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Renowned designer Ngo Thai Uyen was excited when she was asked to judge a fashion design competition for young graduate students, hoping to identify new designers who would one day help draw the fashion spotlight towards Vietnam.
However, when presented with a prolific number of designs from one graduate, Uyen asked the designer which articles could be put into production. The reply that it was “too difficult to make any of the designs a saleable item” disappointed Uyen.
“It is sad,” said Uyen. “I do not want to accept it, but it is a fact that our students have been educated how to draw a dress on paper, to set up a staged model, but they do not know how to commercialise it.”
“We have to say that the gap between designing education and the fashion industry is too large for our students to leap at the moment,” she added.
In a forum held recently by the British Council in Vietnam, Nguyen Ngoc Dung, Head of the Design and Applied Art Department from the Open University, said that at the end of every training course, about 200 new articles were designed but none of these have ever been turned into a commercial product.
“We need the support from the owners of enterprises, Dung said. “We can only provide training, but cannot commercialise them,” he said.
Le Quoc An, Chairman of Vietnam Textile and Garment Federation said that although a larger number of Vietnamese students had received good training in the discipline of design, they had no opportunities to practice actual production.
“Our teachers mostly focus on technical skills but are not very interested in bringing [designs] to the market,” An said.
“Many teachers and students mainly focus on how to make a unique costume to display in fashion shows,” he added.
According to Graham Sutcliffe, Senior Arts Manager of the British Council based in Vietnam, the country has a team of young but talented designers, however, they have not yet been utilised by enterprises.
Things that needle the manufacturers
One of the main reasons for the big gap between “haute couture” and usable products, according to designer Thai Uyen, is that most Vietnamese enterprises are not interested in new designs.
Uyen feels frustrated following many years of knocking on fashion enterprises’ doors to try to interest them in mass producing local designs. She said the majority of firms act as sub-contractors for foreign brand names, making clothes destined for international markets at a very cheap price.
One firm’s director told Uyen, when he rejected her fashion proposal, that his company was very lucky to receive big international contracts, even at a low price, saying that international contracts guarantees employment for workers who rely on the factory to take money home to their families.
Chairman An said that although the number of designers has increased in the last few years, many are still trying to break into the fashion industry.
An said enterprises must change their mind and cooperate closely with the designers. “Enterprises must understand that their trademark will depend on the name of every individual designer,” he said.
Although the designers have not been highly appreciated by many enterprises some of the designers have been able to export products abroad thanks to some forward-thinking firms, he added.
Sewing upyoung designers
Nguyen Quang Huy is one of the first designers to work for State-owned fashion company Legamex after graduating from university.
“When I was a student at the Fine Art University I thought that I would develop my own well decorated fashion shop in Hanoi, but the result is not the same as my prediction,” Huy said.
Huy, like other young designers including Anh Vu, Huyen My and Vu Viet Ha kick-started their careers working in state-owned company.
“We now understand that we need more time to train in real life and we need to work in a professional environment,” Huy said.
During their time with a commmercialised company designers are given the opportunity to create a trademark for themselves first, then start a private business later.
For most young designers, the desire to have an established private trademark is the the driving force behind their ambition. Some are even realising that dream as more Vietnamese customers are becoming familiar with famous names such as Minh Hanh, Vu Thu Giang, Anh Vu or Chau Giang.
Some of these names have even made their mark on the foreign arena, with many designers receiving international and domestic awards in fashion competitions.
Huy said that instead of building a private business, he devoted his time and energy to his employer, Legamex, because he saw the potential in hastening his development by using the modern equipment and material that was available in a commercialised company.
Truong Anh Vu, another designer who has been working for state-owned Phuong Dong Garment company for more than two years.
“Working for a professional company is very important for designers like me, in order to collect enough experiences to start a private business,” Vu said.
According to Vu Duc Thinh, general director of Vietnam Textile Corporation (Vinatex), less than 50 per cent of the corporations 60 companies recruit young designers. “This percentage is still low and I hope that more and more companies recruit young designers,” Thinh said.
