To go on until November 20, it will feature a series of events including a video contest to introduce the beauty of the ao dai, talk shows, conferences, and music concerts.

The festival will also showcase more than 300 models of ao dai created by famous designers such as Lien Huong, Vo Viet Chung, Do Trinh Hoai Nam, and Ngo Nhat Huy.

The ao dai has for long been an icon of Vietnamese culture, praised for its delicate design and for highlighting the graceful beauty of Vietnamese women.

The opening ceremony will be held Sunday evening at the Museum of Vietnamese History in District 1's Nguyen Binh Khiem Street, with more details on the event to be released.

It is part of the city’s efforts to revitalize tourism, which was badly hit by the Covid-19 crisis.

The Ao Dai Festival was originally scheduled for April and was first postponed to July, but the resurgence of Covid-19 forced the organizers to further delay it.

HCMC has now gone over two months without community transmissions of the novel coronavirus, and all "non-essential" services like bars and night clubs have reopened and celebration of festivals has resumed.

Vietnam's second Covid-19 outbreak started on July 25 after more than three months without community transmisions. The country has so far had 1,100 cases, 39 of them active, but has gone 35 days without a new domestic case.