Trinh showed up at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, on May 19, in a see-through beaded black dress.

The dress drew headlines and turn heads, although it did not receive nice comments from home. "Sexually explicit," "weird" and "gross" were among the words used on message boards to describe the outfit.

Vietnamese model Ngoc Trinh arrives at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival
in Cannes, France, on May 19, 2019. Photo by Reuters/Jean-Paul Pelissier.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien said Wednesday that Trinh’s behavior was not in accordance with accepted standards and had smeared the image of Vietnam in the eyes of the international community.

"She is not an artist that the ministry sent to the event. Her outfit was improper, offensive and has caused public outrage," he told legislators at the ongoing National Assembly session in Hanoi.

The ministry is looking at current laws to sanction such behavior, he said.

Vietnam imposes cash penalties on people wearing skimpy clothes in public places, and these are mostly rewarded to showbiz figures.