Vietnam: Modern commercial painting of a young woman in an ao dai dress descending from a covered pony cart, copied from a 1950s photograph, for sale in Saigon

The ao dai (Vietnamese: áo dài) is a Vietnamese national costume, now most commonly for women. The word is pronounced ow-zye in the north and ow-yai in the south, and translates as 'long dress'. <br/><br/> The name áo dài was originally applied to the dress worn at the court of the Nguyễn Lords at Huế in the 18th century. This outfit evolved into the áo ngũ thân, a Inspired by Paris fashions, Nguyễn Cát Tường and other artists associated with Hanoi University redesigned the Inspired by Paris fashions, Nguyễn Cát Tường and other artists associated with Hanoi University redesigned the ngũ thân as a modern dress in the 1920s and 1930s. The updated look was promoted by the artists and magazines of Tự Lực văn đoàn (Self-Reliant Literary Group) as a national costume for the modern era. In the 1950s, Saigon designers tightened the fit to produce the version worn by Vietnamese women today. The dress was extremely popular in South Vietnam in the 1960s and early 1970s, frowned upon as frivolous and borgeois in the North between 1952 and 1986, but is today increasingly popular nationwide, having The dress was extremely popular in South Vietnam in the 1960s and early 1970s, frowned upon as frivolous and borgeois in the North between 1952 and 1986, but is today increasingly popular nationwide, having once again become a symbol of Vietnamese nationalism and Vietnamese female beauty.