(VOVworld) – The governor of Paris’s district 8 said Vietnam’s traditional long dress (ao dai) really beautifies women after attending a fashion show in France’s capital. Vietnam’s ao dai has made a reputation at many fashion shows around the world but there’s still a long way to develop an international market for it. Thuy Van reports:

Vietnam’s traditional long dress has been displayed in Paris, the center of world fashion, many times. Most recently, a collection by designer Ngo Nhat Huy on the theme of “3 regions” was enjoyed by a large number of overseas Vietnamese and French people at the Paris fair, the biggest of its kind in France. President of the Vietnam Business Association in France Nguyen Hai Nam said: “We are glad to successfully introduce Vietnam’s traditional long dress to the outside world. Many visitors said that they had never heard of Vietnam but they were interested in the ao dai and would wear it someday.”

Parisian leaders, who were presented with the Ao dai all showed great interest in wearing it. The director of the Paris Fair wore an ao dai herself while receiving the Vietnamese delegation and taking visitors on a tour of the Vietnamese pavilions. Jeanne d’Hauteserre, governor of district 8, said she wanted to find out more about her Vietnamese origins when she looked at the ao dai: “The fashion show was marvelous as it introduced the beauty of the ao dai from the three different regions of Vietnam. The ao dai is very feminine and all women can wear it. I was given one and I’m proud to be wearing it. As the governor of district 8, I will give my whole-hearted support to the promotion of Vietnam and further cultural cooperation between Vietnam and France.”

Jeanne said that the Paris fair was a good opportunity to promote Vietnamese culture to the world. But she added that it required each designer to make quality products that would suit the taste of westerners for the effective promotion of Vietnam’s culture.

Designer Ngo Nhat Huy said introducing the ao dai abroad is costly but in the long term it would help promote the designers themselves and further introduce this traditional Vietnamese dress to the world. He said: “You can find your measurements with illustrations on the Internet and the accuracy is almost 100%. I’m looking forward to producing the ao dai at just a few dozens of Euros each so that anyone can buy it.”