Because they want to protect their hair from the damage of the sunlight.

Not sure if this is the women version:




I guess its used for tucking the hair in since both men and women grow their hair long in the old days. I think its called "khăn đống".

We still see it in rural areas:

Because we Viets are terrorist lol

Because they wanted to look more educated?

It seems the tradition started during the Tran’s dynasty (1225), by men first.

Check this out.

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Source: http://www.bvom.com/resource/vn_cultural.asp?pContent=Attire

VIETNAMESE COSTUMES


In general, Vietnamese clothing is very diverse. Every ethnic group in Vietnam has its own style of clothing. Festivals provide an opportunity for the various ethnic groups to wear their favorite clothes. Over thousands of years, the traditional clothing of all ethnic groups in Vietnam has changed, but each ethnic group has separately maintained their own characteristics.
In the mountain areas, people live in houses built on stilts; wear trousers or skirts and indigo vests with design motifs imitating wild flowers and beasts. In the northern uplands and the central highlands, the young women have home made skirts and vests with beautiful and colorful decorations in a style comfortable for farm work in terraced fields, hilly slopes and mountain gorges.


ANCIENT PERIOD

Women wore short shirts with brassiere, which covers the woman's neck. There were also other kinds of short shirts whose collars were squarely cut. To make their waists look smaller, they fasten a long piece of cloth with two tasseled ends, one falling in the front and the other at the back.

Only two popular skirts were used at that time. The first one had two edges sewed, the body fitted, and had a tubular form with parallel diagonals and two circle patterns on the skirt. The other was a simple dress wrapping the body in . The upper class wore a heel length dress.

Men wore loin-cloth, a long piece of cloth, 10-20cm wide and about 120cm long, depending on the individuals. It was wrapped a circle around belly with one end falling in the front and the other at the back, lengthened as needed. Embossments showed that men under the Dong Son time were often half naked, whereas designs on the Dong son brassware addressed that they wore complicated-pattern clothes.

Through drawings on Song Da drum, we have learned that hairstyles were not too complicated, neck-covered hair for men and shoulder length hair for women. Chignon was also popular in this period (see the drawings on the left). Depending on the weather and work conditions, some people tied up their hair and let it falling along their neck or made a pigtail with a ribbon around their foreheads. It was rare for a person to have very short haircut.
During this era, people had their ears pierced and wore circle or cubic-shaped pendants, small round bells or stone-made animals. Heavy pendants, which made earlap bagged to shoulder, were a favorite during this period. This likely linked to the ear-stretched custom. And what about necklaces? People usually used strings of bead with various patterns - cylindrical-shaped beads, heart-shaped or sphere ones. Archaeological artifacts showed multi-pattern bracelets were round, thin inlaid bracelets with embossed imprints of flower or rice. Apart from earrings, necklaces and bracelet, the primitive people also adorned themselves with rings that were sometimes fastened with beautiful bells. People adopted black-lacquered teeth custom and chewed betel and this habit was maintained through the generations.


FEUDAL DYNASTIES PERIOD

Under the Ly Dynasty (1182), women were not allowed to take chignon imitating the style of official’s wives. There were strict dress codes. Ordinary people were not allowed to wear clothes with dyes other than black, brown or white. Costumes in yellow were reserved for the King. Those in purple and red were reserved for high-ranking court officials, while dresses in blue were exclusively worn by petty court officials.

Under the Tran’s dynasty (1225), men were often half-naked or wore long gowns with slits on either side, and a turban, usually in black or brown made of cotton or silk. Long gown was also the popular clothes for women.

Both children and men wore turban when going out or serving guests. Women had long hair.

In the Le-Mac times (1434), King Le Nhan Tong declared an imperial decree under which the inferiors were not allowed to use any kinds of belongings in yellow color or with dragons and phoenix carved on them. Only monks were allowed to shave their heads.


