Reviving ancient Vietnamese cross collared robes

Ancient Vietnamese costumes, such as five-flap tunic, are familiar and being revived among youngsters. Of the ancient traditional costumes, ‘Giao Linh’ (cross collared robe) is the basic one.

The cross collared robe (Photo:Vietnam+)

In Chinese, ‘linh’ means ‘collar’. The traditional cross-collared robe was worn by Vietnamese from royal to ordinary people before the 19th century (Photo: Vietnam+)

In royal court, the costume is used for both King, Queen and the mandarins (Photo: Vietnam+)

The costume varies depending on the culture and climate a certain country. In China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, due to cold weather, the collar is high and tight. In Japan, the costume honours naked neck (Photo: Vietnam+)

Vietnamese costume is influenced by Chinese one with more open collar (Photo: Vietnam+)

In recent years, the costume is restored based on materials and photos remained from the Nguyen and Le Trung Hung dynasties (Photo: Vietnam+)

The cross collared robe with polite style and traditional patterns has become more popular in diplomatic events, Tet festivals and group photo taking. Some young people choose the costume as wedding costume replacing western style one (Photo: Vietnam+)

As more people tend to tailor and wear traditional costume, cross collared robe, though not much popular, has affirmed its foothold as one of the basic style of Vietnamese ancient costumes (Photo: Vietnam+)

VNA