{"id":15410,"date":"2026-06-12T06:28:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T06:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/?p=15410"},"modified":"2026-06-12T06:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T06:30:07","slug":"the-vietnamese-ao-dai-in-a-time-of-war-fashion-citizenship-and-nationalism-1954-1975-fall-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/the-vietnamese-ao-dai-in-a-time-of-war-fashion-citizenship-and-nationalism-1954-1975-fall-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vietnamese \u00c1o D\u00e0i in a Time of War: Fashion, Citizenship, and Nationalism (1954\u20131975), Fall 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"15410\" class=\"elementor elementor-15410\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-5d4daff elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"5d4daff\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1dfc01d\" data-id=\"1dfc01d\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e992da1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e992da1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><b>The Vietnamese \u00c1o D\u00e0i in a Time of War:<\/b><\/p><p><b>Fashion, Citizenship, and Nationalism (1954\u20131975)<\/b><\/p><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Organized by: Ann Marie Leshkowich (College of the Holy Cross), Martina Thucnhi Nguyen (Baruch College, CUNY), and Tuong Vu (University of Oregon)<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Exhibition Date: Fall 2025 <\/span><\/p><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Location: Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA<\/span><\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bc3f438 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"bc3f438\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WORCESTER-Poster-E-3_page-0001-20x27.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-15420 jl-lazyload lazyload\" alt=\"\" data-src=\"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WORCESTER-Poster-E-3_page-0001-768x1024.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WORCESTER-Poster-E-3_page-0001-20x27.jpg 20w, https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WORCESTER-Poster-E-3_page-0001-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WORCESTER-Poster-E-3_page-0001-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WORCESTER-Poster-E-3_page-0001-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WORCESTER-Poster-E-3_page-0001-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WORCESTER-Poster-E-3_page-0001-1600x2133.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WORCESTER-Poster-E-3_page-0001-1100x1467.jpg 1100w, https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WORCESTER-Poster-E-3_page-0001-600x800.jpg 600w, https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WORCESTER-Poster-E-3_page-0001-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3070608 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3070608\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>Exhibition Introduction<\/b><\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\">by Ann Marie Leshkowich and Martina Thucnhi Nguyen<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a time of war, fashion can be a political weapon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you think of the Vietnam War, what comes to mind? Most likely horrific violence, tragic loss of life, political protest, and refugees. A complex civil and global war that divided citizens and families, in both Vietnam and the US. Legacies that haunt us to this day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chances are, your mental images of the Vietnam War do not include fashion. But, fifty years after the official end of the war, we invite you to discover the crucial role that the \u00e1o d\u00e0i\u2014Vietnam\u2019s national costume\u2014played within Vietnam and on the global stage during the tumultuous decades from 1954 to 1975.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During this period, Vietnam was divided into two countries: the anticommunist Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) and the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). The \u00e1o d\u00e0i was a powerful political symbol that first ladies and other prominent figures deliberately used to assert Vietnamese identity, domestically and globally, amidst years of violent civil and international war.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To understand why the \u00e1o d\u00e0i mattered during the Vietnam War, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Vietnamese \u00c1o D\u00e0i in a Time of War: Fashion, Citizenship, and Nationalism (1954\u20131975)<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> traces the garment\u2019s emergence earlier in the 20<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> century under French colonialism. It also explores the \u00e1o d\u00e0i\u2019s enduring importance as a national costume in Vietnam today and to the Vietnamese American diaspora. Past struggles shape present identities.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For too long, narratives of the Vietnam War in the US have focused on military history, male experiences, and American perspectives. This exhibition makes Vietnamese women, national costumes, and everyday life central to the story of the war. Displayed for the very first time, these original \u00e1o d\u00e0i from the Vietnam War era, alongside reproductions of historical pieces and more recent designer creations, prove that fashion is not just a personal choice. It is profoundly political.