Gone are the days when the world only knew Vietnamese fashion from the Ao Dai through movies or cultural exchange events. Vietnamese high-end fashion is facing a great opportunity when it is favored and promoted by many international stars.
Caught the eye of international stars
The design chosen by Ms. Janet Yang is from Le Thanh Hoa's Sa Vu collection, with the main idea from the beauty of cactus flowers in the desert.
Over the past three years, Vietnamese fashion has become quite popular in the international arena. From the world's top entertainment stars such as Rihanna, Katy Perry, Beyoncé, Zendaya... to former US First Lady Michelle Obama, they have chosen designer Cong Tri's designs at important events. To date, more than 100 international stars have chosen his designs.
In 2021, The Hollywood Reporter included Cong Tri in a group of three rising designers who have consistently won the favor of stars on the Hollywood red carpet. They are Dzojchen (Singapore), Atafo (Nigeria) and Cong Tri (Vietnam).
Just last June, Lisa - a member of the famous Korean girl group BlackPink, dubbed "the most beautiful star on the planet" - made an impression when she wore a red bow-shaped crop top, combined with his high-waisted straight-leg pants.
Even Hollywood's powerful woman, Janet Yang, President of the American Film Institute, chose to wear a design by Le Thanh Hoa on the red carpet of the 2023 Oscars. Previously, his designs appeared in photos of stars such as Jeannie Mai, Bella Thorne, Sevyn Streeter, Janelle Monáe...
Not to be outdone, in the European fashion market, Tran Hung is also one of the few Vietnamese designers who are regularly chosen. More than 100 stars including Olympic champion Tom Daley, Olly Murs, Roxy Horner... have ordered his designs.
Similarly, designer Chung Thanh Phong designed evening gowns for Miss Universe 2021 Harnaaz Sandhu and Miss World 2021 Karolina Bielawska. Last May, Chinese star Fan Bingbing wowed the international media when she chose two designs from Chung Thanh Phong's latest collection at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
This star also just spent 600 million VND to own a design called Ice Phoenix by designer Anh Thu, marking her return to showbiz after a series of scandals.
Designer Chung Thanh Phong said that after Pham Bang Bang chose his designs, several world-famous fashion magazines contacted him to collaborate in the near future. The actress herself also gave very positive feedback and especially loved these two designs. The two sides also promised future collaborations.
The game is also very elaborate.
The outfit Pham Bang Bang wore by Chung Thanh Phong was praised for its outstanding reflective effect, highlighting her noble and sexy beauty.
According to Statista statistics, the US is still the top potential market for the fashion industry, expected to reach 266 billion USD by 2023, with most of the revenue generated in China.
In the European fashion capital, the expected revenue in 2023 is 177 billion USD. For Vietnamese designers to enter this market is like stepping through a narrow door. The journey to get their designs noticed by international stars is not easy.
Many designers such as Tran Hung, Cong Tri, Do Manh Cuong… chose to directly attack this market by organizing shows at fashion weeks. However, the amount of money spent is not small.
Like Nguyen Cong Tri, who once spent millions of dollars just to build relationships and introduce products by knocking on the doors of agencies (management companies) of fashion brands and models... This number does not include the cost of organizing shows with hundreds of guests, along with top models with a salary of more than 10,000 USD/person.
As for designer Do Manh Cuong, more than 1 million USD is the amount he had to spend when he first launched his collection at New York Fashion Week for the Spring-Summer 2024 season this September.
“We chose New York because of its large customer base. This place is a major fashion center, a dreamland for many brands. From here, the development opportunities for fashion brands are also greater. Collaborating with the leading fashion team in New York, plus travel expenses and many other steps, the show cost more than 1 million USD,” Do Manh Cuong revealed.
Meanwhile, designer Le Thanh Hoa chose a safe way, minimizing costs and time but still bringing significant efficiency, by focusing on promoting the brand on digital platforms and social networks.
“Along with that, participating in fashion weeks, exhibitions, or new collection launches also gives me the opportunity to meet and communicate directly with stylists, designers, celebrities and expand my collaborative relationships. Collaborating with film and music producers is also a way to approach foreign stars,” he shared.
As difficult as working with international stars
Although he has a strategic department to expand the brand, designer Le Thanh Hoa admits that introducing his designs to foreign stars does not always go as planned. He believes that promotion cannot be successful if quality is not emphasized.
“To conquer foreign customers, designers need to have a skillful way of handling materials, with unique features, precise and meticulous tailoring. Balancing factors such as body shape, skin color, height, physique and customer preferences to choose materials and designs suitable for each person and each age is also an important factor.
Moreover, sometimes international stars order from many designers at the same time, but in the end they and their team only decide to wear one design to appear on the red carpet," the designer revealed.
Even designer Cong Tri - one of the pioneers in bringing Vietnamese fashion to the big world - had to admit: "To have more than 200 stars choose my designs, I had to send them to and work with many stars, even 400-500 people. Because my designs are not always chosen, but have to compete in terms of style, technique, and precision."
The opportunity to work with world-famous stars is a great honor, but also full of challenges. International stars are very demanding and perfectionist, they and their team have the right to make difficult requests, requiring designers to be flexible in a short period of time.
“Right from the design stage, international stars also have their own requirements, different from Vietnamese stars. They can make requests for unique designs, high-quality materials and implementation in a short period of time, maybe half a month, a month… This requires designers to have skills and experience to be able to exchange and understand ideas and turn them into reality.
The next pressure is the geographical distance. The designs sent for the first fitting must be of the highest quality and fit,” said Le Thanh Hoa.
With two designs by Pham Bang Bang at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, designer Chung Thanh Phong also took a month and a half to complete the dress, from the sketch stage to the final stages.
“Both designs are of the highest quality, 3D-blocked, with corsets that accentuate the wearer’s figure. The designs are made of metallic materials, high-quality crystals, and each detail is hand-sewn. This difference also causes many difficulties when transferring abroad,” the designer shared.
According to Statista, revenue in the Vietnamese fashion market is expected to reach 2 billion USD in 2023, and is expected to reach 3 billion USD in 2027, an increase of 11.25%.
Previously, in 2022, after just passing through the Covid-19 pandemic, the fashion market earned 2.23 billion USD.
A report by AZ Market Research Company shows that the average spending of Vietnamese people on fashion is 13.9%, second only to spending on food (32.9%) and savings (14.9%).
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