Bringing the beauty of Vietnamese Ao Dai to the world

The work of spreading that beauty to the world is being carried out by many individuals and organizations, not only to affirm the value of national cultural beauty but also to contribute to honoring the Vietnamese ao dai to friends around the world.

In the capital of music and culture Vienna, the capital of the Republic of Austria, there is an Austrian of Vietnamese origin who has long been quietly and persistently pursuing his passion for fashion creation, especially with the Vietnamese ao dai. He is designer La Hong Nhut (often called La Hong), a quite famous person who has won many fashion awards in Austria. La Hong has a special passion for design and fashion, always looking for new, unique ways to express himself but with his own mark and style for his outfits.

Among his collections so far, costumes inspired by Vietnamese ao dai account for a significant number. At the program "Vietnam Day in Austria", an event held in the capital Vienna at the end of September 2022 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Austria, many people present were extremely impressed with the attractive ao dai fashion show performed by Austrian models. Although the Vietnamese ao dai has been modernized, it still retains its charming, luxurious and traditional beauty thanks to the creativity and design using traditional materials with hand-embroidered techniques.

In Europe, about the reason that motivated him to spend a lot of time and effort to bring the Vietnamese Ao Dai into his design costumes and fashion shows, La Hong said: “Firstly, because I am Vietnamese, I love the Vietnamese Ao Dai and use it a lot in my shows and artistic activities. Secondly, for a fashionista, I have been trained and practiced, absorbing a lot of international fashion, but among them I still see that the traditional Vietnamese Ao Dai, although simple, can always create opportunities for designers to design new and civilized Ao Dai according to current trends, qualified for international guests to enjoy”.

La Hong also shared that since he started his fashion design career, the Vietnamese Ao Dai has always been in his heart, so he always includes the Ao Dai in his fashion shows in Austria and Europe. He also affirmed that he will continue to explore new ideas from the Vietnamese Ao Dai, not only to promote the image of Vietnamese culture and tradition to the world, but also hopes that in the future, many Asian and international friends will own at least one Vietnamese Ao Dai designed by him.

Designer La Hong also said that over the years, he has had many opportunities to present fashion collections in Vietnam, typically on the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi, the Austrian Embassy in Vietnam organized a gala on November 12, 2010 with the participation of many artists and beauty queens from Austria and Vietnam. The proceeds from the event were transferred to Friendship Village, a humanitarian project for victims of the Vietnam War. In addition, he also designed the ao dai for Miss Austria Dragana Stankovic to attend the Hanoi Ao Dai Festival 2016; designed the ao dai for the Top 3 Miss Austria to visit General Vo Nguyen Giap's house in Quang Binh in 2018; organized the ao dai show on the occasion of the 40th and 50th anniversaries of bilateral diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Austria...

On the occasion of President Vo Van Thuong’s official visit to Austria, La Hong expressed his honor to be one of the individuals invited by the Vietnamese Embassy in Austria to attend the President’s meeting with overseas Vietnamese in Austria and Europe. He also hopes that in the future he can contribute more to enhancing cultural and artistic exchanges between Vietnam and Austria.

According to VNA