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><b>Section 1: <\/b><b>From Imperial Dress to National Costume (Premodern era to 1945)\u00a0<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTraditional\u201d national costumes are very much modern inventions. Their meanings change over time and space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u00e1o d\u00e0i is a modern creation that draws from a blend of past clothing that reflected Vietnam\u2019s complex culture and colonial history. Despite being universally accepted today as the enduring symbol of Vietnamese heritage and traditions, the garment was actually \u201cinvented\u201d in 1934 by a Hanoi designer named \u201cLemur\u201d Nguy\u1ec5n C\u00e1t T\u01b0\u1eddng. Lemur took elements of existing clothing and combined them with modern influences into an outfit that he believed captured Vietnam\u2019s heterogenous identity after a thousand years of Chinese domination, centuries of internal division and civil war, and decades of French colonial rule. The resulting \u00e1o Lemur, or Lemur tunic, reveled in its hybrid nature. But critics argued that the garment was too French and not \u201cVietnamese\u201d enough. This began a series of debates about \u201cnational costume,\u201d to define what exactly Vietnamese national identity is and how it should be represented in clothing.<\/span><\/p><p><b>Section 2: <\/b><b>Republic of Vietnam (1955\u20131975)<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How can clothing represent a new nation? In 1955, the newly formed Republic of Vietnam (RVN)\u2014commonly referred to as \u201cSouth Vietnam\u201d and allied with the United States\u2014sought to assert its independent, anti-communist identity and claimed to represent the entire postcolonial nation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u00e1o d\u00e0i became a powerful instrument of RVN nationalism and soft diplomacy. At the forefront of this visual branding were two women who served as \u201cFirst Ladies\u201d of the Republic. Their different styles reflected their distinct approaches to nation building and diplomacy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tr\u1ea7n L\u1ec7 Xu\u00e2n (1924\u20132011), more commonly known as Madame Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Nhu, was the sister-in-law of Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Di\u1ec7m (1901\u20131963), who served as the RVN\u2019s first president from 1955 to 1963. Madame Nhu gained global attention for her bold, fashion-forward \u00e1o d\u00e0i, showcasing unique styles, vivid colors, and intricate details that reflected her outspoken, often controversial, views on anti-communism, women\u2019s rights, and religion\u2014most especially during the 1963 \u201cBuddhist Crisis.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In an attempt to boost waning support for President Di\u1ec7m\u2019s government, Madame Nhu traveled to the US in October 1963. She wore the garments on display during her coast-to-coast speaking tour. While Madame Nhu was in Los Angeles, top generals led a successful coup that resulted in the assassination of both President Di\u1ec7m and Madame Nhu\u2019s husband.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In striking contrast to her predecessor, Nguy\u1ec5n Th\u1ecb Mai Anh (1930\u20132021), wife of President Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n Thi\u1ec7u (1923\u20132001; in office, 1967\u20131975), favored a more conventional, conservative \u00e1o d\u00e0i style, though often featuring bold patterns characteristic of the late \u201860s and early \u201870s. Her appearance aligned with her avoidance of direct political statements in favor of focusing on social service activities, such as the construction of a hospital to provide free or reduced cost medical examinations and treatment to those in need.<\/span><\/p><p><b>Section 3: <\/b><b>Democratic Republic of Vietnam and National Liberation Front (1954\u20131975)<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite denouncing fashion as decadent and capitalist, communist North Vietnam also used clothing and the \u00e1o d\u00e0i as political weapons.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) sought to revolutionize Vietnamese national identity and women\u2019s roles. Women fought to defend villages and move supplies along the H\u1ed3 Ch\u00ed Minh Trail as it wound from the north, through Laos and Cambodia, and into southern Vietnam. National Liberation Front (NLF) Deputy Commander Madame Nguy\u1ec5n Th\u1ecb \u0110\u1ecbnh and the members of her \u201clong-haired army\u201d wore a more utilitarian outfit characteristic of the Mekong Delta: a tunic known as the \u00e1o b\u00e0 ba, straight or wide-legged pants, and checkered scarf.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women in the north and the NLF tended not to wear the \u00e1o d\u00e0i as much in daily life. Even so, the DRV used the \u00e1o d\u00e0i to claim that the northern regime represented authentic Vietnamese cultural heritage. Throughout four years of peace negotiations in Paris, Madame Nguy\u1ec5n Th\u1ecb B\u00ecnh, Foreign Minister of the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) of the Republic of South Vietnam, deliberately wore \u00e1o d\u00e0i to show the world that communism had a gentler side.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><b>Section 4: <\/b><b>Postwar Vietnam (1975\u2013present)<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following the end of the war, the \u00e1o d\u00e0i continued to represent Vietnam\u2019s national soul. But what was this soul?\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The country was reunified under a socialist regime. Consumer goods were in short supply. Boatnecks and other styles popularized by Madame Nhu were criticized as foreign, decadent, immodest. People wore the \u00e1o d\u00e0i much less frequently in daily life. For special occasions, they donned more traditional \u00e1o d\u00e0i styles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the 1980s, a high school principal in the Mekong Delta reinstituted the white \u00e1o d\u00e0i as a uniform for girls. Other schools followed.