The journey to revive “Nghe Thuong Vu Y”

Nghe Thuong Vu Y (霓裳羽衣) refers to a royal dance costume worn by male performers during the Nguyen Dynasty. As recorded in Bulletin des Amis du Vieux Hue (BAVH), No. 3, 1934: “Cérémonial D'autrefois Pour Le Mariage Des Princesses D'Annam” (The wedding ceremony of the ancient Annam princesses), the costume’s origins are tied to the story Nghe Thuong Vu Y Khuc—a legend involving Emperor Duong Minh Hoang, also known as Ly Long Co, who is said to have travelled to the Moon Palace and created the costume for palace maidens to dance and sing.

As BAVH recounts:

“One Mid-Autumn night, Emperor Tang Ming Huang gazed upon the radiant moon and dreamed of journeying to the moon palace. A Taoist, La Cong Vien, used his magical powers to transform a silk ribbon into a bridge, guiding the emperor to the celestial court. There, in a crystal palace aglow with shimmering lights, ethereal fairies danced in robes of feather and colour, their movements graceful and music haunting, lifting the soul heavenward. So moved was the emperor that, upon his return, he composed the ‘Nihang Dance’ and dressed his court ladies in similarly splendid attire. On the night of the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, Emperor Ming of Tang and Consort Yang, enraptured by the wine and the moonlight, watched the ‘Nihang Dance’ with such fervour it was as if they themselves stood within the Guanghan Palace where the mortal and the divine meet.”

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Nghê (霓) – “rainbow”; arc-en-ciel
Thuong (裳) – “flap”; jupon
Vu (羽) – “feathers”; plumes
Y (衣) – “cloth”; habit
— made from the feathers of colourful birds, commonly referred to as ma-tien (禡仙)

(Originally in BAVH: faits de plumes d'oiseaux multicolores et connus sous la dénomination vulgaire de ma-tien)

Thus, based on historical documents, the correct term for the shoulder cape adorned with tassels is Ma Tien—a name which, in recent years, has been attributed to a leaf-layered garment with outer tassels worn by female courtiers (a style more accurately referred to as Ao La Tua).

“Nghe Thuong Vu Y Khuc” and the legacy of royal dance

Nghe Thuong Vu Y Khuc was once widely celebrated during the Tang Dynasty. Yet as the dynasty declined through a succession of upheavals, the song lost the brilliance it once commanded. Still, the garment lived on, transmitted through later dynasties as an evocative tale linked to moonlit evenings and music echoing through royal halls. Dances featuring the costume have often been understood as those performed by celestial maidens within the mythical Moon Palace.

Each dynasty gave its own expression to Nghe Thuong Vu Y, reflecting the aesthetic and sensibilities of the era it belonged to.

During the Nguyen Dynasty, Nghe Thuong Vu Y became a ceremonial court costume, worn by male performers in royal dances such as Luc cung hoa dang, Mua bai bong, Tam quoc tay du, and Luc triet hoa ma dang, among others. It was also worn by children in the court orchestra who held fans and appeared during solemn state occasions, symbolising fairy attendants gracing significant royal events.

Typically, dancers wore crowns adorned with golden lotus buds, accompanied by a horse-shaped tunic bearing cloud-like motifs and multicoloured embroidered tassels. Beneath this was a pink robe with sleeves that turned back to reveal a matching hue, echoed by the trousers, and a four-leaf armoured skirt. Tiger-patterned panels embellished the front and back, with the legs wrapped in fitted leggings. Under each tassel, a small bronze bead was attached, so every movement sounded out into the air, resonant and arresting.

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When the royal treasury was plentiful, the tassels were embroidered with floral motifs—often blooms symbolic of the four seasons, like apricot, orchid, chrysanthemum, and peony—framed in lustrous gold trims that enhanced their elegance. In later periods, when resources were limited despite larger performances, the court made use of pre-woven brocades. For his project, Khau Cao Nhut Phuc chose to return to embroidery to best capture the spirit of “a hundred flowers blooming” that once characterised royal dances.

Costumes would vary depending on the performance. In Luc cung hoa dang, dancers carried lotus lanterns in both hands. For Tam quoc tay du and Mua bai bong, the attire included a pair of painted paper lanterns worn on the shoulders, paired with white fans held in each hand.

Luc triet hoa ma dang was traditionally performed during the Hung Quoc Khanh Niem celebration on the 2nd day of the 5th lunar month, under King Khai Dinh. The costume closely resembled that of the Bai bong dance, but the performers were mounted on real horses. As this became increasingly difficult to manage, the Thanh Binh Thu—the royal dance troupe of the time—later switched to using simulated horse rigs instead.

