Outfit inspired by Vietnam’s love of learning wins top design prize

Nguyễn Thùy Linh won the highest-value award in a fashion design competition inspired by Hanoi’s Temple of Literature and Quốc Tử Giám.

Her winning outfit, titled Văn Uyên, draws on the Vietnamese tradition of valuing education and on Confucius’s teachings. Linh said the design was inspired by a passage from the Analects: “If one can constantly practice the learning one seeks, is that not a source of great joy?”

The final and awards ceremony for the competition, titled “Designing Vietnamese costumes inspired by the Temple of Literature and Quốc Tử Giám,” took place at the historic site in Hanoi on September 4. The event was organized by the Temple of Literature’s Cultural and Scientific Activities Center together with several Hanoi universities offering fashion design programs.

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If one can constantly practice the learning one seeks, is that not a source of great joy?

Linh, a fashion design student in the Faculty of Art and Design at Hanoi Architectural University, said Vietnam’s long tradition of valuing education also inspired her work. She spent about one month completing Văn Uyên.

The organizers awarded three other category prizes, an online voting prize and nine consolation prizes. The category awards recognized contemporary interpretation, heritage continuity and creative inspiration. Nguyễn Thị Linh Chi won the online voting prize for Khắc, which also shared the contemporary interpretation award.

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I am grateful for the tradition of valuing education handed down by our ancestors, which inspired my design, Văn Uyên.