-^-for posterity-^-

the working woman in vietnam.

i’m sure they’re not concerned with fashion and i’m really not either. i’m a fan of thrift store t-shirts and old jeans. if i had my choice i wouldn’t wear any button up shirts and they would always be un-tucked. here i have to wear a “uniform”. it consists of long, oddly cut dress pants and old, short-sleeved, button-up shirts i brought from home. the pants were made here and were made too tight in all the wrong areas. i have six of them. they are grey, dark grey, brown, dark brown, dark green and light green. not the most inspiring colors.

the working vietnamese woman wears something different entirely. they wear pajamas everywhere. well, they may not be pajamas but they look unmistakably similar.

their “uniform” is all cut from the same bolt of cloth. the pants and the top are the same. there is a very wide variety of patterns to choose from. some are lined either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. some are polka-dotted and some have what appear to be splotches of paint on them. some have names on them like, “london”, “new york” and “paris”. others have pictures of cartoon characters. tom and jerry are favorites. some of them are oddly colored. the other day i saw one that was bright hunter orange with fluorescent green lightning bolts. of course some are plain.

the pants are loose fitting and flow. they are always almost always long but sometimes you do see a pair of pajama shorts. the tops are cut differently. some have short sleeves that are elastic and look a bit poofy. some are tank tops. some have strange bows and ribbons in the middle of the collar. today we saw one that had a collar on the back half of the neck. it dropped down to the middle of the back.

they are not worn as a fashion statement. they are worn because of comfort and ease. i’d imagine it’s much easier going about your daily chores if you have something that’s cool, comfortable, and, above all, multi-colored.