ABSTRACT
In February 1997 the cultural celebrations marking the Lunar New Year (Tet) in Ho Chi Minh City included a Spring Fashion Contest (Hoi Thi Thoi Trang Ngay Xuan) for youth. Held at the Youth Cultural House (Nha Van Hoa Thanh Nien) run by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth League, the event drew several hundred spectators, including friends and family of the contestants, representatives of the media, and curious onlookers, such as myself. The contest had been organized by members of the Youth League’s Fashion Club. As the house lights dimmed, the evening’s MC informed the crowd that the event was not a beauty contest. Instead, a panel of judgesthe head of a popular clothing company, a fashion reporter, and a well-known Vietnamese designer and director of the state-run national design institute-would determine how well contestants had chosen clothing that was attractive and appropriate for their life circumstances.
