Vietnamese designer to launch collection in Tokyo

HCM City, March 7 (VNA) - Designer Nguyen Cong Tri will be the only Vietnamese representative to participate in the Asian Fashion Meets Tokyo show from March 14 to 19. Tri will showcase his latest haute couture creations made of Vietnamese traditional My A silk. Tri said he was inspired by images of Vietnamese women in ao ba ba (a typical casual wear of southern women) working in paddy fields. "The image of Vietnamese women working hard in paddy fields is always beautiful to me," Tri said. All designs in the collection, including trousers and dresses, are inspired by the ao ba ba. Tri has used My A silk for the haute couture collection. The traditional fabric from Tan Chau district in the southern province of An Giang, is dyed with a rare natural material from a local fruit called mac nua. It takes three months to dye 1,000m of silk with two tonnes of the mac nua fruit. In the past, upper-class people liked My A silk because it's shiny and long-wearing. Tri bought My A silk on order from weaving shops in An Giang to add a Vietnamese character to his creations. "I'm Vietnamese. Vietnamese culture is always an endless source of inspiration for my collection," he said. Tri's collection will be displayed on March 15 at Shibuya Hikarie Hall A. Tri said he did not organise any publicity in 2015, because he needed a break for creativity. "I always want people to be really surprised with my new collections," he said. His previous collection opened the Vietnam International Fashion Week 2014 and was a huge surprise for the audience. Tri spent most of his time in 2015 in Las Vegas to learn from similar shows. He was also a judge of the TV fashion show, entitled Project Runway, on Vietnam Television. Tri is a pioneer who brought international haute couture standards to Vietnamese concepts about made-to-measure fashion. He has offered state-of-the-art, Paris-like designs, tailor-made for domestic customers with top-quality and trendy fabrics produced with advanced techniques and stunning craftsmanship. The fashion week to be held in Tokyo is the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo. It will be hosted by the Japan Fashion Week organisation and is held twice a year in March and October. The latest creations of designers from Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam will be showcased at Shibuya Hikarie and Mercedes Benz Connection.-VNA