Gentle Hue female student. Photo: Minh Thu

Going to the market, my mother was often in a hurry so she wore a smoky-colored ao dai and only fastened three buttons at the collar, armpits and waist, but still looked elegant. I was fascinated when my mother stood in front of the mirror, tying her hair and putting on a white silk ao dai, secretly wishing that when she grew up she would be able to wear an ao dai like that.

At that time, wherever I went, I saw women wearing ao dai. At the market, on the street, the women selling noodles, sweet soup, porridge, rice noodles, tofu, vegetables, and onions, even the women selling firewood, coal… also wore ao dai and could still move and buy and sell conveniently, without any hindrance. The women selling firewood, coal… tucked the four corners of their shirts into the back of their pants and rolled up their pants, carrying firewood and running quickly. Going out in ao dai was a normal routine for all women.

A little older, I went to Hue and was accepted by the Board of Directors of Dong Khanh School to study in the third grade C2 (grade 10) based on my academic records. Dong Khanh School, the largest girls' high school in the Central region - the dream of many generations of girls. During the school year, Hue was filled with doves in white. Since I became a Dong Khanh girl, I embroidered the letters DK in blue and black on my chest. Every time I returned to my village, everyone complimented me: I look like a young woman, gentle, and a Dong Khanh girl!

In our time, Raglan long-sleeved dresses were popular, the length of the dress was longer than the knee so it was easy to move when walking as well as riding bicycles and motorbikes. Not only Dong Khanh, but other schools, including Jeanne d'Arc Western School, most of the female students wore white dresses, and Kieu Mau School wore sky blue dresses. At that time, my friends and I did not know how beautiful the white dresses were while writers, poets... each had their own way of speaking, praising the dresses.

Long ago, the talented and romantic musician Van Cao came to this city and somehow “caught” a “dress” that left behind for the world these beautiful verses: “A cold night playing the zither on the Hue River/ Oh, I miss the green dress forever!”. Do Trung Quan once confided: “Every time I go out on the street and see the schoolgirls frolicking in their white dresses, I don’t know how long I will still be in love.”

“The ao dai is like a river of time, a river of beauty flowing through a woman, causing her heart to run aground, or is it because there is that wonderful river that makes men drown in the ao dai, leaving their passionate hearts stranded forever on it. Watching the “Fashion 2000” show of Thoi Trang Tre Newspaper, I learned that the ao dai is transforming into all modern fashion, as a pride for the eternal beauty of a country wearing the ao dai with two flaps of Truong Son and Dong Hai that made the history of Vietnam. That ao dai is not only a philosophy of life, but also a culture, a history of Vietnamese aesthetics flowing on the body of the descendants of the beautiful mother Au Co. That ao dai makes my soul become the clouds in the sky, the spring blowing in the wind…”. A deep look at the girl and the ao dai of writer, researcher - literary critic Tran Manh Hao.

Professor Nguyen Ngoc Lan came from Saigon to teach. He was so emotional that he called Le Loi Street the White Road every time Dong Khanh female students left school. That white waterfall has made many travelers who came to Hue sway and then reluctantly leave.

The women's ao dai has been around for a long time, since the talented artist Nguyen Cat Tuong designed the first LEMUR ao dai - a unique beauty for women in 1934. In the 1960s, the flowing ao dai was captivatingly beautiful because of its "wasp waist". At that time, female movie stars such as Tham Thuy Hang, Kieu Chinh, Kim Cuong..., famous singers Thai Thanh, Khanh Ly, Le Thu... all wore modest ao dai whenever they appeared in public on stages and music venues at home and abroad, very Vietnamese, very polite, and strangely charming!

The country is unified. In an effort to heal the wounds of war, besides the achievements in economy, culture, society..., unfortunately, sometimes the cultural city of Hue lacks the ao dai, not only of female students, teachers, female civil servants but also of the ao dai of the old ladies, the old ladies, the old ladies... The ao dai of the beautiful Hue era have been folded, put in chests, in cabinets. But after decades, the ao dai has gradually returned to Hue, not only at Hai Ba Trung School but also in the aviation, postal, banking industries...

Watching the Ao Dai Festival of Hue Festivals from 2000 to 2014, designers Minh Hanh, Si Hoang, Chu La (Spanish), many other designers and director Quang Tu considered Ao Dai as the flesh and blood, the source of creative inspiration that makes Vietnamese Ao Dai sublimate, transform into modern fashion, so that it does not disappear in the face of increasingly fast-paced life, but still endures over time - the true name of the pure Vietnamese dressing culture that has existed since ancient times for Vietnamese women and men.

For many years now, every time I pass through town on Mondays, I like to go to Nguyen Truong To Street, around to Le Loi Street to find myself again - the days of innocent white shirts going to school - to watch the Hai Ba Trung schoolgirls going to school and when they leave school. Watching the ao dai and the flowing black hair of youth...

Former Dong Khanh female students, whenever they go to Trinh Attic cafe, still wear their traditional long dresses, visiting the tang bong attic of musician Trinh Cong Son - the cradle of countless immortal love songs he left for the world. Here, my friends and I "warmed up Trinh Attic" to thank that talented musician with the programs "Calling the names of the four seasons" in his music. No program was without Professor - writer - researcher - translator Buu Y - Son's close friend. Buu Y said: "We go to listen to Son's music and to see the ao dai!".

In the eyes of everyone, Hue is now more and more beautiful with many wide, clean, tree-lined streets... Occasionally, there are still mornings and afternoons when female students and Hue women wear Ao Dai, conical hats, and bicycles on the streets... The wish is that not only in offices and schools, but also in the daily lives of street vendors and women... Ao Dai can be worn more widely, more days, because this is the "Hue - Capital of Ao Dai", the way to make the cultural heritage city as soft as the Perfume River amidst the hustle and bustle of traffic on the streets...

Hoang Thi Tho