A magnificent ao dai exhibition will take place in Hanoi on the evening of October 1, kicking off the festival of the grand millennial anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

Collections of ao dai from Vietnam’s three regions (north, south, and central) will be modelled by both professional and amateur models. The models will emerge from Ngoc Son temple in Sword Lake and proceed along a specially-built 350m catwalk artistically decorated with mats, conical hats, and lively dioramas depicting Hanoi in ancient times.

The 45-minute ao dai performance, which will be broadcast live on TV to the whole country, will be followed by a 15-minute light festival and fireworks display.

Renowned designer Duc Hung will bring to the festival a collection entitled ‘Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter’. He said the fact that Hanoi has four distinctive seasons inspired him to create this collection. Hung said he carefully selected made-in-Vietnam material and colours for his long dresses – brocade for spring, silk for summer, voile for autumn, and velvet for winter.