Government tailoring policy
Bui Xuan Khu, vice minister of Industry said that since 1998 the government has set up a master plan to develop the domestic fashion sector to 2010.
Vietnam currently has more than 2,000 garment and textile enterprises and 10 training centres. Every year about 250 new designers graduate from universities ready to add their mark to Vietnam’s fashion industry.
Diep Thanh Kiet, chairman of the International Garment & Textile Training Centre said that fashion designers themselves must be more active.
“Business is an ocean, designers must jump in and draw on experiences and apply it in the real life,” Kiet said.
The vice minister of Industry suggested setting up a fashion club, in which designers, enterprise owners, material suppliers and policy makers can meet together, to implement ways to push the fashion industry in Vietnam to its full potential.
(Source: VIR)
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Designer Ngo Thai Uyen, who is also director of the Ngo Thai Uyen Design Joint Stock Company, said fashion students in Vietnam do not have the chance to practise and apply their knowledge in practical work.
“It has been shown that a lot of young designers don’t know how to realise their designs even though their drawing skills and ideas are of a high standard,” she said.
Dr Martin Shoben, from the London Centre for Fashion Studies, said he agreed with Uyen’s view, adding that the London Centre’s aim was to nurture more international-standard designers in Vietnam. The centre’s Hanoi branch opened in 2004 and attracted hundred of students.
Director of the Vocational Science Research Centre, Prof Do Minh Cuong, said a suitable training programme, which combines both basic background and other practical skills, should be offered at training centres as well as fashion colleges.”
Students who graduate from these centres and colleges will be the seeds of the industry’s future,” he said.
“In addition, it’s necessary to set up a close link between fashion manufacturers and training institutions”.
The Garment and Textile Association’s An said training programmes must focus more on the fashion industry’s demands, practical business knowledge and marketing strategies.
He said that to decrease the gap between theory and practical application, post-grad designers should undertake work experience at industrial garment and textile factories, to help develop their own trademarks.
It’s a move that IGTC’s Kiet said should also factor in the need to educate the nation’s fashion policy makers and managers.
The round-table meeting was attended by designers, fashion design teachers, educators and representatives of fashion enterprises from the UK and Vietnam.
The British Council has been involved in Vietnamese fashion since 2002 and has organised a wide range of programmes including the UK-Vietnam Fashion Show, design training workshops and Street Symphony fashion shows in Hanoi and HCM City.
(Source: Viet Nam News)
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| Vietnamese ’creative entrepreneurs’ tour the U.K. |
| 15:16′ 03/04/2008 (GMT+7) |
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| Designer Ngo Thai Uyen works at her company NTU Design Inc. in HCMC. |
With stops in Glasgow, Bristol and London, the Creative Entrepreneur trip is a component of the three-year-long Creative City project, which is a cultural and artistic partnership between East Asia and the U.K. to develop cities where global citizens thrive.
The purpose of the trip was for local creative entrepreneurs to network and share ideas with their East Asian and U.K. counterparts and to observe how the British economy has benefited from the Creative Cities project.
The Creative Entrepreneur project aims to support the development of young entrepreneurs in creative industries who are integral to building successful economies.
Uyen, CEO and creative director of NTU Design Inc., said that after the trip she felt more confident as an artist conducting business and understands better how art contributes to the economy. She had the opportunity to learn from U.K. specialists about practical business know-how, which encouraged her to define her products based on real social needs.
The next step for the creative entrepreneurs is to establish a network of like-minded people in the region and in Vietnam. Once the network is established, a series of international seminars, workshops and partnerships between countries in the region and the U.K. will be organized.
Locally, a Vietnamese Creative Entrepreneur Club will be established for the purpose of networking, finding inspiration and keeping up to date with the industry.
The audio-visual project Re-Imagining the City, another component of the Creative City project, took place in Vietnam in January. The project explored how artists influence and are influenced by the cities in which they live and aimed to give artists a voice in how cities are planned and experienced.
