Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – The 12th Ho Chi Minh City Ao Dai Festival 2026 will run throughout March, the municipal Department of Tourism told a meeting on March 3.
Co-hosted by the municipal Department of Tourism, the Vietnam Women’s Union’s local chapter and relevant partners, the event is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the official renaming of Saigon – Gia Dinh to Ho Chi Minh City (July 2, 1976 – 2026), the 1,986th anniversary of the Hai Ba Trung Uprising, and the 116th anniversary of the International Women’s Day (March 8).
This year’s edition packs in 17 major events all month long, creating a vibrant journey in which the traditional costume (Ao Dai) appears not only on performance stages but also weaves into everyday community life, urban landscapes and tourism experiences.
The festival peaks from March 6 to 8, bringing together 37 designers nationwide, nearly 400 collections, 600 performers and models, and 37 ambassadors from diverse sectors to create a vivid showcase of creativity.
A centrepiece on March 8 morning will combine a mass folk dance performance with an Ao Dai parade to mark the Hai Ba Trung Uprising anniversary and International Women’s Day. Organisers expect around 50,000 participants at various venues, including some 3,000 on Nguyen Hue walking street in Saigon ward.
Le Truong Hien Hoa, Deputy Director of the department, said this year marks the first time the festival is staged across the new, supersised Ho Chi Minh City – a modern and multi-centred “mega city” that remains rich in cultural identity.
The whole thing is tied together by the “Golden Threads” theme, a nod to Vietnam’s legendary silk and brocade roots. Every collection and event is pitched as one more thread in a giant and colourful tourism tapestry called Vietnam, with Ho Chi Minh City playing the shuttle that weaves tradition with aspiration, turning heritage into a launch pad to put Ao Dai on the world tourism map, he said.
For the local tourism sector, every Ao Dai sashaying down the street, popping up in galleries or posing at historic spots is basically a “living cultural ambassador”, spreading an image of a friendly and culturally rich destination while inviting foreigners to explore more of the city, he added.
Locals and visitors can dive into the Ao Dai-themed exhibition and interactive zones along Nguyen Hue walking street, complete with art installations that connect the dress with the city’s food scene, tourism hotspots and classic handicrafts. They can also experience the “Ao Dai and Metro” journey, hopping the metro line at Ben Thanh and Opera House stations to connect all the must-see experiential tourism spots./.
