Page 278 - Trang Phục Việt Nam

on by being pulled over the head. It reached the belt of the trousers. It could be worn over the
shirt or under the jacket. Shawls, silk scarves, flowery scarves or woolen scarves were
commonly worn.
The seniors often rolled their hair, wore their hair in a bun or had their hair permed. Young
women might hold their hair in place at the back with a hairpin, wear their hair in two plaits, let
their shoulder-length hair loose or have their hair permed. They wore wooden shoes or plastic
shoes with flat soles and high heels of 5, 7 or 9 centimeters with one horizontal strap or two
cross straps. In addition, sandals of many kinds and colors were also popular.

After 1954, the short cánh shirt worn by Northern women was modified so that the shirt fitted
mort tightly around the waist. It often had a wavy hem. Besides the traditional brown, other
popular colors were blue, white and pink and there were more kinds of fabric in use.
The protective clothing for female workers was all in deep violet or included a white shirt and
deep violet dungarees. Their hair was neatly held in place, cut short or permed. They wore
caps with visors or covered their hair with a piece of cloth. They wore sneakers, rubber
sandals or boots. Health care workers wore white blouses, white pants and white hats.
Salesgirls wore blue or white shirts with a double lapel and loose straight sleeves. As they
marched at the festivals, apart from the nice sporty outfits worn by labor delegates and
soldiers, one could admire the young women with elegant blouses fastened with pink or
celadon belts, or wearing long dresses in different colors and white conical hats set aslant at
the side of the face.

By contrast, the garments of Southern women still remained more traditional, though more
and more fabrics and new styles of clothes were being introduced. In the Central region,
female workers in urban and rural areas typically wore áo cánh or áo bà ba made of many
different fabrics. Their pants were black, loose fitting and made of satin or nylon material. They
wore their hair in a bun, or wore headscarves. The senior women of the upper class preferred
tight fitting long dresses in bright colors such as light yellow or blue. The stand-up collar was
3-5 centimeters. The violet long dresses of Hue still retained their popularity. Their hair was
traditionally tied in a bun. Hue women rarely wore jewelry. However, some of them favored
gold necklaces. They used a little make-up to highlight the natural beauty of the face.
In the South, women of all age groups in the country normally wore bandannas and bà ba
garments often in black or in other colors like white, blue, brown, dark brown or with flower
patterns, and made of many kinds of fabric. Long dresses were still in use. The seniors let
their hair grow and wore it in a bun. Young women tied their hair back or let their hair fall down.
In cities, senior women wore tight-fitting long dresses and white or black pants, tied their
hair in a conservative bun or had it permed. Fashionable women of the middle-class and
upper class preferred trendy European and American clothes.
Since 1954, traditional Vietnamese long dresses called áo dài that fit tightly around the
waist, with high stiff collars and close-fitting sleeves have been the uniform of female students
in many schools.

In the early 1960s when nylon products were much in vogue in the South, a type of thin long
dress worn over a sleeveless undershirt was very popular. The dress had a low-scooped