The Vietnamese traditional dress, "Áo Dài" (sounds like "ow yigh"), is one of the most elegant and beautiful dresses. It’s very simple, consisting of a close-fitting blouse, with long panels in the front and back, that is worn over loose silk trousers.
Every girl in Vietnam has at least one Áo Dài, they range from not so expensive to very expensive. Because of the long trousers, high heel sandals or shoes are necessary, it makes the girls look taller. The Áo Dài is worn on such special occasions like engagement or wedding ceremonies, contract signing ceremonies or any special event. I wore one of my mother's at her funeral.
One of the goals of my CA trip was for my cousin to take me to a shop to be fitted for an Áo Dài. Although, my mother had several, they were slightly dated and lets be honest wayyyyyy too small for this Ameri-Asian mixed girl!
So as I tried to lose weight before my trip, I ended up gaining it. And the thought of being measured and fitted was not an experience I was looking forward to, especially with my Aunt and little bitty cousin there. I'm not going to get into the specifics, but lets just get it out in the open, my figure is not the "typical" Vietnamese form. Let's just refer to my form as J Lo-esque or even a little junk in the trunk. Heck most Asian girls don't even have a trunk for junk.
So as I was in the shop which was in an all Vietnamese mall in Santa Ana, I was thrown in a situation of a sales lady going in for the kill of the sale with my pint sized aunt arguing and bargaining down the prices. All this while 3 other meek quiet seamstresses are busy sewing away in the back corner.
"You try, you try!" the Saleslady demanded. My cousin had found two dresses that were ready made and once I had them on, it could be determined where they would need to be taken in or out. It was sorta like a Drive by Seamstress. All very efficient and fast.
I knew the issue was not going to be the tops, it would be the pants. Especially when the saleslady handed me a pair that looked like they would fit my ankle.
"Um, I need a larger size." She hands me another size. "Uh, no -- do you have extra large?"
Well, I squeezed in those and it was not a pretty site. These pants although wide leg, were not made for my supple backend. I was not feeling terribly good about myself at this point.
"These pants are too small."
"No, worry! No worry! We fix! We fix! You try dress! You try dress!" The saleslady yelled at me.
I quickly obliged and felt completely out of control. I could hear the frantic Vietnamese bargaining going back and forth between her and my aunt as I tried the tops on. Finally, I came out and they were all inspecting me and looking at what the problem with the pants seemed to be when they discovered, I had the pants on backwards. More humiliation.
Once the pants were put on properly, they were still too snug. This nightmare was not going to end. "No worry, no worry! We make new pant for you! We make new one!" Then I was hoisted out and had 3 of the seamstresses all up in my grill and measuring me and by the time it was all done, I felt like I need a shower as I was just violated by 3 Vietnamese seamstresses all the while the saleslady yelling, "No worry! No worry! We fix! We make!"
Later I found out from my cousin that the shyest most respectable seamstress quietly confirmed in Vietnamese as she wrote my measurements down, "Yes, she has a very big butt."
As if that were not painful enough, there was a drop dead gorgeous TALL skinny Vietnamese woman in the next changing room trying on stuff at the same time. Her issues were the blouses were not tight ENOUGH. I know that there is an occasional moment that I need to be humbled, but really? God must have been having a good laugh. Uggghhhhh.
Three days later, I came back to pick up my dresses and they are gorgeous. This time my loving husband was with me and when he saw me in them his jaw dropped and gave me the perfect reaction to make me proud of my big ole butt! My aunt later said, "You look so pretty! You have sexy butt! Vietnamese have nothing; all flat! See you have no stomach OH! Look so nice!" I love that woman!!!!
Note to self: starve thyself for weeks before going through that experience again!
In the pics below, the blue dress is a "daytime" dress and very traditional. The red/black one is more contemporary and would be worn to formal events. My cousin's formal one is very modern. In any case, I am sure I could stop traffic in both dresses! And btw, I've lost 6 pounds since I've been home. Better give my AMERICAN seamstress a call .......
The final part of our California trip ended with us leaving Auntie Oanh, Chi & family on Monday to spend the night at my brother's Tim. He lives in Temecula Valley (45 minutes from San Diego). Although the sun was shining, we were all sad to say good-bye knowing we wouldn't know the next time we'd see each other. Aunie Oanh insisted "You come nex year!"
