A 29-year-old model could be facing fines from the Vietnamese government after a dress she wore reportedly breached the country’s indecency laws.
The model, Ngoc Trinh, was attending the premiere of The Hidden Life last month at the Cannes Film Festival, when her dress apparently caused quite a stir.
While revealing outfits are nothing new on the red carpet, it seems Trinh’s dress didn’t go down well with the Vietnamese government.
Trinh’s choice of outfit has caused so much outrage, it seems, Vietnam’s Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Nguyen Ngoc Thien, has reportedly initiated an investigation into the incident.
This could lead to heavy fines for Trinh for breaching the country’s indecency laws.
Speaking to legislators at the National Assembly session in Hanoi, Thien said, via VN Express:
She is not an artist that the ministry sent to the event. Her outfit was improper, offensive and has caused public outrage.
According to the Mirror, a spokesperson for the ministry said the dress was ‘overdone and offensive’, and that it ‘goes against Vietnamese tradition, and people should speaking out against this uncultured behaviour.’
Though some people criticised Trinh for her choice of dress, others came to her defence, saying she looked beautiful.
The 29-year-old told VN Express (translated): ‘I see this dress is beautiful and has an effect on the red carpet as I expected.’
According to reports, the ministry is now looking at the government’s current laws to penalise such behaviour. The country often imposes penalties, usually cash fines, for people wearing outfits which are deemed too revealing to be worn in public places.
Thien, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said Trinh’s choice of dress on the red carpet was not in accordance with ‘accepted standards’, and had done a disservice to international community’s image of Vietnam.
Trinh is one of Vietnam’s most high-profile models and fashion designers. She boasts 2.3 million followers on Instagram and, in 2005, was named Photogenic Supermodel Vietnam.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.