The áo dài (English pronunciation: ; Vietnamese: [ʔaːw˧˦ zaːj˨˩] (North), [ʔaːw˦˥ jaːj˨˩] (South), Hán-Nôm: 襖𨱾) is a traditional Vietnamese national garment. Besides suits and dresses nowadays, men and women can also wear áo dài on formal occasions. It is a long, split tunic worn over trousers. Áo translates as shirt. Dài means "long". The term can be used to describe any clothing attire that consists of a long tunic, such as "nhật bình".
The predecessor of the Áo dài was invented by the Nguyễn lords in Phú Xuân in the 18th century. This outfit evolved into the Áo ngũ thân, a five-paneled popular shirt worn in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Inspired by Paris fashions, Nguyễn Cát Tường and other Hanoi artists redesigned the ngũ thân as a modern dress in the 1920s and 1930s. The updated look was promoted by the artists and magazines of Tự Lực văn đoàn (Self-Reliant Literary Group) as a national costume for the modern era. In the 1950s, Saigon designers tightened the fit to produce the version worn by Vietnamese women. The ao dai dress for women was extremely popular in South Vietnam in the 1960s and early 1970s. On Tết and other occasions, Vietnamese men may wear an áo gấm (brocade robe), a version of the ao dai made of thick fabric.
The áo dài dress has traditionally been marketed with a feminine appeal, with "Miss Ao Dai" pageants being popular in Vietnam and with overseas Vietnamese. However, the men version of ao dai or modified ao dai are also worn during weddings or formal occasions. The ao dai is one of the few Vietnamese words that appear in English-language dictionaries. The ao dai can be paired with the nón lá or the khăn vấn.

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