(Source: SGT)
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| Talented Young Designers of Vietnamese Fashion |
Vietnamese fashion may be not compared with other countries. Now, the living standards are improving and people begin to care about what they wear. It is really a good sign for Vietnamese fashion industry and it also opens opportunities for Vietnamese designers. Designer Ngo Thai Uyen: “I think that fashion is not a career, it is an industry”.
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| Designer Ngo Thai Uyen |
Ngo Thai Uyen is a young Vietnamese designer, graduated from of Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts. Uyen had won a prize on color selection at Singapore Fashion Connection 1997 when she was still a student.
She also owned a store on Dong Khoi Street, which she closed when she won a scholarship and took up her study at the Massachusetts College of Art. She chose the courses on cotton fibre and the language of vision to study.
“I think that the study is always necessary. In addition, these subjects are very interesting” said Uyen. ” Not only they can be applied in fashion design, but also useful in other arts. They arouse my creativity. When designing a dress, we have to understand its material and know how to create our own material. This is an important area that Vietnamese designers have yet to grasp” she tried to explain.
Ngo Thai Uyen is a woman of strong personality, but full of new ideas, and most of her designs are very elegant and passionate, a close reflection of herself.
She was inspired by Vietnamese traditional materials that are eye catching for foreigners, so you can easily recognize her style among those of other designers. Her color schemes are also very specific.
Uyen is both a designer and an artist, she has carried out many domestic and foreign exhibitions. Besides, she used to be an assistant designer in the film “The quiet American”, produced by director Philip Noyce in 1998.
Now, she is a long-term supplier for one of top fashion groups in the U.S. She entered the fashion world confidently by thousands of “made in Viet Nam” products.
She is the founder NTU Company, whose goal, among other things, is to take her brand name into the global market. What she has done is what many other Vietnamese women dream of.
Designer Kieu Viet Lien: “I am not good at business, and I am an emotional woman, so I think that this job suits me”
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| Designer Kieu Viet Lien and her husband, lawyer and film actor Thieu Anh Duong |
After three years of study in Australia, she went to Canada for two years, then spent one year in Paris where she graduated as one of three excellent students.
Although she studied fashion in western countries, her style was far from westernized, in fact, it is still influenced by Vietnamese culture. “I am not an old-fashioned woman, but not too modern to accept a new culture” She says.
Returning to Viet Nam, she made a point of staying away from any fashion newspapers or magazines for a long time, for fear that she would be influenced by other foreign designers’ patterns.
She always learns how to mix many colors harmoniously and seeks new materials. Her designs are usually based on the seasons.
Her dresses are usually designed in ivory, white or pale colors, and with eye catching curves, emphasizing the femininity of her style. Most of them are very simple and luxurious.
Her most favorite design is wedding dresses, which she is eagerly displaying to the public in her own bridal shop in Ho Chi Minh City. This is a place where many women can choose a suitable outfit for their most important day of their life
” the problem is not clients’ demands, but agreement between two sides” she said. She wants to make a dress which satisfies customers’ demand while showing her characteristics.
Designer Nguyen Quoc Binh : “Fashion is beauty. It helps people feeling more beautiful and confident in their life and work”.
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| Designer Nguyen Quoc Binh (Left) |
Nguyen Quoc Binh, 25, owns a boutique on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street with his own trade mark, “qb mode”.
He was the winner of Viet Nam Collection Grand Prix 2000. He also won the prize for Special Producer at the Asia Collection Makuhari in Japan.
Binh took part in many domestic and foreign fashion shows. His outfits mostly are suitable for evening parties.
He is better known as the Vietnamese traditional embroidery, most of which are meticulously hand embroidered , using Vietnamese silk as his favorite material.
Besides, the color schemes are his strong point. People always marvel at the ways he mixes the colors. Binh used to tell AFP that he finds joys in mixing colours.
Ao dai, Vietnamese traditional dress, is also his favorite choice. It shows clearly the beauty of Vietnamese women’s figure.” That is why I am interested in it and want make it more beautiful, more pleasant to wear and easy to move”, Binh said.
Binh comes from Ho Chi Minh City, in a family where nobody cares about fashion, but he got plenty of help from his relatives to develop his career.
