Dao Thi Ha practices walking in high heels for the Miss Vietnam competition.

Thùy Dung - Miss Foreign Trade University - only brought three dresses for the competition, while Đào Thị Hà had to spend time practicing walking in high heels.

The Miss Vietnam final will take place on the evening of August 28th in Ho Chi Minh City. Huynh Thi Thuy Dung is one of five candidates representing the host city, Ho Chi Minh City. After becoming Miss Charming Foreign Trade University of Ho Chi Minh City 2016, she was encouraged to participate in the national beauty pageant. Thuy Dung considered this for quite some time because she considers herself an introverted person, not used to crowds, not to mention her parents strongly opposed it.

The Miss Vietnam pageant was far bigger than the newly crowned Miss Foreign Trade University had imagined. During the first week of the final round, she only brought three dresses and washed them herself every night to wear again. "I've never bought many beautiful dresses before; I always wore jeans to school," she shared. Afterward, she and the other contestants received help from the organizers, borrowing clothes from designers to show off.

Huynh Thi Thuy Dung.

The runner-up of the 2016 Miss Foreign Trade University of Ho Chi Minh City pageant, Luc Thi Thu Thao, also had a very modest number of outfits compared to many other competitors. The 1997-born girl was jokingly called "Cinderella" by the other contestants because she only had one pair of shoes throughout the Southern regional finals. She was dwarfed by the "forest" of contestants in fancy dresses. Wearing a white shirt and jeans, and with her petite figure, Thu Thao looked more like a student attending school than a beauty pageant contestant.

Luc Thi Thu Thao (third from the left) dressed simply when she traveled to the North to attend the final round of Miss Vietnam.

Bui Nu Kieu Vy, a promising candidate for Miss Vietnam, initially faced opposition from her family. "My parents said our family wasn't well-off, and competing in a beauty pageant in Saigon would be very expensive. They were also worried about their daughter's infrequent travels and feared the competition would be fierce and cutthroat. But for some reason, I was very determined and begged my parents to let me go, even asking relatives to speak on my behalf," she recounted.

Many contestants initially weren't enthusiastic about the competition, but they shone brighter and brighter as the competition progressed. Dao Thi Ha, the girl with a smile similar to Tang Thanh Ha, is one example. She participated in the Miss Cua Lo Beach Beauty Contest 2016 to please her sister, never expecting to win. Afterwards, the Nghe An Provincial Youth Union and her family continued to encourage and persuade her to compete in Miss Vietnam. Dao Thi Ha had to spend time practicing to be able to confidently walk in high heels.

Contestant Dao Thi Ha from Nghe An needed some time to get used to walking the catwalk in high heels.

Like Dao Thi Ha, participating in Miss Vietnam 2016 was not initially planned for Huynh Thuy Vi. However, after being recommended by the Can Tho City Youth Union and supported by her colleagues at work, the bank employee decided to give it a try. However, due to a lack of documents, she was unable to participate in the Southern regional preliminary round and had to travel to Hanoi for the selection. Reaching the final round, despite having a height of only 1.65 m (the shortest in the competition), Thuy Vi still captivated with her fair skin and the gentle beauty of a girl from the Mekong Delta.

According to VNE