Yem – The Vietnamese Bra
There is an old Vietnamese folk verse that goes:
Three young girls carry baskets of rice on their heads to the pagoda, But the monk is charmed by the one wearing a brilliantly red yem bra.
Another folk verse tells of a girl who nourishes the following hope: If only the river could be as narrow as the span of my hand, So that I could build a bridge with the ribbon of my yem bra for you to cross over and see me.
On wood carvings at some communal houses built during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, we can see young female dancers wearing Vietnamese yem bras vaguely showing the outline of their surging, beautiful breasts.
In the traditional cheo opera, there is a character, Thi Mau, who likes to flirt with men. One day after her return from the village pagoda, she says provocatively to No, her serant.
“The Spring wind has lited the pink yem bra, You’re seen the round rice cakes, Why don’t you come and light the incense?”
In this context, when she says, “round rice cakes”, she is referring to her breasts.
In the old days, when a boy fell in love with a girl and wanted her to consider his love for her, he would touch her hand. When the girl allowed him to touch her hand, it meant she was accepting his love and he had covered half the ground to conquer her. To complete the process, the boy would have to touch the girl’s bra ribbon. When he could take the girl’s bra ribbon, it would signify that he had completely conquered her.
By 1920, there were even more types of bras. Working women wore light brown or dark brown bras.
Young girls could wear a whole array of colours. Coquettish girls liked colourful bras with the split plunging near their breasts. Young girls liked light colours such as aqua, sky-blue and rose, whereas middle-aged women wore darker colours. In the top corner of the bra, there were three stitched lines to make the collar more durable and also more beautiful.
Some women liked to embroider
flowers in this place. At the two ends of the bra collar, there were two small ribbons that could be tied together at the nape. These ribbons were decorated in a colour that complemented the rest of the bra. Some women would carefully sew a tiny bag containing perfume onto the ribbons. The fragrance would make others’ heads turn. Girls often attached betel quids for their lovers to their bra ribbons. Two long strips of cloth at either side are used to tie the bra together, once at the back and then again at the belly. The act of typing the strips is also important. The strips are tied firmly when a woman is working. But during times of leisure the strips can be loosely tied, sometimes very loosely. The woman wore a white shirt, which was unbuttoned, over the top of her bra. The while colour provided a nice contrast to the deep yellow or dark red of the bra. She wore a floor-length black satin or coarse silk skirt, with an outer robe when going outside. Belts were often yellow, rose or green in colour. On one side of the belt a woman might attack a silver chain with a lime-pot and a small knife to cut areca nuts. Most women wore sandals as footwear with the outfit. On the head, they might wrap a black silk or black velvet turban. The hair could be parted in the middle or at one side of the head. Some women would leave a small tuft of hair hanging at one side of the face. Women who didn’t want to wear the turban would roll their hair with a small comb. When a girl attended a festival, she wore a hat with a low rim to be more graceful.
All the above harmonize with the yem bra to make the woman more graceful, sweeter and closer to Nature. Today, in spite of its competitors, the yem bra still lives on. Foreign tourists and researchers greatly value its beauty. However, fashion designers and sociologists need to spend more time and efforts on this little piece of garment to match it better with today’s life rhythm.
Yem - The Vietnamese Bra
