A Visit to the Tailor and then Karaoke Afterwards

Yesterday Co Hong Anh took a few of us to the Western Tailor to get clothes made. Several of our group had already gone the day before to get traditional Vietnamese clothes, or ao dai, made. Before our trip to the tailor's, we first had to get the fabric for the clothes. We took a taxi out to a fabric shop. Fabric shops here are a rainbow of color and a feast for the eyes: bolts and drapes of velvet and silk ranging from royal purple to night black embroidered with sequined phoenix tails, blooming roses, and colorful swirls. The boys picked out lined felts and stiff lined cloth for suits and shirts while us girls reveled in the silk and velvet and pondered over which of the beautiful designs would make the best dresses. After buying the cloth we met up with Co Hong Anh to go to the tailor's to turn the fabric into usable clothing. The tailor shop is owned by a husband and wife team who were patient with us as we attempted to describe what sorts of clothes we wanted made. We pointed, flipped through fashion magazines, pulled pictures from the internet, drew, and verbally described our desired dress wear. The wife jotted down our descriptions and through Co Hong Anh working as an interpreter made comments and suggestions. The husband would then take our measurements for the clothes. Co Hong Ang mentioned that the Vietnamese have their own distinct type of style, and sometimes the clothes you want made won't turn out to be exactly as you wanted, with added bows and frills to spice up what the Vietnamese find ordinary and bland. I'm curious now to see how my finished dress will look like...

In the evening we headed to the backpacker district for karaoke with our Hue partners. A wedding had just taken place at the restaurant/karaoke house, and we were able to catch a glimpse of the bride in her white gown. This marked the first time I'd seen a Vietnamese wedding here in which the bride is not wearing the gold and red ao dai but a Western style white gown. The karaoke was quite successful with a mixture of Western and Vietnamese songs. The Hue students turned out to be beautiful singers, and we all enjoyed listening and watching them sing. Vietnamese popular music is very beautiful and catchy. Our own part of the tableau combined a mixture of Disney songs, Michael Jackson, and other oldie rock and pop tunes. Everyone was in good spirits, dancing to the music and belting out the lyrics. It was a long and tiring, but happy day, and unfortunately for me, no progress had been made on that essay. Time to get to work today...