\u00a0 After the government introduced market-oriented policies known as Renovation (\u0110\u1ed5i m\u1edbi), the \u00e1o d\u00e0i became popular once again as a symbol of both tradition and fashion. Over the next four decades, Vietnamese designers experimented with structure and decoration, including retro motifs, patterns from textile traditions of Vietnam\u2019s 53 ethnic minority groups, and global abstract art. Foreign designers and fast fashion brands included \u00e1o d\u00e0i-inspired garments in their collections. Ready-to-wear \u00e1o d\u00e0i ranging from playful to elegant became popular.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u00e1o d\u00e0i\u2019s postwar revival proves that Vietnam\u2019s \u201cnational costume\u201d can evolve and be many things simultaneously. Associated with one ethnic group, yet able to represent others. Fashionable and traditional. National and global. But it also raises questions about the power of fashion to distort or appropriate cultural heritage.<\/span><\/p><p><b>Section 5: <\/b><b>The Vietnamese American Diaspora (1975\u2013present)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For exiled Vietnamese living in the US, the \u00e1o d\u00e0i has become a powerful symbol bridging the homeland they lost and the new identity forged in their adopted country. \u00c1o d\u00e0i pageants and fashion shows attempt to socialize young Vietnamese American women to embody a cultural heritage that communism was said to have destroyed. Straight-to-video musical variety shows such as <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Asia<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Paris by Night<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> showcase exiled Vietnamese singers performing melodramatic ballads in \u00e1o d\u00e0i, invoking nostalgia for a bygone Vietnam. Over the years, these videos were covertly viewed in communist Vietnam, creating a cross-cultural pollination that arguably reignited the popularity of the \u00e1o d\u00e0i in its homeland.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Vietnamese have lived abroad as early as the 18th century, the end of the war marked the most important moment in the history of the Vietnamese diaspora. From 1975 to the mid 1990s, about two million Vietnamese left their homeland and settled around the world, as refugees, students, workers, and family migrants. Significant overseas Vietnamese communities can be found in France, Australia, Germany, and Canada, but the largest by far is in the United States with 2.3 million.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The garments and objects in this section reflect the various ways in which members of the Vietnamese American diaspora constructed their new identities in the US with reference to the homeland they left behind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-59c8831 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"59c8831\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-5888da2\" data-id=\"5888da2\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9951702 elementor-arrows-position-inside elementor-pagination-position-outside elementor-widget elementor-widget-image-carousel\" data-id=\"9951702\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;slides_to_show&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;navigation&quot;:&quot;both&quot;,&quot;autoplay&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;pause_on_hover&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;pause_on_interaction&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;autoplay_speed&quot;:5000,&quot;infinite&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;effect&quot;:&quot;slide&quot;,&quot;speed&quot;:500}\" data-widget_type=\"image-carousel.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-image-carousel-wrapper swiper\" role=\"region\" aria-roledescription=\"carousel\" aria-label=\"Image Carousel\" dir=\"ltr\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-image-carousel swiper-wrapper\" aria-live=\"off\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"swiper-slide\" role=\"group\" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" aria-label=\"1 of 16\"><figure class=\"swiper-slide-inner\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"swiper-slide-image lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Exhibit-entrance-pic_page-0001-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Exhibit entrance pic_page-0001\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"swiper-slide\" role=\"group\" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" aria-label=\"2 of 16\"><figure class=\"swiper-slide-inner\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"swiper-slide-image lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_7212-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_7212\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div 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data-src=\"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-08-at-3.17.31-PM-scaled.png\" alt=\"Ao Dai Photo 3\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"swiper-slide\" role=\"group\" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" aria-label=\"15 of 16\"><figure class=\"swiper-slide-inner\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"swiper-slide-image lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-08-at-3.16.06-PM-scaled.png\" alt=\"Ao Dai Photo 2\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"swiper-slide\" role=\"group\" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" aria-label=\"16 of 16\"><figure class=\"swiper-slide-inner\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"swiper-slide-image lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-08-at-3.18.04-PM-scaled.png\" alt=\"Ao Dai Photo 1\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-swiper-button elementor-swiper-button-prev\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"eicon-chevron-left\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-swiper-button