On display in Hanoi

Photograph at the Women's Museum in Hanoi

Hmong skirts at the ethnographic museum in Hanoi

Hmong batik display at the ethnographic museum in Hanoi

Before spending the last part of my journey with my family in Ho Chi Minh, I spend an extra day in Hanoi in Vietnam. I also was in Hanoi before heading to Sapa. Spend a full day at the ethnographic museum, Bảo tàng Dân tộc học Việt Nam. The museum is basically like any ethnographic museum in Europe, and when learning later that it was a project financed by the French, it made more that sense. The museum focussed on the non-dominant ethnographic communities. Showing their homes, traditional wear and more. The houses are actually re-build original houses in an outside park around the museum. For me it was a useful introduction to all the different groups living within Vietnam that I also came across in Laos and Thailand and also live in Cambodia. 

What I noticed most in the museum was that all photographs, which show people in their amazing wear, were all about 20+ years old. Same in the Women’s Museum, more about that later in this post. So my question was right away, do these communities still wear it, or is this museum showing a blast from a not too far away past? 

Rebuild Hmong home in 1999 from 1984 at the ethnographic museum in Hanoi

Inside the Hmong house

Display in the ethnographic museum of Hmong textile makers

I know now that indeed most communities adapted to a more modern, or rather fast fashion way of dress. With trying to keep traditions, the strictness of this often leads to younger generations letting go of it completely. There is no room to evolve, modernise the dress. The same happened here in the Netherland, where after the second world war hardly anyone returned to their traditional wear, only the more religious communities did and partly still do. Usually a traditional wear is lost before it is refound by later generations. With my visit to Kilomet 109 I learned from designer Thảo Vũ that young designers, mostly based in cities, do draw inspiration from & collaborate with communities to create new visions. But this doesn’t translate yet to a new practical wear for themselves yet. Thảo Vũ does make her designs also available for the communities she work with. I met her during the pre-trip of the symposium during which she was wearing great Hmong batik pieces from her own brand. Her design process starts with finding out what the traditional wear is, consist of and where it is lacking in for the current use. For example from the Hmong guides in Sapa I understood that in the past cotton was difficult to dry, but with the weather changing the thick hemp is often too hot to wear. With their many skills in textiles; growing the crops, making the thread, weaving the cloth, dyeing, embroidery, batik, patchwork, tailoring etcetra, you would imagine there are tons of ways to change their clothing fitting to the changes in life. But the biggest change is that they mostly produce products for commercial use. Read more about that in my previous posts. With Kilomet 109 Thảo Vũ uses traditional made textiles, mostly natural dyed and creates with them high quality tailored pieces. The silhouettes are a combination of traditional costumes with clever alterations in shape making it classic yet modern. To my happy surprise the sizes are going up to L and the L is how L fits me back home. So got myself a fully handdrawn Hmong batik 3D skirt that I cannot wait to show off!

Store of the brand Kilomet 109 in Hanoi, Vietnam

Batik tools and dyes at Kilomet 109

The campaign image of the 3D Batik skirt by Kilomet 109

Back to the ethnographic museum. Next to the permanent, perhaps a bit dated part of the museum, there is a temporary exhibition ‘Art of Decorative Patterns of the Tai in Nghệ An’ that is open till 17 January 2025.

A collection of 190 textile quilts (nà pha) some nearly a century old. The exhibition, The Art of Decorative Patterns of the Tai in Nghệ An, was organised by the Trúc Lâm Handmade One Member Company. The collection, owned by Trúc Lâm Company, consists of 190 quilts (nà pha), of which 101 quilts (nà pha) was collected in the 1990s from the White Tai (Tày Mường group) in the west of Nghệ An Province. (…) Nà pha is used as a blanket cover, a dowry for the bride as a gift when returning to her husband's house, a robe to keep children warm in the winter and as a decoration for Tết (Lunar New Year). Through sophisticated weaving and embroidery techniques and harmonious colour combinations with natural materials, nà pha represents the aesthetic characteristics of textile products of the Tai in Nghệ An.

Source: article 'Exhibition showcases 190 precious quilts of the Tai in Nghệ An' on Viet Nam News, 

19 October 2024

Exhibition ‘Art of Decorative Patterns of the Tai in Nghệ An

Goat motif, 1950

Exhibition ‘Art of Decorative Patterns of the Tai in Nghệ An

The exhibition was beyond stunning and I loved every piece. The blankets are very colourful and have something so comforting in their motifs. They are filled with elephants, tigers, nagas, goats, deer & butterflies. Most pieces are dated between 1940 and 1970. I saw similar pieces in a vintage store in Vientiane in Laos, but didn’t know then what they were. Wonder if they are still actively made ~ and used? In the exhibition also videos are shown with weavers explaining the steps needed from silkworm to woven cloth. It seemed he makers are still out there.

Batik display at the ethnographic museum

Hmong skirt next to Batik sarong from Java

The museum has a separate building for objects from Southeast Asia. The first room on ‘diversity and unity’ showed overlap in textile techniques. Batik was represented with 3 pieces from Java, a Hmong skirt and a Yunnan jacket together with photos and Batik tools from Malaysia. 

Photograph at the Women's Museum in Hanoi

War poster at the Women's Museum

Photographs of crafts including Batik at the Women's Museum in Hanoi

On my return to Hanoi on 19 November, I had some hours to spend before I could check-in. I went to the Vietnamese Women’s Museum. I thought how cool, when I spotted it before from the car, a museum for women. Well technically it is, but it is also really not great nor cool... The first floor is fully on marriage & childbirth, the second floor on “women’s work”, which basically is household stuff, agriculture and crafts. The craft display is the tiniest I have seen and very surprising considering how cliche the rest of the museum is. Luckily the floors on ‘Women in history’ & ‘Women’s fashion’ are better. The history is only covering the wartimes, but it gives an insight in the roles women played. It is interesting to read the stories of these mostly very young resistance fighters and how many spend years and years in prison and died young. Of course this is from one perspective of this history.

Display of traditional wear, with Hmong Hao left and in the center

Detail of printed imitation batik and embroidery on Hmong Hao dress from 2000's

Detail of batik, embroidery and appliqué on Hmong Hao dress from 1950's

The floor on fashion had some great outfits. The information was not much, but seeing traditional wear from 2000’s, next to that of the 1950’s gave some insights on how it changed and is disappearing. On the platform are the newer pieces with in glass display cases older ones. The Hmong dress from the Hao and Den was shown left and right in glass display cases, with in the middle on the platform the most modern one from the Hmong Hao from Lào Cai. The 'modern one' made from machine cotton, still hand embroidered but with machine-printed imitation batik, is what is still being worn now during special occasions. One the left the older version, is a day and night difference in skill, class and beauty. The Hmong Den one on the right is so striking in colour, an ochre brown and Indigo blue on black. The colours come back in the batik, embroidery & appliqué. So stylish, just stunning!

Hmong Den dress from 1950's

Detail of batik and appliqué

Although my visit to Hanoi and Sapa were very short, it was great to learn more on Batik & all the other wonderful textile traditions. Looking forward to continue my conversation with Thảo Vũ, it is always great to meet likeminded creatives and her work with the artisans of different communities is very inspiring. Thanks dear readers for following this journey to Batik! To be continued!