Creativity in accordance with national culture

In recent days, the story of a costume design that "brought the altar onto the stage" has caused a stir in public opinion with heavy criticism.

The above design has the theme "Ancestral Incense", appearing in the National Cultural Costume competition within the framework of the Miss Grand Vietnam 2025 contest. This is the design of author Tran Cong Hau, performed by contestant Nguyen Thi Cam Hang, introduced as inspired by the custom of ancestor worship. On stage, the contestant performed with a whole altar set including ancestral photos, incense burner, tray of offerings... Not only that, to add to the "authenticity", the contestant also lit 3 incense sticks and prayed to all directions!

In recent times, many designers have exploited and used national cultural elements in their creations. However, how to use traditional cultural elements in harmony with the new and modern is not a simple matter. If not skillful, it can easily lead to deviation, vulgarity or even offensiveness, such as the case of bringing the ancestral altar onto the stage as above.

Many people believe that the altar is the most sacred place in a family, not something to be displayed, especially in entertainment-oriented stages such as beauty pageants. Some fashion designers believe that the above design reflects the designer's rigid and uncreative thinking.

“No one would bring a national element to the stage like that, especially a sacred element like an ancestral altar. If you want to, you can create stylized images, borrow ideas… even though that is very sensitive and can easily cause controversy, but at least it shows the creative effort of the designer,” a designer shared.

Many other opinions say that the people who made the design knew it would cause controversy but did it on purpose to attract attention, because this is not the first time the family altar has appeared on the... fashion runway. A few years ago, the design "Altar" - the national costume contest entry for Hoang Thuy to "fight" at Miss Universe 2019, also "caused a storm" on social networks.

Along with the increasing number of beauty pageants, the national costume competition is also focused on by organizations with the goal of creating a playground for young designers, searching for costume designs to accompany Vietnamese beauties in the international arena, and at the same time promoting the image of the country, people and culture of Vietnam.

However, designing cultural products requires careful consideration and subtle expression to avoid causing public "panic" and creating unnecessary controversy.

ONLY LUCK

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/sang-tao-dung-muc-voi-van-hoa-dan-toc-post813668.html