Feudal costumes in the movie 'The Last Wife'

Victor Vu ordered hundreds of ancient costumes to depict the life of 19th century mandarins in the North for the 18+ film "The Last Wife".

Kaity Nguyen plays Linh - a poor girl who becomes the concubine of a district magistrate in "The Last Wife" (Victor Vu), a work that has just been released in theaters. The actress said that one of the things she enjoys most is wearing a series of traditional ao dai costumes.

According to Victor Vu, the costumes in the film also imply the character's personality and status. The character Linh mainly wears dark or light colors with few patterns, implying a lowly background, with parents who are farmers.

Kaity Nguyen wears an ao dai with a conical hat in a scene at a rural market. Ancient Northern culture is the main inspiration for Victor Vu's new film, which is set at Ba Be Lake (Bac Kan). The director read many sources, including the book "Technique du peuple Annamite" (Technique du peuple Annamite), written by Henri Oger in 1908-1909.

Film producer Dinh Ngoc Diep (Victor Vu’s wife) said hundreds of costumes were tailored, with thousands of meters of fabric. The project’s art director often asked the actors to wear three or four layers of traditional costumes in the style of ancient people, even though some scenes were only filmed briefly.

The character of the First Aunt (Kim Oanh) wears jewelry such as a necklace, gold bracelet, and emerald ring, implying a wealthy and powerful status in the family.

Mrs. Hai (Dinh Ngoc Diep) wears clothes with a mixture of hot and cold colors, often wears her hair up high, showing her elegant beauty and straightforward, carefree personality.

Victor Vu said that when making the film, he emphasized the reproduction of traditional beauty in the image, such as bun or hair tied in a bun, five-panel dress with tight or loose sleeves, necklaces, and necklaces. According to designer Si Hoang, in the 19th century, the five-panel dress was popular. The costume consisted of two pieces of fabric sewn together into a modest front panel. The four outer panels symbolize the four parents: one's own parents and the parents of the loved one, the fifth panel represents the wearer. The dress usually has five buttons, representing human morality: humanity, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, and trust. In the North, women like to sew the buttoned style with the neck off to show off the many-looped jewelry.

The characters of the First and Second Aunts greatly influenced Linh's life when she became the daughter-in-law of a mandarin. If the First Aunt only saw Linh as a tool to give birth to a son for the district magistrate, the Second Aunt understood her feelings and tried to protect and shelter her.

The characters of the district magistrate (right, played by Quang Thang) and the teacher - the magistrate's henchman (Anh Dung) - also invested in costumes to show each person's social status.

Kaity Nguyen with Thuan Nguyen - playing Nhan, Linh's lover - and Linh's daughter - Dong Nhi.

After more than a week of release (including two days of early screenings), the film earned 52 billion VND, according to Box Office Vietnam - an independent box office monitoring unit.