A film crew from the HCM City Television Film Studio accompanied by fashion designers has travelled around Viet Nam and Europe to make a documentary on the garments worn by royals and commoners since the founding of Vietnam.

The 24-part film, directed by Nguyen Hai Anh, took them to museums in China, Switzerland, Austria, France, and Belgium – as well as 33 provinces in Vietnam – to study costumes seen on ancient statues and pictures and on the Dong Son Civilisation bronze drums.

Each episode of “ Di tim trang phuc Viet” (Tracing Ancient Vietnamese Costumes) is based on a particular garment, with most of them being worn along the Hong (Red) and Cuu Long ( Mekong ) rivers.

The film also takes viewers to relic sites in 33 provinces and rural areas for glimpses of costumes people wore in the last few thousand years.

The idea to make the film, which took three years to finish, was sparked by a chance remark from Vu Duc Giang, general director of the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group.

Besides the documentary with its treasure trove of historical information, another benefit of the effort has been to restore 32 ancient royal and civilian costumes, thanks to the work done by researchers, archaeologists, fashion designers, painters, and local and foreign collectors.

The film will also be shown in foreign countries to introduce Vietnamese culture, meritorious artist and director of the studio, Nguyen Viet Hung, said.

The documentary, the first of its kind, also traces the development of the country’s art.

The 24 episodes are just enough to provide an overview of the traditional dressing styles but the film could inspire more research into Vietnamese culture, Anh said. The film will be shown on HTV9 channel from Oct. 12./.