Designer Thuy Diep grew up in Vietnam to a family of tailors and moved to the United States at an early age. She attended Brown University and began her career as a business consultant. Like most Asian American women, Thuy had other interests and passions to pursue. She left her corporate job at Pricewaterhouse in order to pursue her love of fashion design at the Parsons School of Design. Thuy held numerous jobs in the fashion industry including work with a New York based Parisian atelier, draping and pattern making for Zac Posen & Carolina Herrera and work with United Bamboo.
Now she has launched her own fashion label THUY. Asiance spoke with Ms. Diep about her early career, her Asian heritage and her experience in the fashion industry so far.
ASIANCE: Tell us a little bit about your background in Vietnam and the tailoring experience you have due to your family. Can you share any anecdotes from this experience?
Thuy: My parents taught and worked in the town of Phan Tiet in South Vietnam, which is about 200 km from Saigon. It's now known for its beach resorts. When I was little, I loved to make princess gowns from Mom and Dad's leftover fabrics; I'd pretend to be a princess, and stage makeshift fashion shows for my parents and force them to pick their favorite gown! Many of my other memories are not unlike everyone else's, except they were often related to sewing. When I got a little older for example, my parents would have me and my sisters help with sewing projects, but I sometimes was more interested in doing fun "kid stuff" like playing Cowboy and Indians with the neighborhood kids. I would sew crooked lines which would obviously frustrate my parents (who are perfectionists). They booted me out of the sewing room (as planned!).
ASIANCE: Why did you decide to pursue fashion?
Thuy: I can never remember a time where I did not want to be a fashion designer - ”really! For me, it was more about having the courage to be one and to be something that feels very natural to me.
ASIANCE: What would you be doing if you weren't a designer?
Thuy: I would be an actress or a writer. I think if I could bare the lonely process of writing (maybe a travel writer will eliminate the loneliness part), I would be a writer because I process a lot of things from a literary frame of mind. Actually, designing a collection, or even a single garment, is very similar to a composition.
ASIANCE: How old were you when you came to the United States?
Thuy: I was born in October 1975, and came to the US when I was about 6 years old.
I remember zoning out during Board meetings because I was more engrossed about how I would dress the ladies at the meetings.
ASIANCE: You studied at Brown University. What did you study and did you have any great professors that made an impact on you?
Thuy: I studied English Literature and visual arts.
Yes. Professor Lesly Bow in the Literature Department. She was beautiful, smart, fierce and subversive in a very understated way. Her ability to see things beneath the obvious and pretty veneer always amazed me and helped me ask, "Is there something else here?" She and other similar professors shaped the way I think and approach things in my life.
ASIANCE: Please discuss what you did at Pricewaterhouse, and how you moved into fashion? What was the name of the draping/patternmaking atelier you worked for
in NYC (the Parisian one)?
Thuy: At PricewaterhouseCoopers, I was a technology consultant. Don't ask me how I possibly pulled that off, as I have no good answer. I remember zoning out during Board meetings because I was more engrossed about how I would dress the ladies at the meetings. That was a sure sign I needed to exit from that industry. Seriously, although consulting was not for me, I learned a lot about professionalism and business which are both skills that I think make a huge (and unique) difference as I work on growing my own fashion label.
The Parisian pattern maker's name is Nicolas Caito. He works primarily with the premiere young designers in New York. I learned from Nicolas that there is always a way to actualize a design.
ASIANCE: Describe what you learned from various fashion jobs, including United Bamboo.
Thuy: My various fashion jobs brought real world application to what has always been viscerally inside of me. These jobs have luckily exposed me to all facets of the industry, including design, production and business. Especially valuable, was my work with draping and pattern making - ”the unsung heroes of all designers! Being fortunate enough to work side-by-side with a great pattern maker has been invaluable to now working with our pattern makers to translate my own designs into beautiful garments.
ASIANCE: Which designers (living or dead) do you most admire and why?
Thuy: Cristobel Balenciaga, Yohji Yamamoto, and the Belgian designers (Antwerp Six), namely Martin Margiela. All of them, because of such singularity and individualism in their work. Specifically:
Cristobel Balenciaga: bold form
Yamamoto: Like most others who I admire, I see beauty and an unconventional expression of femininity.
Margiela: he made such an impression on me when I was a student at Parsons. I absolutely loved reconstruction/deconstruction.
Madame Vionnet: Simply beautiful and soft.
ASIANCE: What famous women inspire you?
Thuy:
Kate Blanchett, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Joan of Arc
ASIANCE: Where in NYC do you live?
Thuy: I have lived in virtually all areas of Manhattan. I'm a bit of a hobo in that regard, moving around not necessarily because any given place is bad, but because change is good and I can easily traverse uptown and downtown. New surroundings are inspiring for me. Currently, I live and work in the Soho/West Village area, which is diverse, fun and has amazing energy.
ASIANCE: What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?
Thuy: Designing. If not, perhaps traveling the world and making a living writing about it!
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