Traditional costumes of the Vietnamese people tend to be very simple and modest. Men used to wear brown shirts and white trousers. Their headgear is s

Traditional costumes of the Vietnamese people tend to be very simple and modest. Men used to wear brown shirts and white trousers. Their headgear is simply a piece of (1) wrapped around the head and their footwear consists of a pair of plain sandals. For formal ceremonies men would have two additional items, a long gown with slits on either side, and a turban, usually in black or brown (2) of cotton or silk. Young women used to wear light brown-colored short shirts with long black skirts. To make their waist look (3) , they tightly fastened a long piece of pink or violet cloth. On formal (4) , they would wear a special three layered dress called “ao dai” – a long gown with slits on either side. An elegant looking conical palm hat is often (5) as part of a woman’s formal dress. In recent years foreign fashions have been introduced to Viet Nam; however, the traditional “ao dai” remains preferable to women in both urban and rural settings.