The festival also contributes to promoting the image of Ho Chi Minh City.
Meaning activities
The 11th Ho Chi Minh City Ao Dai Festival, themed “Vietnamese Ao Dai—Vietnam Rising," recorded impressive numbers, such as a parade featuring a large number of 50,000 women wearing Vietnamese traditional Ao Dai on the main streets of the city on March 8, more than 550 Ao Dai designs, 600 actors, models, and artists, 30 ambassadors of Ho Chi Minh City Ao Dai Festival 2025, and 53 Ao Dai designers from across the country participating in the festival, demonstrating the city’s efforts in preserving, elevating, promoting, and spreading the beauty of the Vietnamese Ao Dai.
The festival included a series of cultural activities held at more than 20 locations, including historical and cultural sites, tourist attractions, and iconic architectural buildings in 21 districts and Thu Duc City across the city from March 1 to 9.
There was also a mass dance performance associated with the parade, the “Miss Ao Dai” beauty contest, an Ao Dai design competition, an Ao Dai photo contest, exhibitions of Ao Dai displaying designs of 53 fashion designers nationwide, an art street of Ao Dai at Lam Son Park, and the square in front of the Opera House of the city.
In particular, the "Colors of the Ao Dai Festival on Metro Line" program is a new tourism experience that connects Metro Line 1 with the cultural and artistic space of the Ho Chi Minh City Ao Dai Festival.
Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Department, Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, said that the event aimed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Southern Liberation and National Reunification (April 30, 1975-2025). The 11th Ho Chi Minh City Ao Dai Festival was a vibrant and unforgettable event with the participation and support of organizations, agencies, designers, artists, residents, and visitors.
Reviving old traditional costumes
The highlight was a mass parade with 1,000 attendees wearing traditional costumes held for the first time on the main streets of the city, Nguyen Hue, Le Loi, and Bui Vien in District 1, attracting many locals and visitors.
The parade vividly revived the journey of the development of Vietnamese clothing from royal costumes to civilian clothes. It not only honors the aesthetic value and the uniqueness of handicraft art but also calls on people to join hands to preserve and promote the value of cultural heritage and spread the pride of Vietnam to both domestic and international friends.
Duong Ngoc Anh Hong, 30, residing in District 12, said that it was the first time she had worn an Ao Dai with a design of old traditional style and participated in a mass parade in the city. The event fosters patriotism and national pride about traditional values among young people.
Also within the framework of the 2025 Ho Chi Minh City Ao Dai Festival, the "Art Tour + Ao Dai" cultural and artistic journey took place at Ho Chi Minh City Book Street from March 4 to 7. In the program, artists, designers, and the people came together to tell the story of the Ao Dai, from its historical origins to contemporary innovations, from its original values to its integration into the global cultural flow.
There was an Ao Dai performance combined with performing arts and music, and an Ao Dai fashion show in the book street aimed at spreading the cultural beauty and practicality of the Vietnamese traditional dress to the public.
The Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, Nguyen Van Duoc, said that the 11th Ho Chi Minh City Ao Dai Festival spread the essence of national culture, contributing to promoting the image of the country and Vietnamese people, as well as Ho Chi Minh City, a dynamic, creative, and deeply integrated city that always preserves traditional values. The event is a warm greeting to international friends, inviting them to come to a city that is dynamic, modern, and full of excitement.
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