Little known fact about me: I’m actually half-Vietnamese.
Growing up surrounded by beautiful, traditional Vietnamese dresses known as ao dais, I wanted to take a dress that is so gorgeous yet seemingly out of place in western culture and modernize it by taking small details from the original dress and incorporating them into today’s silhouettes.
The ao dai is known for it’s high mandarin collar, leg slit, and pants that are sometimes visible underneath {traditionally the ao dai is worn with pants, however bridal ao dais have been seen without, as today’s Vietnamese brides are increasingly leaning towards more intricate ao dais that fuse culture with western bridal dresses}.
I started with the concept of a high, mandarin collar with a fit and flare silhouette. While the ao dai is conservative and traditionally covers the entire neck and chest {again, modern Vietnamese women are mixing this up with lace and mesh yoke details instead}, I decided to cover up the neck and chest, but instead incorporated contemporary geometric design that left cutouts across the front of the dress.
Ao dais typically feature either an allover brocade, or a floral painted on silk that trellises across the dress. The idea of the contemporary geometric design as the traditional florals became my replacement for the skirt detailing.
This is the first piece in a series of remixes as I explore possibilities of updating the ao dai.