elementor-swiper-button-next\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"eicon-chevron-right\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"swiper-pagination\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-1f837a8 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"1f837a8\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-cb3d0cf\" data-id=\"cb3d0cf\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f072cc2 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"f072cc2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>PREFACE to the Exhibit Catalogue<\/b><\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>Madame Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Nhu\u2019s \u00c1o D\u00e0i and the Republic of Vietnam in Vietnamese History<\/b><\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by Tuong Vu, University of Oregon<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tr\u1ea7n L\u1ec7 Xu\u00e2n, commonly known by her husband\u2019s name as Madame Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Nhu, was among the most prominent political figures in the former Republic of Vietnam (RVN) that existed in southern Vietnam as an independent state from 1954 to 1975. Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Nhu was the brother and advisor of President Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Di\u1ec7m, who was unmarried. Madame Nhu often took on the role of a first lady in public affairs during 1955\u20131963 when President Di\u1ec7m led the Republic. Madame Nhu left the country in September 1963 for a diplomatic trip amid an intense political conflict in South Vietnam that caused the downfall and deaths of President Di\u1ec7m and her husband less than two months later. She never returned to her homeland and lived out the rest of her life in exile in Rome and Paris.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These events happened before I was born, and I could never have expected to have anything to do with the Ng\u00f4 family. In late November 2019, V\u0169 H\u1ed3ng Trang, a graduate student from Vietnam who was studying in Beijing, contacted me out of the blue. Earlier she had studied in Europe and wrote her MA thesis comparing Madame Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Nhu and Madame Chiang Kai-shek. Through her research she developed a friendship with Mr. Olindo Borsoi, the widower of Madame Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Nhu\u2019s daughter Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh L\u1ec7 Quy\u00ean. V\u0169 H\u1ed3ng Trang visited their house in Rome, where she was shown what Madame Nhu left behind after her death in 2011, including her memoir. She also volunteered to translate Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh L\u1ec7 Quy\u00ean\u2019s memoir from Italian into Vietnamese. Ms. L\u1ec7 Quy\u00ean herself had died in a traffic accident in 2012.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By 2019, Mr. Borsoi had a new partner and was preparing to move to a new residence. When V\u0169 H\u1ed3ng Trang learned that he was looking for a trusted institution to which to donate Madame Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Nhu\u2019s documents and other personal effects, she introduced Mr. Borsoi to me. From my interviews in the media, V\u0169 H\u1ed3ng Trang had found out about our US-Vietnam Research Center at the University of Oregon and our program to promote research and education about the Republic of Vietnam. Following email exchanges, Mr. Borsoi agreed to donate Madame Nhu\u2019s documents and loan many of her \u00e1o d\u00e0i to our center for our use as appropriate. Mr. Nguy\u1ec5n \u0110\u1ee9c C\u01b0\u1eddng, a former RVN minister who had supported our Center in various activities, offered me useful advice, financial support, and kind encouragement in the matter.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the boxes with those items arrived in Eugene from Rome in August 2020, the pandemic was raging around the globe. I was fascinated by what I saw, which took me to a completely different, distant world that no longer existed. The documents were mostly Madame Nhu\u2019s personal correspondence after she had left Saigon in 1963. There were handwritten drafts and copies of her speeches or statements, either delivered during event appearances or issued to the press in her name. She was able to bring with her very few government documents, but the collection of her writings reveals her personal thoughts and efforts to cope with the tragedy that befell her family (and in her mind also her nation). These valuable writings give me an idea for a book manuscript that explores the politics of her trip and the complexities in her thoughts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her \u00e1o d\u00e0i were stunning, even though some pieces were clearly well used. Their styles, their colors, and the fabric used to make them stood out. The garments had a striking visceral effect on me, even though I have little knowledge about the \u00e1o d\u00e0i or fashion. Mr. Borsoi kindly sent in advance some images of Madame Nhu in those outfits that had appeared on the covers of various American magazines. As I held up the garments and reviewed the images, I could only imagine how they had once radiated grace and communicated a distinct sense of beauty and style that must have captivated the attention of many people, Vietnamese and foreigners, at the time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was trained as a political scientist. States and revolutions have been the main themes of my scholarship. I actually began studying the Republic of Vietnam only about a decade ago, and my journey to discover the Republic of Vietnam was a long one. I was born a citizen of that Republic, but it was defeated and annexed by its communist enemy when I was barely nine years old. Subsequently throughout my life and scholarly career up to the early 2010s, both in Vietnam and in the US, I had vague doubts but could only accept the conventional wisdom that the RVN was a mere adjunct to the American empire and was doomed to fail from the start.