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ReturnAsian-Pacific leaders sweat it out in colorful silk tunics
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PublishDate：
2006-11-21 15:53:00
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Associated Press
The men wore blue and the women wore pink – but it wasn't a throwback to childhood stereotypes.
HANOI, Vietnam – The men wore blue and the women wore pink – but it wasn't a throwback to childhood stereotypes.
At the end of the Pacific Rim summit, world leaders slipped traditional Vietnamese “ao dai” silk tunics over their Western-style suits for a group photo – by far the most colorful ritual on their agenda.
The leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit selected the colors themselves. Sky blue was most popular among the men – including President Bush – with a smattering of reds, greens and yellows for a diplomatic rainbow effect. All the women leaders chose pink.
“We sent out the sample color and they selected the color themselves,” said Cuong Nguyen, spokesman at Vietnam's embassy in Washington. The exception, he said, was the host, who wears yellow – the color reserved for the king in feudal times.
The centuries-old ao dai was banned briefly after Vietnam's communist revolution but is now worn by schoolgirls – usually white, symbolizing purity. As girls grow older, they move into pastel shades. Married women wear strong, rich colors.
The tradition of posing in clothing symbolic of the host country began when the leaders wore leather bomber jackets at their first APEC summit in Seattle in 1993. Over the years, the leaders have posed in Indonesian batik, Filipino barong and Chilean ponchos.
Source:Industry Website
