In more modern times, a combination of political, social, and economic factors as well as the fashions of successive generations have influenced and changed the design of wedding dresses in Ha Noi. The younger generation has always sought the modern look, whereas their parents' generation tends to respect tradition.
The fashion favoured in the early half of the 20' century is best illustrated in Nguyen Bính's verse:
Here is the Đồng Lầm brown tunic,
And here are the Lĩnh Tía trousers of purple silk,
Here are mirror, comb, and earrings,
I'll buy you whatever you lack,
So you do not feel inferior to anyone.
In this poem, a proud mother sends her daughter off to her future husband in a dress the bride will wear only once but hopes to keep the rest of her life. Each choice of colour, cloth, and jewellery carries important symbolism about femininity and family reputation, tradition and modernity, and past and future lives. Above all, the exquisite bridal dress is the silent witness to a vow of life-long union.
Feudal concepts still influenced bridal outfits during the 1930s. The colour varied between red, pink, yellow, purple, blue, and other shades. Typical wedding garments were váy lĩnh cạp điều (a dress of glossy black with a hem of bright red silk) and the áo tứ thân (four-flap dress). Accompanying the ensemble were a pink undershirt, a yellow waistband, and the silver xà tích (an ornamental chain on which the bride kept keys and other valuables). The popular bridal hairstyle of the time was tóc đuôi gà, in which the woman wrapped her hair in a turban (khăn vấn) around her head yet left a gentle curl hanging down.
A special outfit carried the name of Empress Nam Phương, wife of King Bảo Đại of the Nguyễn Dynasty. The decoration was a delicately embroidered motif of two phoenixes, a symbol of conjugal happiness according to the yin-yang principle. Today, these outfits are found only in museums.
The liberation of Ha Noi in 1954 brought massive changes to everyday life; the bridal outfit changed accordingly. Hanoian brides wore the traditional ao dai and left their long hair hanging loose or wore it plaited and wound in coils around their heads. By the early 1960s, brides followed a small gesture imported from the West by pinning white flowers in their hair to create a sharp colour contrast.
During the American War, brides in Ha Noi often wore a white jacket and black trousers. Although the bridal outfit remained simple and modest for several years after reunification in 1975, the áo dài was also a popular choice.
A new prosperity in the late 1980s allowed brides to wear layered Western-style wedding dresses. Many brides rented dresses since they could not afford to buy a new one. This ended the tradition of wedding dresses as keepsakes. At that time, Ha Noi had only a few wedding salons, including Bích Sinh, Tuyết Nhung, and Mai Châu. During the 1990s, these salons led the Ha Noi wedding-fashion boom.
Today, wedding fashion in Ha Noi has followed other fashions by becoming more varied and reflecting an upsurge in Western styles. Sophisticated, layered dresses are no longer in fashion; most brides prefer simpler, more graceful designs. They reserve the áo dài for the ăn hỏi ceremony, where the groom and his family come to the bride's house to seek formal acceptance of the engagement.
Like the brides, the dresses come in all shapes and sizes. For a more slender bride, a clinging dress of a cream, orange, or strawberry color with a round high-necked collar is highly desirable. The more ample bride is better suited to a plain coloured dress that is tighter around the hips. More textured fabrics, such as brocade, are recommended for the taller bride, together with a simple, looser dress of a light colour. The shorter bride should choose a soft dress pinned with small corsages or pearls and perhaps a veil. A new dress costs between VND 2,000,000 and VND 4,000,000 (between US$ 125 and US$ 250), while hiring a dress can run between VND 350,000 and VND 2,000,000 (between US$ 22 and US$ 125).
Although each dress has its own style, it must combine traditional and modern elements and also be economical. Above all, the dress should show off the purity and grace of the bride. The dress can preserve its sacred meaning only when all these factors are combined. After all, this is the dress worn only once in one's life.