Vietnamese fashion victims?

Model Thanh Hang The Vietnamese fashion industry is still in infancy mainly due to a shortage of qualified designers and a fashion conscious public that seems to think the best products can only be found from abroad. One of key reasons for the industry’s weaknesses is its designers, said delegates to a seminar christened ‘Building Vietnam’s Fashion Industry’ in September. “Around 2,000 designers graduate from schools every year, but a mere 20 are actual fashion designers. Among the 2,000 people, hardly any can make a normal shirt” says Minh Hanh, Director of the Vietnam Fashion Design Institute. “The knowledge students develop is too limited. Textbooks are completely wrong. Lecturers are inexperienced. Vietnam’s fashion techniques are 50 years behind global fashion trends… So after graduation, designers don’t know much about materials and ways to deal with them, let alone the latest trends” she said. Products produced by many local designers are suitable only to be modelled on catwalks and stages, not worn by people in daily life. Some, though creative, are impractical, and others are less creative and dependent on foreign designs. The winner of the Future Fashion Designer Prize at the Vietnam Collection Grand Prix 08 is suspected of having copied John Galliano’s ideas shown in his Dior Spring 2008 Couture collection. However, winner Tran Thi Thu says it is merely coincidence. If the Vietnamese fashion industry fails to keep abreast of the rest of the world, Vietnamese designers will just act as button sewers for foreign designers, says Celia Loe, a Singaporean designer. According to many local fashion lovers, due to the shortage of qualified designers, professional show organisers and potential fashion customers, many fashion shows in Vietnam resemble rather festivals and are held only occasionally, mostly for recreational purposes. Another difficulty facing the local fashion industry is that a large number of consumers prefer the foreign brands they see in high-end clothes shops in Vietnam or sported in US or South Korean films. In addition many local people, due to their limited budgets, opt for low-cost Chinese textiles and garments. “After a long period of working hard to earn their living, Vietnamese people now are in a position to care more about fashion. The Vietnamese fashion industry has only developed over the last decade. Vietnamese people have adopted the conventional wisdom that foreign products are somehow better. However, they are not aware that when dressing, we have to pay attention to our own styles and cultural basis” said local top designer Minh Hanh. However making and selling stylish costumes at reasonable prices is not an easy task for local designers and businesspeople. They often lack specific market research and marketing strategies, especially those relating to fashion trends and the financial capacity of target customers, says Minh Trang, owner of fashion brand Kelley Bui which sells well on the domestic market. Despite the difficulties, the fashion industry is seeing encouraging signs. There have been growing numbers of domestic and foreign fashion magazines, fashion shows, models, designers and ordinary, daily conversations about fashion in recent years in Vietnam. After 10 years of development, Vietnam now has a number of well-known designers who have won prizes at international and domestic fashion contests, including Minh Hanh, Vo Viet Chung and Lien Huong. The locally organised “Dep Fashion Show” event has drawn the attention of an increasing number of people since its launch in 2004. This year’s ‘Dep Fashion Show 7’, themed ‘Moving in style’, which was held on October 4, was considered the most successful fashion show in the country to date. “I hope the models at ‘Dep Fashion Show 7’ can convey the strong spirit and great skills of Vietnamese people” said Mai Lam, one of the main designers at the show. Another designer, Do Manh Cuong, said “What I do is find my own style, my own brand which is widely accepted by the public. My products are to serve the majority.” (The Vietnam Nation)