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« on: February 07, 2008, 01:59:39 AM » |
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Traditional charm on the catwalk
Source: VNN
Vietnamese fashion’s recent success on international catwalks shows the growth of the nation’s modelling industry. Most of the successful collections are connected to tradition. VietNamNet finds the key.
Last August during ASEAN Culture Week, the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information teamed with the Ministry of Culture and Information (MCI) to offer a first-time programme, "ASEAN Arts - Tradition and Modernity”. Participants from ASEAN were offered a number of activities on Vietnamese culture. The exhibition made history with its fashion. Vietnamese designer Lan Huong charmed viewers with her collection, ‘Legend of Dong Ho’, showcasing the traditional beauty of folk paintings from Dong Ho, a village in the North famous for printing folk paintings with wooden engravings. By using such popular images as ‘The Wedding of the Mice’, ‘Jealousy’, ‘Collecting Coconuts’ and ‘Skipping’ Ms Huong brought out the deep cultural character of rare art, giving audiences a privileged glimpse of Vietnam. ‘Legend of Dong Ho’ is one of many programmes adapted from the nation’s traditional styles. Fashion design has provided a fitting venue and many designers have found success with the form. Vietnamese fashion has recently been highlighted as a movement on international catwalks as part of a trend in infusing designs with national identities. The growing industry - traditional art At about 10 years’ and running, Vietnamese fashion is still new on the scene. The nation’s fledgling fashion industry is still experimenting and discovering itself. New fashion does, and sometimes doesn’t, help Vietnamese designers, who may follow the latest trends online to keep pace with their counterparts elsewhere in the world. They inevitably chose to highlight the nation's pronounced generation gap. There are many choices for creators: silk, the multi-coloured weavings and embroidery of the ethnic minorities, denim, elastic and leather, subtly enhanced with embroidery, beads, or stones. But the most favourite for designers is to place their ideas on traditional dresses.  A creation based on traditional costume by fahion designer Vo Viet Chung.
In 2002, fashion designer Vo Viet Chung took his fans on a journey to Dong Thap Province, where he created a “vision of discovery” of the natural beauty of this region and the local culture with his fashion show 'Hoai Niem Tan Chau' (Always Missing Tan Chau), an ao dai (Vietnamese traditional dress) collection in silk.
This collection was made in the classical style, infused with the colours of nature. The show was honoured by local audiences and press as his “turning-point” on business and a mark of the national modelling industry. Ao dai, a Vietnamese treasure, is the favourite choice of Vietnamese fashion designers for improving their creations. It introduces the wearer and brings out beauty. The dress appears to flatter every figure. Its body-hugging top flows over wide trousers that brush the floor. Splits in the gown extend well above waist height and make it comfortable, easy to move in, and show clearly beauty of a woman’s figure. It is a symbol of Vietnamese beauty. “That is why most of Vietnamese fashion designers chose it, to identify themselves as Vietnamese”, said young designer Quoc Binh. Although virtually the whole body is swathed in soft flowing fabric, these splits give the odd glimpse of a bare midriff, making the outfit very sensual. Ladies eventually adopt Ao dai as the preferred national dress. The dress is also surviving as a key item in the nation’s modelling industry. On the other side, well-known Vietnamese designer Minh Hanh, head of Ho Chi Minh City’s Fashion Design Institute, or FADIN, has found herself working with costumes based on minority dress. She has had a number of the nation’s largest fashion shows based on traditional minority wear. “All countries have their own strengths in culture. Vietnam is rich too, as it has a long cultural background. Why don’t we use it?” The designer said. As Ms Hanh explained, it is the right way for young designers to draw on their cultural background. “It is the source of culture. If designers are not able to show their own background, they would never get success.” In 2003, Ms Hanh’s ao dai were worn by ten top Vietnamese models at Japan’s famous KiyomizuTemple. The selection was called “Return to Heaven” and ran as part of the ASEAN-Japan Exchange Year Fashion Exhibition, a prestigious event that acts as a nod of recognition. Her last collection, “Cultural Heritage” took place in the holy land of My Son, in QuangNamProvince and was based on Cham dress as part of national festival, Quang Nam – Heritage Itinerary 2005.  