Custom made ao dai/Vietnamese women's clothing for man (HCMC, Can Tho)

Unless you speak Vietnamese well it might not come out like you want because Ao Dais can also be for men, but they are not always cut the same. My wife and I both wore ones for our wedding, but even if the fabric would have been the same, their styles were a little different. I would suggest doing a search on images.google.com to find a picture of a male wearing one with a cut you like and then go to a tailor to pick out the fabric and show them the picture.

Thanks for the reply.

It's really important that I get a female one; I have no interest in a male one.  To me, it's all about the feminine beauty of the ao dai (I will wear it along with makeup, long hair etc.)

Any leads on ao yem?  I really want to get a few.

Ben Thanh market sells them mostly for tourist for around $300k, if you negotiate. Depending on your size, you might be able to find one that fits. If not you can have a nice one made for around $800k to 1 million. It would help if you found a Viet to go with you to translate and get a good price. I'd ask on the forum if there is someone willing to go with you.

As far as "traditional Vietnamese women's clothing", other than the Ao Dais and silk pajamas, the women all dress in Western style clothing.

To stray from the thread

The North has "ao tu than", "mo ba mo bay",but I dont know if the South has tailors cutting that.  A  sexy indoor look is "yem dao", backless shoulderless piece of cloth that cover the front, strictly female, normally goes with the pants of Ao dai. They are both more traditional than Ao dai, and mentioned many times in folksong, idioms and stuffs.

Ba co xach tui len chua Three young misses visit the pagoda
Mot co yem tham bo bua cho su One girl in peach yem bewitch the monk
Su ve su om tuong tu Monk lay about love-sick
Om lan om loc nen su troc dau, sick up sick down so his hair fall off

Well, it's a joking children chant like that.

A traditional outfit of the south is "ao ba ba", though it's not sexy as ao dai,since it's normal everyday outfit. I think it's more influenced by Champa culture, I think.

ParadiseCruiser wrote:

The North has "ao tu than", "mo ba mo bay",but I dont know if the South has tailors cutting that.  A  sexy indoor look is "yem dao", backless shoulderless piece of cloth that cover the front, strictly female, normally goes with the pants of Ao dai. They are both more traditional than Ao dai, and mentioned many times in folksong, idioms and stuffs.

Thank you.  I think I'll skip the other formal ones and stick with ao dai.

However, I really do want to get yem dao.  I would like at least a few of them (4 or more) in different cuts and colors.  It's silk, right?

Where can I get them made?  How much would they cost?  Do all the ao dai makers also make yem dao?

I also saw pictures of yem dao with black skirts, is that common (or is it just the models)?  How much is is to get just the pants to go along with yem dao?  Do women really just use their ao dai pants with yem dao?

Also, just curious more about yem dao. You said it's an indoor look; is that because it shows so much skin?  So women just wear them when working around the house or hanging out; or is it a bit more dressy than that?  I also read that yem dao is underwear; do women wear it under normal clothes, too?

Thanks!

man_in_ao_dai wrote:

Hi. I'll be in Southern Vietnam (HCMC, Can Tho, Mekong Delta) in a few months on a visit.

I'm wondering if anyone here can recommend a tailor who can make ao dai for a reasonable price (decent quality, but not too expensive) or just give advice.  Would it be real silk?  Could it be done decently in a few days?  I might get a few. What's a fair price for one made with decent silk?

The thing is, I'm a man. But I do want to get a regular women's ao dai (for me to wear). Would this cause any issues?

Also, can one get a ao yem made (traditional Vietnamese women's undergarment)? How much would that cost?  How would I go about getting it?

Also, any other suggestions for traditional Vietnamese women's clothing I could get made? (not something like empress's clothing, just pretty clothes, preferably silk). What about modern, Vietnamese style clothing(not Western style; something sophisticated and Vietnamese inspired, preferably silk).

This wouldn't cause a stir since I'm a guy, right?
TIA

I have several ao dais made at the tailor shop named Phuong on Pasteur street, near the corner of Pasteur St. and Tran Quoc Toan St., district 1 and 2nd option is the shop behind of outside An Dong market, district 5. The ao dais are tailored and fitted perfectly. The labor cost for having a regular fabric made is 400K/set (it depends on your clothing fabric, the price will be different) and pick it up within 5  7 days, they also offer express service within 1 or 2 days. If you ask for a matching hat  - khăn đống, you may pay an extra amount 80  100K.
The tailor shop also sell clothing fabric but I have generally bought it myself. Buying from Ba Chieu/Pham Van Hai/Tan Binh district only costs half of the price from ABC Ao Dai(abcaozai.com) and there will be tons of material from chiffon to voile, silk..and very good quality

Technically yem is underwear, wearing under clothes like ao tu than. As you can see in TV program

During the ancient days, clothes were horribly expensive, not like today, so not everyone can wear both everyday. So they wear yem during hot weather, as it's less costly than a full shirt. There are method to die/process the clothes so that it becomemore durable, mostly using plant materials, but even so the clothes were not plentiful. Ao tu than and die-over clothes were wearing in semi formal events, like a village/district market day. Ao tu than can be considered formal and mostly wear in festivals, especially during Spring season, after Tet holiday, with so many festivals abound.

