a beginner's guide to dép tổ ong

table of contents

i. dép tổ ong and a brief history of campaigns

ii. why dép tổ ong?

iii. choosing your dép tổ ong (avec style)

i. dép tổ ong and a brief history of campaigns

dép tổ ong, literally known as bee (ong) hive (tổ) sandals (dép), or beehive / honeycomb sandals, is a legendary footwear in vietnam. crafted from pvc and some dop oil, dép tổ ong are made to last: they represent the economic hardships after war-striken vietnam. truth is, it can also be interpreted as a symbol of resilience in trying times. our generation may be walking in nikes, louis vuittons and supremes today, but our grandparents and parents walked barefoot and in these dép tổ ong. 

credits to duy anh on behance

credits to duy anh on behance

however, as time goes by, the perception about a staple product also changes. nowadays, if you wear dép tổ ong, people would think that you wear is because you have to, not because you choose to. discrimination runs skin deep and foot deep. you can get judged (I was) wearing those babies. there was a time that my family had a chance to stay overnight in the president room of a hotel in đà nẵng, which was made possible thanks to a big discount. I remember seeing staff double, tripple, and quadruple checking me as I have breakfast. they were busy looking for high heels and leather shoes, which I own none. it's not their faults, it's how society defines success and achievements. every revolution has its own side effects, much like every medicine you take. 

at the end of the day, dép tổ ong is only dép tổ ong, nothing more or less. what runs society is how we perceive things: whether we want them, or not. what I think is, if marketing campaigns can trick people into thinking that diamonds are forever™ for so long that people've been proposing with diamond rings as if it was a tradition, the same way cigarettes advertisements make people think smoking is cool™ and intellectual™ and not cause lung cancer™, we can change the way people perceive dép tổ ong. because truth is,

when a lie is believed for long enough, 

it becomes the truth; and

fashion comes back,

so does tổ ong.

the birth of the diamond engagement ring (the atlantic)

charlotte gainsbourg making smoking look good in 2001 (the guardian)

that time when marlboro tried to promote feminism by portraying smoking ladies (business insider)

or toxic masculinity through the marlboro man figure (business insider)

at least 4 of them died of lung cancer (los angeles times)

1 never smoked a cigarette (the new york times)

ii. why dép tổ ong?

tổ ong, or not tổ ong, that is the question

— hamlet, act 3, scene 1

besides quick airport security checks, comfort during long walks, and not having to worry about damaging designer shoes, my intentions with tổ ong has nothing to do with everything I've said above. this is not to say that aforementioned things are futile, but they're things that I encountered later on in this journey. I started off at a fairly basic place.

1

it was a few days after christmas and 108 days after my grandpa's departure to a place where he can read as much as newspapers and poetry as he wants without our disturbance. I was wandering amidst his garden, contented after receiving my university results a few days ago. I know that he was not there, physically, but that moment, he felt very much there, mentally, as if he's never left. 

after searching for horizons and new heights, I look down on my feet, and I see my pair of dép tổ ong. I think back all this time being an overachiever, a conquerer, a veni-vidi-vici-er that never learns to love the journey and the ride, never caring about the fleeting age of 17 and about vixi. what struck me was that, I am not guaranteed to always be a winner at life. trying times are inevitable, and there is no escape. but if I happen to lose everything, I will always know where to come back to. to the start. to those orange beehive sandals. to dép tổ ong màu cam. it is the axis that my earth leans on go gain momentum for its rotation.

and I think. wow, it's not really much about success, isn't it? time to unlearn all those useless self help advice. what the fuck happens after fame and success? nothing. at. all. we just need to keep going and enjoy the ride with the accompany of people in our lives.

2

as international students, it's easy to be ashamed of your culture and heritage, your starting point. there is a vietnamese poem about the lotus that contrasts the purity of the lotus with the mundane mud where it originated from. I believed that for a long long time, until I read another poem that offer an alternate perspective: but wasn't it the mundane mud that nourished the lotus since it was a bud until its day of blooming? there is no mud, no lotus. not in the sense that you can't be the lotus without putting up with the mud, but that mud and lotus are not very fundamentally different. something will always have its origins, including you. for me, dép tổ ong also serves as a reminder about one's roots and a sense of pride that accompanies it. after all,

it's about starting with what you have,

not what you want;

truth is,

you might some day realize,

what you want is not what you need,

what you need is what you have always had but never realized,

until now,

I hope.

iii. choosing your dép tổ ong

the wand chooses the wizard,

but you choose your dép tổ ong

— j. k. bro

my life, my color. your feet, your dép tổ ong. although dép tổ ong are not very different in their design, you can always make yours stand out by choosing a color that goes with it. whether you stick to the classics or go wild, it's your choice, and I wholeheartedly support that! but can we just take some time to appreciate those design that I took an entire day to make—