Khăn vấn

Khăn vấn for men, handy and casual. A thick or thin cloth is used (as one would like to fix a bun) and is wrapped once or twice around the head for a neat fit, except for yellow (that of the emperor).

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  Ba Biêu, a Đề Thám lieutenant wearing khăn vấn chữ nhân (人 shaped) with seven turns of coil.
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  Khải Định wearing khăn vấn chữ nhất (一 shaped) with seven turns of coil.

There are two most popular styles for wearing khăn vấn for male: shaped chữ nhân (looks like 人) and chữ nhất (looks like 一).

• Chữ nhân style: the pleats on the forehead look like the word "nhân" (人 shaped)
• Chữ nhất style: the pleats on the forehead like the word "nhất" (一 shaped)

Khăn vấn for women and girls, also called rí or khăn lương (can also be written as khăn lươn). Handy and casual. A piece of cloth that is not too long, with padded hair inside, is wrapped around the head to keep the hair neat. Young women when going to the festival also prefer to wear a ponytail for increased charm. Except for yellow (for royal family members) and pink (for singers and prostitutes), other colors are popular.

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  Nam Phương Empress on stamp, published in 1950s. She was wearing khăn lương in Huế style.
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  A Tonkin woman was wearing khăn vấn in Northern style.
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  A Tonkin woman with blackened teeth wearing khăn vấn in Northern style.

The way to wear khăn vành in the Huế is different from the way to wear khăn vấn of Northern Vietnam. Huế khăn vành is worn with the edge of the khăn vành facing upwards inside the ring. The second ring is attached to the outside of the first, rather than under the ring as in the North.[4][5]

A style of khăn vấn for females, used on formal occasions, is khăn vành dây, khăn vành or mũ mấn. The very long, thick cloth is wrapped around the head like a funnel. The traditional khăn vành dây is recorded in a dark blue color. Only on the most important occasions did one see a yellow khăn vành dây in the inner part of the Imperial City of Huế. In addition, from the empress mother, the empress and the princesses also only wore the dark blue khăn vành dây.[5]

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  Princess Mỹ Lương was wearing dark blue khăn vành dây with red áo Nhật Bình.
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  Nam Phương empress was wearing khăn vành dây with áo Nhật Bình.
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  Nam Phương empress was wearing yellow khăn vành dây with áo Nhật Bình.

In the old days inner Imperial City of Huế, phấn nụ (face powder made from flower mirabilis jalapa) and khăn vành went together. They use the nhiễu cát textile or Crêpe de Chine in the later period to cover their hair. The nhiễu cát textile, woven by Japanese in the past, was only half as thin as the Crêpe de Chine, which was used in the Imperial City at the end of the Nguyễn dynasty.[4] The ladies in Hue Palace often wore khăn vành dây at the ceremonies. A khăn vành dây made of the imported textile crêpe de Chine is 30 cm wide, has an average length 13 m. A khăn vành dây made of Vietnamese nhiễu cát textile is nearly double the length.[5]

From the original width of 30 cm, the khăn vành dây is folded into a width of 6 cm with the open edge turn upward. Then, it is wrapped around the head in the shape chữ nhân, which means the pleats on the forehead look like the word "nhân" (人 shaped), covering the hair at the shoulder and folding the scarf inside. Half the width of the scarf is folded, starting at the nape, leaving the open edge facing up before continuing. The khăn vành is tightly wrapped around the head and forms a large dish shape. Using nhiễu cát, the textile has high elasticity and roughness and the khăn vành rarely slips. The end of the scarf is carefully tucked into the back of the scarf, but sometimes pins are used for convenience.[5]