At the press conference of the 2020 HCMC Ao Dai Festival
This year’s event will reflect an aspiration for human values, present the love for Vietnamese traditional dress as well promote the city's image as a safe, friendly and attractive destination in the reopening to welcome back tourists.
The event has become an annual event of the city and also a cultural tourism product that typically attracts a large number of visitors contributing in preserving and promoting Vietnamese traditional dress as well as spreading pride and love on Ao Dai.
A performance of Ao Dai at the press conference
The festival affirms the city government’s determination to recover and develop the economy after the Covid-19 pandemic, introducing to local and international visitors images of a modern and vivid city, towards the building of an exciting tourism city in Asia.
The opening ceremony will be organized at the President Ho Chi Minh Statue Park on Nguyen Hue Street in District 1 on March 5 and broadcast live on HCMC Television’s HVT1 channel. Audiences will have a chance to enjoy a fashion performance presenting 15 Ao Dai collections featuring over 300 designs performed by more than 100 artists.
Ambassadors of the HCMC Ao Dai Festival
Ambassadors of the HCMC Ao Dai Festival
In addition, the festival offers a wide range of cultural activities, including a parade featuring more than 2,000 women wearing Vietnamese traditional Ao Dai, Ao Dai fashion show, a display of Ao Dai and tourist attractions, Miss Ao Dai in-person and online beauty contests, Ao Dai design competitions, performances of folk music of Quan Ho duet singing, Don Ca Tai Tu (southern amateur music) recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity.
The HCMC Ao Dai Festival will be accompanied by artists who have chosen as the event’s ambassadors, namely People’s Artist Kim Xuan, Meritorious Artists of Trinh Kim Chi, Quoc Co, Quoc Nghiep, Miss Universe Vietnam 2017 H’Hen Niê, first runner-up title of Miss Universe Vietnam 2019 Nguyen Huynh Kim Duyen, MC Quynh Hoa, singers of Kyo York, Nguyen Phi Hung, Hoang Bach and along with more than 20 popular fashion designers, such as Si Hoang, Vo Viet Chung, Viet Hung, Thuan Viet, Lien Huong, Minh Chau, Ngo Nhat Huy and others.
More than 20 fashion designers participate in the festival.
Ao Dai Festival aims to honor the culture of traditional Vietnamese dresses during different periods of time and introduce the beauty of Ao Dai to foreign visitors; preserving and developing the unique quintessence of Vietnamese culture.
The local authorities also encourage women working in the people’s committees of districts, government agencies, schools and universities throughout the city to wear Ao dai during March.
On the same day, an exhibition of Ao Dai and photos presenting Vietnamese traditional dresses in the past and present opened at the HCMC-based Southern Women's Museum.
