài not only during the Áo Dài Festival but also every day,” Trần Vĩnh Tuyến, deputy chairman of the city People’s Committee, said. 

This year, the fifth year of the festival, the theme is Tôi Yêu Áo Dài Việt Nam (I Love Vietnamese Traditional Dress) to honour and promote traditional cultural values and the beauty and grace of the áo dài, which has become the symbol of feminine beauty in Việt Nam.

The 20-day event will open with a fashion show with 150 models showing off 13 collections of áo dài by famous designers such as Sĩ Hoàng, Thủy Nguyễn and Adrian Anh Tuấn on Nguyễn Huệ Street. 

Around 1,000 áo dài will be displayed during the festival. 

The event will feature 15 cultural and music programmes that are expected to attract several hundred cultural researchers, artists and performers.   

A series of forums and seminars on áo dài will also be held.  

Dozens of photo and picture exhibitions on women in áo dài will be held at universities, cultural centres, museums and libraries around the city, including the Museum of Southern Women and HCM City General Science Library.  

Highlights will include a beauty contest, Charming Áo Dài, and a forum, Nét Đẹp Áo Dài (Beauty of Áo Dài), aimed at attracting young women. 

The organisers have invited women consuls, wives of foreign consuls and women staff of foreign consulates in the city to the festival.  

More than 111 tailor shops, dozens of the garment and textile companies and several fashion houses have signed up. 

Visitors will get free áo dài tailoring services offered by skilled designers and tailors, who will put up stalls on Nguyễn Huệ. 

“We hope to make the festival one of the city’s famous tourist products,” Tuyến said. 

Organised by the city Department of Tourism, the festival attracted more than 50,000 foreign and local visitors last year. — VNS