Ao Dai collection by fashion designer Minh Hanh. Drawing on tradition There are 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, all with their own dress, many of which have appeared on the catwalk. Fifty-four ethnic groups and 54 different costumes introduce an image of the rich variety of traditional costumes that give creative ideas for fashion designers. The most primitive yet modern costumes could be from the GiaRai people. Women of this group wear nothing but a small skirt. Men would take just a loincloth to go on any occasion. Then there are H’Mong girls, who wear a shirt, undergarments, leggings and a coiled scarf on their heads. Their skirts are usually in a cone shape with folds that enhance their gentleness. The traditional Tay costume for a girl is a kerchief tied in a triangle on the forehead, simple indigo dress, belt and silver bracelets and chains while a Muong girl usually wears a medium length skirt, a short white shirt and a pair of silver earrings. Thai girls wear a colourful scarf, short jacket with silver buttons in two lines and a tight black skirt. People of the Dzao minority share many similarities while at the same time are a little bit distinct. Girls in the Dzao Do (Red Dzao) keep their hair long and fold it around their heads covered with the red cloth. Designers love to look back to the past as well, trading the contemporary for old styles. Clogs, the footwear that both male and female wore in the past, appear on the catwalk in many forms including bamboo and wood depending on the purpose. Wooden clogs were used at home and they were made with a rattan strap and curved toe-cap for protection. The most popular clogs were self-pared with a slightly curved toe-cap and soft cloth-made strap which is cross-pierced. In HueCity, there was also a kind of clog that was painted with two colours and only rich people wore them. As a traditional-style fashion, Vietnamese people sometime wear the clogs in summer, showing a new trend of fashion that is both traditional and modern. But ao dai is the favourite and can be seen all over the country, as girls in white pick their way through muddy streets going home from school or sailing by in a graceful chatter on their bikes. A cousin of ao dai, the peasant ao ba ba (pants outfit) is a simple ao dai and has been transformed for the catwalk into elegant haute couture adaptations. This, in turn, spawned myriad knockoffs among mass-market manufacturers.  Collection of royal Ao Dai by fahion designer Minh Hanh. In the past, Vietnamese women also wore ao tu than with skirts to differentiate themselves from men, who wore a similar costume with pants. Women were to wear a dress with a high collar that had the front and back of the dress sewn together with seams running down from under the arms. Aside from the ao tu than and ao ngu than, the traditional look of Northern girls included a khan dong and a khan mo qua. The khan dong is a black piece of fabric wrapped around a girl's long hair so that it forms a tube around the hair. The fabric-entubed hair is then wrapped around the crown of the head. Usually, the girl's hair is a little bit longer than the khan dong, forming a skinny, wispy ponytail sticking out of the end. This ponytail is left dangling down from the khan dong on one side of the head. The Vietnamese call this hairstyle toc duoi ga because the ponytail resembles a rooster's tail (toc duoi ga means chicken- or rooster-tailed hair). For formal occasions, Vietnamese girls often used khan dong made of black velvet. Instead of the rooster-tailed hair, they would pin the extra hair down and cover their heads with a khan mo qua, meaning crow's beak kerchief. Non La, another Vietnamese symbol is a conical hat made of woven, dried leaves. It is used to shade the head and face from the sun when going outside. The typical image of rural Vietnam is a handful of farmers wearing non la planting rice in the fields. Hoang Huong
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« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2008, 02:01:13 AM » |
