Non La

Unlike the neighboring peoples, the Vietnamese don’t make their "Nón lá” conical hats from tied crosswise bamboo stalks; instead they use banana leaves, which they place longitudinally and stitch through. It makes the hat lighter and it is faster to make. However, the quality is poor: a banana hat quickly fails from the rain and the sun. And yet it firmly holds its place in the national costume of the ethnic Kinh, the people which we call the Vietnamese: together with a long blue áo dài dress with slits on the sides and an upright collar the Nón lá conical hat appears on any propaganda poster on the streets of Hanoi. Vietnam, Hue, 20th cent.