Nhut Phuc began embroidering the first sections of the ensemble in early 2021, referencing artefacts housed in the Quai Branly Museum in France. Balancing school, part-time work and long hours crafting at home, he devoted himself to the painstaking process. The garment incorporates a range of techniques: from glitter detailing and silk wrapping used to create dragon whiskers, to decorative fabric applications.

Given the intricacy of traditional sewing patterns, most stitching had to be done by hand, with minimal use of machines. Phuc also paid careful attention to fabric selection, deliberately avoiding overly shiny materials to preserve the costume’s antiquated character.

The lotus crown is a traditional performance headpiece worn alongside Nghe Thuong Vu Y, designed in the style of crowns from the Nguyen Dynasty. It features all the hallmark elements: the crown body, lotus tips, bac son, nghich son, kim giao, kim ba, thuy luu, and the inner head scarf.

This crown is considered a truly unique piece. There are certain crowns and costumes created to meet specific needs during brief historical moments, often with such fleeting purpose that they leave behind few regulations or detailed records. The lotus crown falls into this category. Documentation is scarce; most references rely on archival black-and-white photographs.

The rare instance in which the crown’s colour was described appears in Bulletin des Amis du Vieux Hue, No. 2, 1925, in a passage recounting The 40th Anniversary of King Khai Dinh (Épisode des Fêtes du Quarantenaire de SM Khai-Dinh Journées des, 1924) by H. Délétie:

“Sixty-four children, each carrying two pink paper lanterns (lanternes de papier rose) on their shoulders, advanced in a single file, and their movements drew in the silent courtyard a long dragon of light. Their red bonnets (bonnet rouge) were crowned with a golden lotus (lotus doré) that sparkled like a star; from their wide embroidered collars hung ribbons of bright colours, which mingled with the yellow, blue, and red of their silk clothes.”

Do Bang Doan and Do Trong Hue also cited the event in Vietnam Ca Tru Compilation Research (1962), pages 30–31, in the following excerpt:

“In September 1924, during the 40th anniversary of King Khai Dinh, triumphal arches were constructed from green leaves along the streets of Hue, decorated with characters for longevity and happiness written in flowers. Yellow dragon flags flew from the poles lining the roads, interspersed with five-colour swallow-tailed flags, and banners adorned with dragons, phoenixes, suns, and moons. Within the palace, girls from the North stood on mats to sing and occasionally performed songs with dance. At night, 64 children dressed in silk garments of yellow, blue, and red, wearing red hats and carrying lanterns on their shoulders, danced with flower lanterns, followed by the Bat Dat troupe...”

From these accounts, we can gather that the crown at that time was red, topped with a golden lotus. The reference to “pink paper lanterns on the shoulder” suggests that this was indeed part of the Bai Bong dance.

The crown took over a year to research and two months to craft. Its structure was built using papier-mâché, as in traditional methods, combined with decorative elements sculpted from artistic clay and kiln-fired. The golden finish was achieved using traditional gold leaf gilding. The velvet affixed to the spring was created from hand-dyed silk made by an artisan family in Cho Lon.

After the Nguyen Dynasty came to an end in August 1945, the palaces were left without kings to witness the dances and songs that once animated the royal courts. In the wake of sweeping historical upheaval, embroidered robes and gilded crowns were swept away, consumed by the metaphorical fires of their time. In such uncertain days, when people were preoccupied with mere survival, singing and dancing became distant memories. Yet, remarkably, the royal dance troupe, by then known as Ba Vu, was still preserved.

All thanks to Duc Tu Cung, also known as the Doan Huy Hoang Empress Dowager, who provided regular support from the aftermath of the August Revolution until 1954. Despite living in poverty himself, Duc Tu Cung remained deeply committed to preserving those treasured legacies. Fearing the day when royal music might disappear entirely, he did everything in his power to sustain it.

Thanks to his efforts, the troupe was able to continue performing until 1975, although its scale and artistic quality gradually declined. Following the reunification of the country, the Ba Vu troupe was renamed the Traditional Dance and Singing Troupe, and has since gradually regained its footing.

On 9 November 1980, Empress Dowager Doan Huy passed away. Yet it was thanks to her steadfast support, and to the devotion of artisans passionate about their craft, that, on 7 November 2003, “Hue Royal Court Music” was officially inscribed by UNESCO as an “Intangible Cultural Heritage and Oral Tradition of Humanity”. This recognition includes the once-glorious Nghe Thuong Vu Y costume.

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