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the popular image, the Republic was a castle on sand built by US money and blood. It did not carry any authentic Vietnamese identity nor have any legitimacy among the Vietnamese public. This conventional wisdom emerged in the late 1960s, then influenced by antiwar sentiments in the US and now preserved by many members of the American political elites who had come of age in that era. The Republic\u2019s death in 1975 has made it easier for this narrative to be believed by members of younger generations like me. If it had been worth anything, why did it end up a failure?\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time has changed, however. In the last 15 years, a new generation of scholars has shared revelations with fresh sources that began to shift scholarly, if not popular, perceptions of the RVN. The Republic has become a legitimate topic of study and analysis, not one to be ridiculed and offhandedly dismissed. Its destruction may or may not have had anything to do with its complex and frequently chaotic politics, its diverse and vibrant society and economy despite the war, its rich and globalized culture, and the democratic aspirations of many members of its elite and ordinary people. The contrast between it and its alternative, the communist republic of North Vietnam, was so striking that it would not be an overstatement that they represented two different civilizations. As communist Vietnam today has embraced the market economy and reduced government control over society, it appears that the Republic not only represented a path not taken, but may also become a likely future destination.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our US-Vietnam Research Center has been deeply involved in challenging the conventional wisdom about the RVN with new and more objective ways of thinking. We strive not to be misled by the intense sentiments people had during the extremely divisive Vietnam War, however valid they might have seemed. In October 2016, we organized a symposium at the University of California-Berkeley when 16 prominent figures of the RVN not only in government but also in society were invited to speak about their careers that contributed to building the Republic. An event of this scale and scope was the first since the end of war. The symposium was successful beyond our expectations. We followed up with an international workshop on Vietnamese republicanism in October 2019 that brought about 50 scholars from all over the world to Eugene, OR.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This workshop attracted the attention of the Vietnamese diaspora across the world and helped us establish trust with the Ng\u00f4 family and, later, the family of former President Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n Thi\u1ec7u, who headed the Republic during 1967\u20131975. We are grateful to their families for giving us a role in preserving the First Ladies\u2019 \u00e1o d\u00e0i and presenting them to the public. These \u00e1o d\u00e0i are treasures of Vietnamese history since they not only expressed Vietnamese culture but also represented the proud Vietnamese national identity as this nation emerged from decades of colonial rule.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the history of the \u00e1o d\u00e0i remains to be written, the garment has seen its fortune change dramatically over time. It emerged as a fashionable dress among Vietnamese women in the 1930s, drawing in part on traditional costumes combined with modern sensibilities. When Vietnam was divided from 1954 to 1975, the \u00e1o d\u00e0i was dismissed in North Vietnam for its association with past feudal and bourgeois cultures which the communist regime wanted to eliminate. It achieved its prominence only in South Vietnam under the RVN, and Madame Nhu is widely believed to have played an important role in consolidating its status as a national dress. The diaspora brought that tradition with them abroad, and one also witnesses a strong revival of interest in the outfit in Vietnam today after nearly four decades of reform.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We welcome and invite viewers of the exhibition to consider these questions: How did\/does such a garment come to be seen and actually serve as a national symbol? What is contained within this outfit that has captured the pride of generations of Vietnamese, women and men? How has it represented Vietnamese culture to Vietnamese themselves and to foreigners? What roles did it play during the war as a symbol of national identity for the South Vietnamese government and, to a lesser extent, the North Vietnamese regime? How has it resisted or incorporated foreign, especially Western, elements to adapt to changing times? Who contributed the most to its development: designers, tailors, or consumers? Which factors\u2014ideas, technologies, or social changes\u2014have been most significant in shaping its design and use?<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Vietnamese \u00c1o D\u00e0i in a Time of War: Fashion, Citizenship, and Nationalism (1954\u20131975) Organized by: Ann Marie Leshkowich (College of the Holy Cross), Martina Thucnhi Nguyen (Baruch College, CUNY), and Tuong Vu (University of Oregon) Exhibition Date: Fall 2025 Location: Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibitions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15410"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15479,"href":"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15410\/revisions\/15479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usvietnamcenter.uoregon.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}