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Time for young talentsAlong with recent growth in the modelling industry, fashion design is considered amongst one of the top jobs among Vietnamese young people. VietNamNet takes a look at the top designers.  Collection Tropical Zone by Nguyen Quang Huy. Around ten years ago, “fashion design” was seen as a fantasy job that Vietnamese people only watched on TV. Gradually, fashion collections began to appear in local beauty contests and music shows, now it is has acquired professional statusand is considered a top job opportunity among Vietnamese people. [/FONT] With about 10 years experience, Vietnam’s modelling industry is still young and young local designers face many challenges and difficulties. Gradually more and more Vietnamese models burst onto the international scene, modelling creations of local designers. It is an exciting time for people in the modelling industry to promote the industry to the country and the rest of the world. The dream stage.. The annual Vietnam Collection Grand Prix drew competitors aged from 15 to 35 nationwide. It is the largest fashion event in Vietnam. All the participants have a passion for fashion, with the competition providing them with an opportunity to learn and exchange ideas and experiences, moreover it has assisted them to discover distinctive expression. The Vietnam Collection Grand Prix 2004, the fifth of its kind, attracted 1,205 competitors. These include designers of national mass-market clothing manufacturers, private companies, students, and designers for the famous. Among them, many have shone on both local and international catwalks. The winner, Nguyen Quang Huy, 27, was formerly a fashion designer for Lega Fashion Company. His Tropical Zone collection, with four designs, was a collage of wool and cotton featuring yellow as its defining feature. Mr Huy is among a group of young designers whose name has been honoured relatively early in his career. …and outstanding creators Apart from FADIN’s Chairwoman Minh Hanh, currently considered Vietnam’s head designer, all of the nations’ fashion creators are young. One of Vietnam’s most popular designers, Vo Viet Chung, is known in both Vietnam and abroad. His collection Su Hoi Sinh (The Restoration) will be shown at Euro Fashion Week in Berlin July 23 - 27. Vo Viet Chung was among several young Vietnamese designers to present at fashion shows including New Year’s Eve 1999 – 2000 and Duyen Dang Viet Nam (Vietnam’s Charms) in 2003. His designs have also been shown at international fashion festivals in the Republic of Korea, Japan and France. Chung first appeared in 1994 with his label “Chung Fashion Trademark". Since then he has won several awards for his engagement in fashion. In 2002 - 2003, his shows, 'Hoai Niem Tan Chau' (Always Missing Tan Chau), and Mo Ve Chau A (Dreaming on Asia), presented 400 creations shown by 100 models. It received much critical acclaim from the press. This year, Chung will bring his latest collection, Su Hoi Sinh (The Restoration), to Berlin. Mostly in Tan Chau silk, Su Hoi Sinh is based on traditional Buddhist styles inspiring tranquil and occult images of pagodas, the only collection to do so.  Ao Dai designs by Sy Hoang. Seeking inspiration for material, Chung journeyed to Tan Chau in Hong Ngu, Dong Thap province. Taking in the region’s natural beauty and local culture he produced ao dai in classical style, inspired by the colours of nature. [/FONT][/COLOR] Encouraged by his success Chung developed the new trademark ‘Asia Collection’ in April 2000. The collections demand attention due to their innovative design and unique materials.
Another outstanding designer, Kieu Viet Lien, 31, was trained in Ho Chi Minh City. When she was 18 she was fortunate to be awarded a visa to study fashion in Australia. After three years in Melbourne, in 1996 she went to Canada for two years and later spent a year in Paris.
When Lien returned to Vietnam she opened a bridal fashion shop in Ho Chi Minh City, and her name has since been honoured on local catwalks. Lien’s work is aglow with colours and patterns drawn from the natural world. Her designs are inspired by the seasons and moods of tropical Vietnam. Dresses in her collection are designed in pale hues and with eye-catching curves, emphasising the femininity of her style. Another winner of the Vietnam Collection Grand Prix 2004, Quoc Binh, 25, from Ho Chi Minh City, highlighted his designs with the contrasting, but perfect combination of voile and leather. Quoc Binh also won the Prize for Special Producer at the Asia Collection Makuhari in Japan. His products are gradually carving a niche in the market. Famous fashion designer Si Hoang, better known as the “master of Ao Dai”, has daring creations that enhance the beauty of the ao dai (Vietnamese traditional dress). He casts off unwritten rules altering the classical style of his ao dai's to catch the eye and flatter the female form. Si Hoang's fashion creations encapsulate Vietnamese culture. International cultural ambassadors to Vietnam have selected ao dai of his design. Si Hoang has designed and made ao dai's for such personages as the Queen Silvia of Sweden. The list of outstanding designers is growing daily.  A design in Su Hoi Sinh collection by Vo Viet Chung.
