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The yêm is  an  ancient  common  upper-body  garment  for Vietnamese  girls  and  women  for thousands  of  years  until  after  World  War  II,  when  Western  dressing  style  entered  and  became popular.

A yêm was a sexy simply-cut piece of usually simple cloth, which could be either outerwear or  undershirt.  As  Vietnam  has  a  tropical  climate  with  hot  and  humid  summers,  the  lighter  and airier the clothes are the better. The yêm was the solution in the old days for Vietnamese people to the environment. Colours and materials of the yêm reflected the woman’s age and social status. Older women tended to wear round-necked, and younger ones the v-neck style. The working-class women wore dark colours such as black, beige, or brown, and coarse cloth, while the elite opted for more festive, brighter tones such as red and pink or white, normally in dedicate cloth such as silk or satin.

Throughout history, the design of the yêm stayed almost the same. However, there was much room for flexibility. When a woman was young, she tied the strings loosely to let the neck come lower, especially when she wore necklaces. When she got older, she pulled the strings tighter to raise the neck higher. This is a good example of the Vietnamese dressing style – simplicity but with a height of delicacy and sexiness.

The yêm dates to the Hung Kings (2879 BC - 258 AD). Evidence can be found in the images of women in decoration on a Dong Xa bronze drum, cast over 2,000 years ago. It made its way down to around  1945 as a traditional costume exclusively of Vietnamese women. Photos of Vietnamese women in the 1940s still showed some of them wearing the yêm. From the mid-20th century, along with the decline  of the yêm to give way for Western dressing trends, many traditions disappeared, such as tying the hair around the head, or having the teeth dyed. Recently, the yêm is making a comeback, but only on the catwalk.