Binh always works hard, thinking that it is the way he wants to thank people who supported him, and he expects to make his brand a household’s name, well-known both at home and abroad. |
Reported by Kim Khanh
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Ngô Thái Uyên với “Giấc mơ tình yêu”
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| Thứ hai, 15 Tháng mười hai 2003, 09:59 GMT+7 |
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Tags: Ngô Thái Uyên, ĐH Mỹ, thiết kế thời trang, nhà thiết kế, nhân vật chính, gian triển lãm, câu thần chú, giấc mơ, tình yêu, cảm giác, trình diễn, cánh hoa, khán phòng, năm, làm
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| Ngô Thái Uyên |
Không gian triển lãm tràn ngập những cánh hoa hồng và giấy vụn cùng với hồ nước ở giữa khán phòng dùng để làm nơi gột rửa tâm hồn của cảm giác. Mà nhân vật chính là Họa sĩ – Nhà thiết kế thời trang trẻ Ngô Thái Uyên – tác giả của “kịch bản” “Giấc mơ tình yêu”, đi quanh khán phòng, mắt nhắm, miệng lẩm bẩm những “câu thần chú”, tay tung những cánh hoa hồng và giấy vụn…
Triển lãm nghệ thuật trình diễn mang tên “Giấc mơ tình yêu” của Họa sĩ – Nhà thiết kế thời trang trẻ Ngô Thái Uyên diễn ra tối qua (13/12) tại Mai’s Gallery (16 Nguyễn Huệ, Q.1, TP.HCM) đã mang lại cho người xem những cảm giác mới, lạ… rất khó tả. Không gian phòng tranh với cách trang trí bởi sáu bức tranh không đóng khung mà dán dính lên tường và được bao bọc bằng những cánh hồng tươi, giữa hồ nước là chiếc ghế, một chiếc ghế của tĩnh lặng hay của quyền lực? Một nhân vật là họa sĩ, ngồi lên ghế tay ngắt từng bông hoa miệng lẩm bẩm “hạnh phúc”, “đau khổ” và cuối cùng là “hạnh phúc”, rồi hốt nhiên rơi xuống nước, nằm trong trạng thái bất định, chốc chốc lại lẩm bẩm: “Tôi cảm thấy lạnh, sau lưng – phía trước”, rồi ngây ngô, rồi lãng đãng… Tất cả những hành động cùng sự thinh lặng của cảnh vật như muốn đánh lừa cảm giác của người xem để đi đến việc ghi lên bảng một dòng chữ “Cảm giác, có bao giờ bạn có hai cảm giác cùng một lúc?”.
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| Không gian phòng triển lãm. |
Không biết, đây có phải là giấc mơ của tình yêu hay không? Bởi bản chất của tác phẩm khi trình diễn có cái gì đó lãng đãng, mơ hồ, mang cái vòng luẩn quẩn của những tâm hồn chưa “siêu thoát”. Kết thúc trình diễn, sau một hồi nín lặng, người xem có cảm giác “trống rỗng”; bởi hình như tâm lý chung là muốn “tác phẩm kết thúc một cách có hậu” và đó có lẽ là “ý đồ” của người thực hiện?!
Từng là người thành công ở lĩnh vực thiết kế thời trang, nhưng có lẽ bản chất người nghệ sĩ là thích đi vào những con đường chông gai của nghệ thuật, và cũng thật sự đáng mừng là cuộc đời vẫn còn những người “dũng cảm” với nghệ thuật. Nói về triển lãm lần này, Ngô Thái Uyên cho biết: “Đây là lần thứ hai sau 5 năm tôi bắt đầu thật sự vẽ trở lại. Tôi muốn một lần nữa thử sức ở con đường gian truân và khó khăn nhất trong nghệ thuật. Ngày xưa, tôi từng tự an ủi bản thân là sẽ trở lại với hội họa khi nào mình cảm thấy tinh thần không bị chi phối quá nhiều với cuộc sống xung quanh. Sau 5 năm làm việc và suy nghĩ, tôi nhận thấy cách tốt nhất là xông thẳng vào cái khó khăn ấy hơn là cứ đứng bên ngoài và tự biện hộ cho mình bằng quá nhiều lý do… Tôi chọn “Giấc mơ tình yêu” làm chủ đề cho triển lãm.
