Arts Thread

“The (F)ySitAL” is a digital fashion collection that uses 3D technology and zero-waste methods to create digital fashion products for online shoppers in Ho Chi Minh City, who wear digital clothes in videogames, AR filter, and ultimately, a physical twin of the design. The collection is inspired by the Independence Palace, a historical and architectural landmark of the city. The primary material is canvas, which is eco-friendly and affordable. The canvas is printed with patterns that are based on the palace’s layout and facade. The colors are ivory white, bean green, black, sky blue, and mustard yellow, representing the city’s nature and culture. The primary technique is creative pattern design and cutting on CLO3D software, which simulates and visualizes the products in 3D. The patterns are cut and sewn in a double-layer technique, creating a three-dimensional effect. The collection has 12 products: pants, sundresses, jumpsuits, and jackets. The jackets are the essential products, as they have the most complex patterns and shapes. The products are suitable for streetwear and events. They can be matched with sporty and street-style accessories. The style of the collection is futuristic and nostalgic. It combines modernity and sustainability with local culture and history. It reflects my style and vision as a fashion designer who values creativity, resourcefulness, relevance, and originality. It also meets the trends and needs of the fashion industry and consumers who want innovative and interactive digital fashion solutions.

INCLUSIVE PINK: A Gender-Inclusive Digital Capsule Collection Inspired by Red Dragon Fruit Spring/Summer 2022 is a time for recovery and human development. We can create a world with fewer inequalities, where everyone is safe, happy, and free to express themselves. My collection conveys this message by using pink, my favorite color, as a symbol of breaking the norm of gendered colors. Pink is also inspired by red dragon fruit, a cactus species that is widely grown in Vietnam and supports farmers and SMEs during the pandemic. My collection uses the fruit’s flesh and skin to dye the fabric, as an eco-friendly and creative solution. My collection is influenced by the United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goal No.10: Reduce Inequalities. As a Vietnamese fashion designer, I want to use my work to address the social issues in my country, such as class, race, and gender discrimination. My collection is gender-inclusive, meaning that the male and female outfits can be easily interchanged. The women’s knitwear looks sporty, while the men’s knitwear looks layered. I also included Rapper Tlinh, a young artist who is redefining feminism in Vietnam through rap and hip-hop, in my moodboard.

"Urban Zen" is my graduate collection for Spring/Summer 2013 at the University of Architecture of Ho Chi Minh City. Based on the idea of Flexibility in Feng Shui Philosophy could liberate people from social restriction and stereotype, and offer a new freedom in lifestyle, from living to clothing. Target customers are women who practice Zen lifestyle, mindfulness, and meditation, aged 30 to 45. Using both natural and synthetic materials like silk, organza, shan-tung to knit, rayon, and Visco, with calm and muted color schemes is a challenge to maintain the balance of different feelings of textures, all the accessories and shoes are hand-made. Garment construction is minimal, free in size, as comfortable and straightforward as the cloth wrapped around the body, inspired by the Asia monk clothes. Styling gets reference from Kwan Yin’s image - the female Buddha of Asian countries. As an attempt to preserve local heritage in the age of globalization, I created my collection to embrace my love and concern for Vietnam's culture and people. The project explored the possibility of multi-functional clothing, through draping, wrapping techniques, and creative placements of twisted, holes, bows, and ties that are applied on daily garments. This is also my first step in researching zero-waste cutting techniques, with the last look in the collection, a 4-meter long train that has the shape of half a circle, turning into an elegant and contemporary dress, giving space for a statement necklace made of natural stones.

"WELCOME ON BOARD" - SPRING/SUMMER 2011 is an Activewear Collection aimed at young female teenagers from 13-19 years old in beach cities in Viet Nam that belong to fandom subculture and start skateboarding in their free time, at the beginning level. Inspired by Neytiri - the heroine in James Cameron's "AVATAR" movie (2009), the designs are influenced by tribal patterns and animal motifs printed on the shape of urban activewear. According to research, 85% of skateboard players are male. There has been a growing number of female participants in the past years in this leisure activity. Skateboard parks are developing in the city and are soon to be hot gathering spots for young people at their most active years in their lifetime.

As a young Vietnamese designer, I always desired to develop my career by embracing Vietnamese heritage and history through costume and fashion - the strongest expression and first impression of any human being. Ao-dai is a traditional dress of Vietnam that was originally applied to the outfit worn at the court of the Nguyen Dynasty at Hue in the 18th century. This outfit evolved into the áo ngũ thân, a five-paneled aristocratic gown worn in the 19th and early 20th centuries. With the evolution of fashion, Ao-dai today has two panels, made of various types of fabric and it is for everybody who wants to embrace the Vietnam heritage on special occasions and also as daily wear. For this project, I would like to practice gender-switching by placing the white ao-dai on menswear, as a new concept. Starting with the deconstruction of the original patterns of the dress and its pants, into a zero-waste pattern. Later on, the deconstruction of the material is futuristic PU leather with the same method of cutting a decoration garland for weddings in Vietnam. It gives the flat piece of material a new dimension, and structure and endless possibilities of placements on the outfit design. Impressed by two photographs of modern Vietnamese women at the art exhibition “La sourire de la mutation” (The Smile of Mutation) featuring French, Belgian, and Vietnamese artists in January 2018, I created a large-scale computer-based painting that combined those most popular patterns are used for UV-protective mask and headwear for women in Viet Nam: polka dot, tiny floral with red, blue and violet. Women cover their identities to commute for work, study, and family businesses during the daytime. It is a metaphor for the hard pressure of society on every woman, which demands them to take multiple roles without support, protection, and recognition. In order to match that expectation, the women have to put themselves aside, gear up, and become anonymous in their lives. It is a kind of mutation. Moreover, garland cutting patterns are executed by a laser cutter, and using it as the top layer is a liberal act of expression.