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Asian Dress #1 - Áo dài

Saturday, June 09, 2007

As a little painting project, I've decided to paint 5 traditional asian dresses like the Vietnamese ao dai I have right here.
Dresses to follow: Qipao, Hanbok, Sari, and Yukata.

Some interesting tidbits from Wikipedia:

Pronounced 'ao yai' in the south, and 'ao zai' in the north

The costume has faced countless modifications throughout the centuries but its basic form consists of a long flowing gown with a slit on both sides, often with a high fitted collar, worn over long silk pants.

While its cousin the Qipao is a tight fitted dress (in its modern reincarnation), the Áo dài is a looser tunic, which even in its tight-fitting form is still left wide and flowing at the bottom. Furthermore, the slits of the Áo Dài extend above the waistline, revealing a slight glimpse of the sides of the midriff.

The most popular style of the Áo dài as we see it today is tight-fitting around the wearer's upper torso, emphasizing her bust and curves. For this reason, the Áo dài, while it covers the whole body, is said to be provocative, especially when it is made of thin or see-through fabric.

4 comments:

Michael Dedrick said...

Sick!! Can't wait to see the other 4:)

You Win said...

Thanks for the comments mike!
onward!

Bo Cao said...

Hi, it's nice animation page you got there. Just to comment on the Chinese costume you got, Qipao can not represent CHina's national dresss, because it evolved from a Manchurian(minority) origin. The real Chinese national dress should be "Hanfu", Hanfu is the dress that CHinese had been wearing for the past 3000 years, but for Qipao it just started in the recent 300 years. Japanese Kimono and Korean Hanbok was modified based on the Chinese Hanfu.

You Win said...

Thanks for the comment - the Hanfu looks like a really cool dress as well. Unfortunately when I started this idea I already had the Qipao in mind and didn't delve that deep into the history.