Major come up
. . .for this year’s Viet Fashion Week! Runway Entertainment took advantage of The Gardens Casino $90m facelift and transformed their special events space this past April into a legit catwalk with full lighting, sound and audio production. My fave bonus? The runway-side cocktail service from the casino’s bar staff. Tito’s soda with two limes please 🙋🏻. No, Tito’s Handmade Vodka did not pay me to say that. They’re just my FAVE vodka, which I’ve been loyally drinking since 2010! Ok, tangent done. Back to VFW 2017.
Compared to last year, my attendance this year was very low key. Just this little ‘ol matron with no photographer, no post show pics, no after party and no casino lobby. I came, I saw and I quietly slipped out in true fashion show press attendee form.
But what I saw … DID NOT DISAPPOINT!
Leyna Nguyen, Emmy-Award winning journalist, KCAL9 news anchor and Vietnamese community darling, returned this year to host from last year’s hiatus. All her wardrobe was provided by avant garde ao dai (pronounced ow zye) genius, Calvin Hiep.
Photo of Leyna Nguyen courtesy of HC Photography for Viet Fashion Week
Viet Fashion Week 2017 Designers
Returning from last year’s roster of talent were:
New to this year’s runway were:
Of all these designers, Trang Bui & Calvin Hiep were the only two designers sending Vietnamese traditional dresses, the Ao Dai, down the u-shaped runway. Jacky Tai & Xuan Bui showed couture designs. Yvon Lux returned with a ready-to-wear line. A lot less bridal this year, *sad face* for Matron of Style, but mad props to Runway Entertainment! They did a fantastic job rounding out the spectrum of technical talent showcased this year. If all the designers and collections was of one type, it would have really missed the mark on how specialized, innovative, diverse and commercially appealing Vietnamese-American designers are. So let the collections speak for themselves shall we?
TB Designs by Trang Bui
Photo by Benson Minh Tran for Viet Fashion Week
Viet Fashion Week profiles Trang Bui as an ao dai designer indicating her debut collection consists of mainly wedding ao dai’s and ready-to-wear ao dai’s under her brand, TB Designs. She was born in Vung Tau, Vietnam and began assisting her father in the tailor shop at age nine. At age seventeen, she began attending design school in Saigon, but quickly realized she knew everything she was being taught. After years of owning and operating hospitality businesses, Trang parted ways with all of it and arrived to the US at age 33. It was at this age that Trang was finally able to live her passion for fashion and design.
All TB Designs photos courtesy of Benson Minh Tran for Viet Fashion Week
HYP Fashion’s Illusion by Calvin Hiep
Photo courtesy of Benson Minh Tran for Viet Fashion Week
Ugh! I die, darling! There’s a reason why Calvin Hiep’s designs was the finale collection! Absolutely genius! From last year’s Dripping Gold collection to this year’s Illusion, Hiep continues to lay down his twenty-year authority on avant garde ao dai design and ao dai style. The art and creative direction of the collection is also credited to Kevin Trung Dung. Together, they presented a catwalk-stoppin show with Hiep adding mens looks of stylized ao gam’s (pronounced ow g-am). Design wise, an ao gam is essentially a mens ao dai, but properly identified as the counterpart to the traditional Vietnamese ao dai.
All HYP Fashion photos courtesy of Benson Minh Tran for Viet Fashion Week
STAR TALENT
From couture to ready-to-wear, here are highlights and fave looks from Jacky Tai, Xuan Couture & Yvon Lux:
Jacky Tai’s Evolution
Photos courtesy of Benson Minh Tran for Viet Fashion Week
Designer Jacky Tai and model
Xuan Couture’s Maleficent
Photos courtesy of Benson Minh Tran for Viet Fashion Week
Designer Xuan Bui with friend & celeb Princess Love Norwood
Yvon Lux’s BossBabe
Photos courtesy of Benson Minh Tran for Viet Fashion Week
Designer Yvon Nguyen
To see each designer’s collection in full, hit up Viet Fashion Week’s Facebook.
AND THAT’S A WRAP
Vôôôôôô (Vietnamese for ‘cheers’) …to another successful year of Viet Fashion Week! As attendance continues to grow, talent continues to evolve and venues get bigger and bigger, Matron of Style is honored to be a part of this highly anticipated annual event. See you next year!
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Production: Runway Entertainment
Venue: The Gardens Casino
Photography: HC Photography and Benson Minh Tran
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