FASHION : Tradition on Parade : Tet Festival Gives Vivid Examples of Enduring Attire

Those who attended the Vietnamese Tet Festival in traditional attire became part of the pageantry at the Golden West College event in Huntington Beach Saturday and Sunday.

Some of the women at the festival that celebrates the Vietnamese lunar new year wore an ao dai , a colorful long silk tunic that is slit to the waist to reveal wide-legged trousers. They moved through the 70,000-strong throng in their mandarin-collar and raglan-sleeved dresses, fluttering fuchsia, coral, crimson and jade silk like graceful banners.

Along with the vivid streaks of silk that wove through the crowd were poufs of velvet and a sprinkling of white and gold beads. Women and children wore hai , velvet beaded slippers that turn up at the toes, and khan dong, bright-hued turbans. Chinese characters were embroidered or hand-painted on peasant jackets and other clothing.