NEW YORK (VNS)– The Viet Nam Culture Festival, held in New York last week, introduced several facets of the country and its cultural identity to American and international friends in the lead up to the Lunar New Year.

One of the highlights of the festival was the ao dai (traditional long dress) fashion show featuring 30 creations of designer Le Thanh Phuong. The creations were presented against the background of Vietnamese traditional music by young Vietnamese women living and studying in New York. The fashion show proved very popular.

The exhibition and demonstration of Dong Ho traditional paintings and Vietnamese calligraphy also drew many visitors. Artist Vu Hoi showed visitors how calligraphy is done in Vietnamese and English. He also demonstrated the art of making a Dong Ho painting. This type of Vietnamese woodcut paintings originated and flourished in Dong Ho Village in the northern province of Bac Ninh.

The festival was jointly organised by the Institute for Vietnamese Culture and Education (IVCE) and the American Museum of Natural History, as part of the Asian Cultural Festival. – VNS