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| Ngô Thái Uyên đang trình diễn. |
Cách đây 5 năm, tôi đã có một “giấc mơ” làm chung với người bạn thân Ly Hoàng Ly. Lần này, tôi làm một mình với một “giấc mơ tình yêu” rất màu mè và sặc sỡ. Trong quá khứ, tôi đã cười nhạo những gì sặc sỡ, nhưng ngay thời điểm này, khi mà bên cạnh tôi chẳng có một tình yêu nào cả thì tôi tự cho phép mình mơ về nó với tất cả tận cùng của cảm xúc… Những gì diễn ra trong tôi đều là thật và bạn sẽ đọc thấy những dòng nhật ký tác phẩm bên dưới những bức tranh trong phòng triển lãm. Tôi chỉ muốn nói với bạn: Có một tình yêu như thế!”. Một giấc mơ của ý niệm được diễn tả bằng hành động thực tại. Một khoảnh khắc được giữ lại trong sự phân vân của người xem. Có một cái gì đó mà người nghệ sĩ không bao giờ diễn tả bằng lời…
Triển lãm kéo dài đến 8/1/2004 tại Mai’s Gallery (16 Nguyễn Huệ, Q.1).
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Vài nét về Ngô Thái Uyên:
Học vấn: Tốt nghiệp ĐH Mỹ thuật TP.HCM năm 1998; Năm 2002, học trường ĐH Mỹ thuật Massachusetts.
Phần thưởng: Năm 1997 được phần thưởng màu sắc đặc biệt trong “Fashion Connection Singapore”; Năm 1998, chung kết của cuộc thi Makhuhari bộ sưu tập Châu Á tại Nhật; Năm 2002 được học bổng của trường ĐH Mỹ thuật Massachusetts, Mỹ…
Những triển lãm đã thực hiện:
Năm 1998, triển lãm tranh “Những giấc mơ” tại IDECAF và những cuộc trình diễn thời trang vàng ở Sài Gòn – Hà Nội; Năm 2000, cuộc trình diễn thời trang “Đất Thăng Long” kỷ niệm 990 năm của Hà Nội; Năm 2002, Triển lãm “Kỷ niệm” tại phòng tranh Brand – Mass Art, trình diễn trong nhóm 2 Cuộc trình diễn Mỹ thuật Châu Á NIPAF lần 7 tại Nhật…Ngoài ra, Thái Uyên cón là trợ lý thiết kế trang phục cho phim “Người Mỹ trầm lặng” của Phillip Noyse và thiết kế trang phục cho phim “Ngày giỗ” của Hàm Trần…
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Thi-Le Vo
) — At Ben Thanh market in Saigon (even locals don’t call it Ho Chi Minh City), saleswomen perch atop piles of fabrics that they sell inexpensively by the meter. Customers are encouraged to take their purchases to nearby tailors, who charge as little as $6 for a pair of pants. As with everything in life, you get what you pay for: hems fall and zippers break. If you want to have clothing custom made in Saigon, these six shops are a better bet.
Ngô Thái Uyên sinh ngày 28.2.1975 tại Bảo Lộc, Lâm Đồng. Là nghệ sĩ trình diễn chương trình Kết hợp ngẫu hứng tại Hội An 2003, là nghệ sĩ khách mời trong Mekong Project, là nghệ sĩ khách mời trong Pushing though Border – chương trình nghệ thuật kết hợp được tài trợ bởi Dance Theatre workshop NewYork, khách mời trong phim tài liệu UK Creativity, phim hợp tác giữa Hội đồng Anh và VTV, là khách mời trong phim tài liệu Thế hệ @, Hãng phim tài liệu Việt Nam. Triển lãm cá nhân và sắp đặt Dream of Loves tại TP.HCM.