Time for young talents
It is not possible to give more that an introductory insight into Vietnamese fashion as it continues to grow and morph. The good news is that Vietnamese fashion designers are active, they are very good and they are gaining recognition, bringing Vietnamese culture and fashion out of the closet. The endless depth of Vietnamese culture is inspiring our designers to create Vietnamese fashion that is from the soul of Vietnam. Although Vietnamese designers have left good impressions on the international scene, there is always room for improvement. International fashion shows give them opportunities to gain more experience from their international colleagues as well as represent their home country. As designer Quoc Binh said, the nation’s modelling world is very new. It is a great opportunity for young designers, to show their talents, styles and creations, without any effects or shadows from available names, as well as providing much space for talented wings to take off. Incoming third chapter: Vietnamese fashion: How they wear?
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« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2008, 02:03:44 AM » |
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what to wear?
Young Vietnamese are in a sudden tempest of international culture, art and technology. They way they adapt, especially in fashion, is causing a confrontation with their elders. Summer on streets  Thuy even dresses her navel. Hanoi [/FONT] is in the middle of summer. Some days, the weather is very hot, and that much hotter for men, who must wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts while women get some relief in low-necked dresses as they chat on their motorbikes. In a bar at Hang Hanh Street, central Hanoi one recent day, all the men were seen to rotate their heads when a woman in an unimaginably tight pair of jeans walked by with three of her friends, in a skimpy top that fully revealed her cleavage, delicate rose tattoo on her shoulder, navel fully exposed. That was Thuy Linh, 17, one of the young Hanoi women who indulge in a revealing style that has become a controversial topic in the Vietnamese urban community. Linh is among the many Vietnamese fans of Western stars, emulating Western style, forcing a confrontation with elders who favour tradition. In another street, casting a look of disdain at a young woman in a black halter top that exposed more of her back than it covered one recent afternoon, 80-year-old Nguyen Thi Tam, owner of a small book shop, didn't mince words chastising her young customer, even though she was a client spending money in Tam’s shop. “I do not understand how a woman can dress like this in public. I have never done that in my whole life, even in my own room. People my age really hate clothes like that!” She said with disdain. Ignoring the tirade, the girl positioned herself in front of Lady Tam and asked for her book ‘Massaging and Caring for Skin’, which the old woman grudgingly handed over but not without first casting a wrathful look. “She sounds like my mother. Why are old people all that same,” said the customer later, Nguyen Thanh An, 25, a student from Hanoi Conservatory of Music. “I'm an aggressive girl. I don't care what people say. I wear what I want to wear. I do what I want to do.” An said most of her friends prefer dressing in a similar style. It is a trend of Vietnamese fashion among a growing number of young, urban Vietnamese women like her. “I and my friends are now all around 22 and will not be young forever. Why shouldn’t we reveal our beauty when we have it. Especially when we are artists,” An said. Confrontation of generations Mrs Tam and An represent different opinions on dress, divided by generations mostly in urban areas. There are the young, who fervently welcome low-necked dresses of a Western style, and the older, more traditional look. When Mrs Tam was a young woman, she and her friends knew how to dress: conservatively, with every inch of their flesh covered, no exposed legs, no exposed arms, and no exposed bellybuttons.
Older Vietnamese women generally wear loose-fitting pants and blouses made of silk, cotton or linen. Many still wear the conical straw hats as well. Men and women going to the office tend to wear conservative dresses and suits, usually in dark colours or earth tones.