During the Nguyen period - the final dynasty in Vietnam, young women wore light brown-colored short shirts with long black skirts. Their headgear consisted of a black turban with a peak in the front. To make their waist look smaller, they fasten a long piece of pink or violet cloth. On formal occasions, they wore a special three-layered dress called an "ao dai", a long gown with slits on either side. The outer garment was a special silk gown called an "ao tu than" which was brown or light brown in color with four slits divided equally on its lower section. The second layer was a gown in a light yellow color and the third layer was a pink gown. When a woman wore her three gowns, she fastened the buttons on the side, and leaved those on the chest unfastened so that it formed a shaped collar. This allowed her to show the different colors on the upper part of the three gowns. Beneath the three gowns was a bright red brassiere which was covered the woman's neck.

Together with “ao tu than”, there’s an indispensable thing - “non quai thao” - a flat palm hat with fringes. Yet the women in the North loved to wear brown shirts, whereas in the Central and South provinces, women usually wore black, middle- buttoned shirts. By the end of Tu Duc’s dynasty, a special shirt called “ao ba ba” was introduced in the South. Bibliographies described that men wore brocade or gauze-made gowns, crepe turbans, and buffalo-leathered slippers.

Up to the beginning of 19 century, women in all parts of the country knew the value of cosmetics. In 1935, “Le Mur” long dress appearance was a remarkable event. It was a mandarin collared, puff-sleeved dress. At first, the “Le Mur” dress had several features borrowed from European dresses current at that time, and was considered the most modern fashion. Over time, the traditional "ao dai" has gone through certain changes. Long gowns are now carefully tailored to fit the body of a Vietnamese woman. The two long slits along the side allow the gown to have two free floating panels in the front and at the back of the dress. The floating panels expose a long pair of white silk trousers.

An elegant looking conical palm hat, which is traditionally known as a "non bai tho" (a hat with poetry written on it), is worn as part of a woman's formal dress. This traditional conical hat is particularly suitable for a tropical country such as Vietnam, where fierce sunshine and hard rain are commonplace.

To make a conical hat, a hat maker chooses young palm leaves and lets them be dried under the sunshine. Attached beneath the almost transparent layers of dried palm leaves is a drawing of a small river wharf. Below the drawing, there is a piece of poetry to be recited by the hat wearer.


MODERN PERIOD (from 1945 to present)

Under the effect of social development, Vietnamese costume has gradually changed. In 1945, women started wearing black trousers and brown short shirts. European fashion influenced men clothes. The traditional set of a long gown and turban gave way to more modern looking suits, while business shirts and trousers were replaced traditional long sleeved shirts and wide trousers.

In recent years some foreign fashions have been introduced to Vietnam; it’s now easy to find young boys and girls in Western-style clothes imitated international music bands in big cities. However, the traditional "ao dai" remains preferable to women in both urban and rural settings. Traditional costumes still exist and efforts are increasingly being made to restore traditional festivals and entertainment, which incorporate traditional costumes.

Maybe it was fashionable during that period. It's similar to bandanas and doo rags though.

What this women needs is a good dental plan...my god.

It's a peotic image of the Vietnamese grandma.

Poetic?--- this is more like an advertisement for 1-800-DENTAL. Ouch !

, you gotta listen to folk music to see that image.

My dad, who is in his 70s, looks like that.

Wait until you get to 70s.

Where do u live? Seriously, why not get him false teeth?

Well, my dad, similar to many Vietnamese elders, gets used to the old way of life and he says he does not need new teeth. His gum is quite hard now and it works as a chewing function, similar to his long gone teeth.

etalk,

thanks for the info




Remember, she's in rural Vietnam and not in New York or Paris. She looks natural, healthy, and likable to me and thats most important. Most old Western women at her age prolly overweigh and take ton of medications and wear denture anyway...

Nice theory, SoCal , but I disagree. I think they simply wanted to keep their (long) hair tidy.

c...

Turban is one of the old stuffs of feudal regime which is still in use of wedding day in Vietnam

Are Vietnamese the only Asian who wore turban?

Thank you for your clarification.

Wearing a turban is a nice tradition. I would like to wear it when I am married.

Cambodian


Thai


Hmong


and many more

I think only the Arab/Indian turban look like Vietnamese's turban.

Hoang Hoa Tham aka De Tham, a rebel leader and freedom fighter against French colonialists in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was considered by the French as a bandit and even a ...terrorist! .Called the legendary tiger of Yen The, after the place where his headquarter was based, he did quite a few "911" attacks on the French.