At the festival’s opening ceremony on the pedestrian street of Nguyen Hue, fashion lovers and tourists enjoyed a special program with an Ao dai fashion show, pieces of music and dances and a reportage telling the history of Vietnam’s Ao dai and its development in this city over the years. Addressing the ceremony, Tran Vinh Tuyen, Deputy Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee highly appreciated the city dweller’s positive response to the event and support from units, organisations and individuals in the city, making the festival become more popular.
The highlight of this year’s festival was a parade entitled “I Love Vietnam” with the participation of more than 3000 people wearing Ao dai and the performance of 1,000 female students from Trung Vuong High School who wore Ao dai and marched into the letter S – the shape of Vietnam with Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes. Bao Tran, a student from Trung Vuong High School, said: “When we learned that we would wear Ao dai and produce the shape of an S, I was very eager to participate in the event. I hope that more people will wear the traditional long dress at work or in their daily life.
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During the festival, Ao dai designs were modeled at different places like the municipal Youth’s Cultural House, Women’s Cultural House and Ho Chi Minh City’s Ao dai Museum in order to give viewers a real experience. On this occasion, those who wore Ao dai could visit Dam Sen and Thao Cam Vien parks free of charge. To encourage the locals and visitors to wear Ao dai, many tailor shops in the city implemented a promotion period with a big discount on products.
Ho Chi Minh City Ao dai Festival is one of the cultural events of great significance which has made great contributions to promoting the image of Ho Chi Minh City and developing tourism.
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