From cross-collar robes to the áo dài

👘 Traditional Costumes

Vietnamese traditional dress in real photographs — the ancient cross-collar robe, the four-panel áo tứ thân with its yếm, the five-panel gown that fathered the áo dài, the Nguyễn court's Nhật Bình robe, the southern áo bà ba and the conical nón lá — beside the vivid costumes of ethnic groups like the H'Mông, Thái, Red Dao and Chăm. Tap any card for a large photo and its story; every image credits its author and licence.

Photos are sourced from Wikimedia Commons under public-domain or Creative Commons licences; the author and licence are shown under each enlarged image. Museum specimens come from the Vietnamese Women's Museum and the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. The 54-ethnic-group costumes here are a representative sample, not the full set.