Textiles of Vietnam
Textiles of Vietnam
Take a look at Vietnam’s rich history of textiles.
Vietnam's rich history of textiles includes a custom of silk weaving - and weaving in general - which stretches back for centuries. During the medieval period, silk was viewed by the Vietnamese as an almost outrageous extravagance, with deeply-held connotations of royalty, respectability, and nobility. A strict set of guidelines, handed down from the state, prescribed which colours, styles, and textures of silk were to be worn by the aristocracy; a tradition that still influences silk production today.
Vietnamese aristocrats wore silks emblazoned with images of phoenixes, cranes, winged serpents, and a plethora of other wondrous creatures. The actual items of clothing, however, were constructed in a less-than-usual manner and brought together different components of conventional Vietnamese patterns. It's worth pointing out that the most brilliant hues, along with ornamentation depicting five-mauled mythological creatures, were reserved exclusively for the sovereign.
The finest Vietnamese silks originated in the Hà Tây territory, found in the Red River Delta southwest of Hanoi. As such, silk from this region is often referred to as Hà Đông silk, in reverence to a tradition stretching back over 2,000 years.
Today, those who live in the traditional silk weaving towns, such as Triều Khúc, Vạn Phúc, and La Cà, continue to work with their ancestral crafts, delivering silks for contemporary customers. The manner of weaving silk may have evolved, and the fashions may have changed, but the pride and the passion in this most wondrous of materials have stayed the same.
A significant quantity of the silk sold in Vietnam - up to 70 percent - is locally made, and many weavers are rediscovering traditional methods for producing the highest-grade fabrics. Indeed, approximately 20 percent of Vietnamese silk continues to be hand-woven.
The cultivation of mulberry and the silk weaving which goes along with it is a particular specialism of Mai Châu, a premier silk town with an impressive history in the craft. Those who live in Mai Châu saw their town rise to prominence back in the 15th century, during the second year of the Hong Duc tradition. This was due to the migration of people from the north, who brought their silk weaving practices with them.
The most famous handicrafts in Mai Châu include silk weaving and tussore, and since the year 2000, Mai Châu town has undergone a remarkable improvement in both the quality and quantity of fabrics produced, thus meeting the demands of a greater market need. With four hundred out of the six hundred families in the town running their own processing plant, and with over four thousand weavers producing beautiful fabrics, it's no surprise that Mai Châu has gained such a powerful reputation in this field.
The Opulence and Elegance of Vietnamese Brocade
Vietnamese brocades are unique in the sense that they are woven in tiny networks of artisans, as the result of a rich and varied custom of silk weaving. The images each tell a story of a long and revered history and a legacy that continues to this day. The acquisition of Vietnamese silks helps fund these networks, which provide silk brocade textures that provide an assortment of rich hues, imagery, and detail woven with metallic threads.
Brocade weaving has been mastered by the Cham ethnic group, spread across various regions of Vietnam. You'll find a number of different images woven into the brocade - floral patterns, winged creatures, gongs, elephant tusks, and much more besides. The colours are notable, too; red speaks of love and energy, yellow represents light, and humanity's place in nature.
Embroidery: A Timeless and Ongoing Tradition of Artisanship
Embroidery enjoys a long and varied history in Vietnam, one which has seen diverse ethnic groups and tribes develop their craftsmanship over the course of centuries. The specialism of weaving on silk was introduced from China in the 17th century, and became focused in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, where a number of different organisations were established. In its unique structure, Vietnamese silk weaving used only five shades of thread - red, yellow, green, blue, and violet - and was primarily used to decorate dwellings and pagodas.
Văn Lâm remains a focal point of conventional weaving, and its products are highly popular all across Vietnam. According to town archives, Văn Lâm has been a weaving town for over seven hundred years. Today, out of 830 families in Văn Lâm, over 700 of them weave. The townspeople make use of a vast array of weaving outlines - such as the larger sedge tangle, or the minute hand-sized outlines - and the skill of weaving and ribbon-making in Văn Lâm continues to be passed down through the generations.
The various tribes and minority gatherings in Vietnam also have their own unique weaving styles. A significant part of each minority's garments (for example, in the Dao and Hmong groups) are extremely beautiful, with their fine weaving and decoration. In some places, the work is so fine, it's hard to tell the front from the reverse. The Hmong people adorn their garments - once made from hemp strands - with the most elaborate batik prints.
Vietnamese Hand Embroidery
Vietnamese hand embroidery is a proud tradition that has evolved over seven hundred years. In general, it involves using minute threads to produce highly decorative images on a chosen material, and it is something which even young children enjoy as an extracurricular activity, alongside learning to cook traditional dishes or sew garments.
It is nothing less than an aspect of Vietnamese culture. Young ladies are required to learn how to decorate and embroider pillowcases, decorative liners, and even household ornaments with hand-weaving techniques. It's also a significant source of employment in Vietnam, especially for younger women seeking to support their families. Since the 1960s, hand weaving has grown to become a fine art, with many famous topics such as scenes from Vietnamese history, floral designs, animals, and street and countryside scenes become part of a rich and varied embroidering culture.
Wonder and Beauty: The Art of Appliqué
Appliqué is one of the key features of the Hmong communities found throughout Vietnam. The time-honoured techniques have developed into something of an art form by the Hmong people of the Nghệ An province; with the art of appliqué taking a simple method - applying fabric shapes by hand in order to make decorative patterns - taken to entirely new heights of wonder.
Legend tells us that the Hmong people once had a written script, but when they were forced to flee by the invading Han Chinese, they applied their pictograms to their clothing, which led to the famed appliqué they are known for today. While their written language has been lost to the mists of time, variations of their script can be found in the appliqué patterns of the tribespeople, and they use this script to recognise community members from particular regions.
French Influences on Traditional Handicrafts
By the 19th century, the art of silk weaving had become a mainstream practice in the Huế regal court. During the French imperial age, the ancient art had taken on a new lease of life; the wives of the French authorities employed the weaver women to assist in dressmaking. This led to the rise of a new class of urban craftspeople, gifted in French-style trim weaving, known as the cô khâu đầm - the sewing women. They were to be found working directly for French families, with many establishing private fitting shops of their own.
A handful of these rustic workshops were eventually transformed into ribbon production houses, and by the 1930s, the northern territory of Hà Đông featured somewhere in the region of 4,000 trim producers. When the Great Depression hit the world market, the demand for ribbon weaving plummeted, and machine-made trim became the norm. Today, the majority of ribbon continues to be machine-made, and much of that original artistry has been lost.