Working costume for male is loincloth, for female is yem plus a die-over skirt. The skirt can be quite heavy and somewhat water resistant. I think in my childhood my grandmother still had a few skirts of that type, feel heavy, black, and quite like nylon.

Modern time, Ao tu than is not sexy enough, especially compared to Ao dai. So for the sexy and informal look, Yem is chosen.

A quick search on net show that
Công Ty Cổ Phần Ấn Tượng Đẹp
Address : 462/1 CMT8  P11  Q3 TP HCM.
Hotline: 0906674217( Ms Lý)
Email : info@antuongdep.vn
Website : http://trangphucbieudien.com/
Found on vatgia.com. I dont know if they speak English, though.

http://www.vatgia.com/raovat/7579/73299 … 4-217.html

Thank you for your replies, ParadiseCruiser.

I don't understand your links, though.  That looks like a costume shop to me.

I want to get custom made yem.  Even though I'm a guy, it looks like a desirable piece of clothing for sleeping and working around the house.  Any knowledge how much those would cost/where to get them?  Thanks.

"Chuyên May áo tứ thân, bán áo tứ thân, cho thuê áo tứ thân trẻ em, tứ thân người lớn giá rẻ.
Áo tứ thân được may trên chất liệu đẹp, đa dạng, đường may chắc chắn, cẩn thận.
+ Nhận may theo mẫu, theo màu sắc và chất liệu do khách hàng yêu cầu"

Based on that claim, they should and can do custom jobs

On the upper right corner
Đăng bởi :    antuongdep Gửi tin nhắn đến antuongdep
Xem gian hàng (E-Store)
Các tin rao vặt đã đăng
Họ tên :    Ấn Tượng Đẹp
Địa chỉ :    462/1,CMT8, P.11, Q.3
Điện thoại :    0906.674.217
Email :    lyvt2512@gmail.com
   
Chat ngay
Y!M :    antuongdep80
THAT is the contact info of one real person. I suggest you contact her. If she cant converse well in English, send email to her. Vietnamese being what we are, we may read/write better than we speak/hear.
lyvt mean it's possible her name is Ly

Point of etiquette

It's nothing to me, as I know of strange interests. But if you are wanting that for your own use, it might be better if you say upfront that you are gay (or bi) and you want that for your own. Even if you are hetero. Or more eraxtreme, you are a trannie waiting for your operation.

My own experience is that Viets forgive gay and lesbians's strange interests easier than a hetero.  And Thai Ladybois is nothing too strange to us.

Of course, this advice might backfire on you, so, ugh, think before you act. If bad luck run you might get a rabid anti-homo... Good luck!
EDIT: I know it's an advice to lie. Well, I didnt say it's good advice.

ParadiseCruiser wrote:

Point of etiquette

It's nothing to me, as I know of strange interests. But if you are wanting that for your own use, it might be better if you say upfront that you are gay (or bi) and you want that for your own. Even if you are hetero. Or more eraxtreme, you are a trannie waiting for your operation.

My own experience is that Viets forgive gay and lesbians's strange interests easier than a hetero.  And Thai Ladybois is nothing too strange to us.

Of course, this advice might backfire on you, so, ugh, think before you act. If bad luck run you might get a rabid anti-homo... Good luck!
EDIT: I know it's an advice to lie. Well, I didnt say it's good advice.

Thank you for all your posts.  I will try emailing her; I know what you mean by saying they might read/write better than they speak (having worked with many non-native English speakers in Asia).  It looks like they could do decent work on producing a real yem?  I'll prod around at the tailors, too and see what happens .

In regards to a cover story, I understand completely.  My only issue is that I'll be accompanied by my wife!  (And no, we're not the same size).  I am curious as to how likely it is that we'll run into an intolerant tailor and what kind of a negative reaction we might receive.  I figured most just care about money, but who knows.  What's the worst case scenario?  I have very limited familiarity with Vietnamese culture (just a 2-month trip a few years ago), so I'm not totally sure.  I did get a skirt and blouse made at one tailor near pham ngu lao.  I think they snickered a bit but were fairly accomodating.  But, I don't know if they were just an exception or what.

Thanks again

Worst thing they could do is to refuse service. Still, as employee they must accept customers no matter what, so that risk only run with shop owner or company manager.

Other than making your own costume for your amateur drama events, I cant think of any other excuse. Mind, they mostly make stuffs for amateur/production, and/or scenes in restaurants as well, since yem is not a common everyday item of clothing. It's possible they will understand.