In the days nearly Lunar New Year, when the South is still full of golden sunlight, the North always has to face bone-chilling northeastern winds. Recalling a past period of the 60s - 70s and earlier, you see that life was very poor at that time, not everyone had enough warm clothes to wear. The simple cotton shirt was considered a dream outfit of the poor in the city.
No matter how hard and difficult life was, everyone tried to save up for themselves and their loved ones to afford a new cotton shirt for Tet holiday. The poor wore cotton and denim. The richer people put on brocade and velvet ones, particularly luxurious velvet-colored blouses,
But no matter what fabric it was, the cotton shirt was still an art piece, bringing the feeling embodied in stitching and the cultural quintessence of the old Hanoi people.
There was a time when it seemed that the tufted cotton shirt associated with the memories of the old Hanoi people was forgotten, because the flow of fashion has made people change their minds in dressing to keep pace with current trends of fashion. The image of the old cotton shirt only appears in a very few long-standing tailors in Ha Thanh land and Van Phuc silk village.
In recent years, with a love for traditional values, the Vietnamese recall culture of the past, a number of tailors and designers have revived the tufted cotton shirt with a new look, bringing it to life, coming closer to the modern life and fashion world.