But their younger counterparts wear European-style, hip-hugger jeans, halter tops, short pants, short skirts, see-through blouses, tattoos and the occasional navel piercing. “I swooned when I saw a tattoo on my 18-year-old daughter’s breast. It was a monster with an open mouth and red eyes. I could do nothing but look. She looked like someone from the gangland,” said 50-year-old Nguyen Thi Van. “Fortunately, it is just a fake tattoo that she sticks to herself. I do not know how I would respond if it were permanent,” she added. Ms Van’s daughter, Le Dieu Thuy, 16, is a fan of US pop star Britney Spears, around her room, images of the star. Thuy has also adopted most of Spears’ dress. As most Vietnamese parents consider a bare shoulder risqué, low-necked tops are downright radical. So Thuy must make her elders happy before she goes outside. To please Mom and Dad, for instance, she might layer a conservative blouse over a skimpy top with a plunging neckline. But as soon as she's out of the neighbourhood - and out of her parents' sight - off comes the frumpy top. “I want to wear very revealing clothes, but I’m afraid of my parents,'' said Thuy. “I put my long-sleeved shirt back on when I return home'' Thuy said of her cunning. Thuy’s father, 56, thinks women look best in a conservatively cut Vietnamese traditional dress such as ao dai, the flowing silk pantsuit, usually brightly coloured, that Vietnamese women generally wear on formal occasions. A matter of opinion  Actor Bich and his girlfriend at second-hand clothing shop. Dao Van Bich, an actor who plays a main role in the 11th episode of the television series, Criminal Police, derived from the novel Mot The Gioi Khong Co Dan Ba ( A World Without Women) by writer Bui Anh Tan, said he does not care how his girlfriend dresses. “She can wear whatever she wants to be beautiful. I’m proud of the way she [/FONT][/COLOR] exposes her beauty.” Mr Bich said he himself prefers products firm names in fashion. To save money, he occasionally goes to second-hand shops to buy things for himself and his girlfriend. “Second-hand dresses sometimes are wonderful. It may be the only and smart one,” he said. His girlfriend, a performer in World Without Women, prefers wearing a décolleté wrapping and a copy of Spice Girl Mel C‘s bracelet on her aim when she shops with Bich. But on the other side, Nguyen Van Quang, owner of the second-hand where Bich and his girlfriend shop said he isn't pleased by what he sees. “Traditional Vietnamese clothes are not revealing. The serious women must not look so scantily clad. I think revealing girls are just good for play, but never good to marry,'' he opined. Quang also revealed a new trend where Vietnamese men have been putting more time into their appearance. “Hanoi now has a growing-number of ‘woman-look men.’ I could not keep myself from laughing when I saw boys in yellow hair and colourful clothes. I don’t know what they’re thinking, he added, shakng his head Mr Quang, who wears a T-shirt and shorts, explained that it is more comfortable for him to run his shop all day in simple clothes and said that jeans and a T-shirt are suitable for most men. Quang’s wife, Huong, 40, dresses in orange silk pyjamas most of the time, said self-confidently that she looks younger and more conservative with it, adding “silk is the most suitable thing for women in my age.” Mrs Huong said she’d grown tired of clothes like that of her younger sister, who works at a local company. “She wears a formal uniform all day. How is that comfortable?” Huong said she asked her sister this once and her sister replied that she did not feel comfortable with Huong’s silk. “She said she hates my clothing. It is impolite and I should just wear it only at home,” Huong said testily. How should we dress? “Nobody has the answer. It depends on each person’s work, style, taste and environment,” said fashion designer Phuong Nguyen. “I think the best is that each one should have a number of versatile outfits and transform themselves for each situation.” “Revealing clothing is sometimes good, but sometimes is bad,” added the designer, saying the most intelligent and fashionable people are the ones, who change outfits like a chameleon.
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