Vietnam international fashion week celebrates 10th anniversary

The celebration will open with the AVIFW 2024, which will take place at Ho Chi Minh City’s Military Zone 7 Stadium from June 13-16.

Huynh Tu Anh, winner of The Face Vietnam 2023, in a dress by designer Vo Cong Khanh, who will open the AVIFW 2024 with his latest collection called “Kiet Tac Cua Nuoc” (Masterpiece of Water). (Photo courtesy of Multimedia JSC)

Le Thi Quynh Trang, VIFW President, said at a press conference earlier this week: "After travelling to New York Fashion Week in 2011 with Vietnamese models, I was overwhelmed and wished a fashion week for Vietnam. In 2014, I decided to launch a fashion week for Vietnam to bring Vietnamese fashion to the world and the world’s fashion to Vietnam.”

She added: "For the anniversary season, the AVIFW will have the theme of “Fashion Evolution” to mark a significant transition of Vietnamese fashion and open a new decade. It honours the strong development and accelerated progress of Vietnamese fashion in the past 10 years, contributing to elevating the industry’s status in the world’s fashion map. It’s time to rise and shine.”

Trang also announced that the VIFW and its partners were working on the establishment of the Vietnam Fashion Council, which would officially launch at the AVIFW Fall/Winter in Hanoi later this year.

The AVIFW 2024 will attract 16 international and Vietnamese designers and fashion brands.

Vietnamese designer Vo Cong Khanh will open the event with his latest collection called “Kiet Tac Cua Nuoc” (Masterpiece of Water).

The collection represents revival and recycling, utilising small and fragmented materials and leftover fabric pieces to form and recreate beautiful designs with 3D visual effects.

The work aims to minimise industry waste and send a message of joining hands to protect a clean source of life.

Khanh said: “Becoming the designer opening the AVIFW 2024 is an honour, especially for its 10-year milestone. This honour comes with significant pressure of carrying such a special responsibility.”

Khanh’s journey to fashion prominence began after winning top prize at the Vietnam Collection Grand Prix 2002, which gave him the chance to work with French fashion designer Stéphane Rolland in 2003.

He has since released several collections including “Truc Mai” (Bamboo and Ochna Flower), “Con Co” (Stork) and “Butterfly” at events like Vietnam Fashion Week, Elle Fashion Show and Festival Hue.

He is known for using “green materials” made of oyster shells, coffee grounds, lotus fibre and recycled plastic for his design, stressing the need for and desirability of sustainability in the fashion industry.

The show will also present new collections from designers Fredrick Lee from Singapore, Chung Chung Lee from South Korea, and Maria Giovanna Costa from Italy.

Vu Viet Ha from Hanoi will close the fashion week with a collection named “Co Ay La Ai” (Who She Is) featuring designs made of Vietnamese natural materials.

The Vietnam International Fashion Week is the leading fashion event in ASEAN, ranking fourth in Asia after the Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai fashion weeks./.