KVT – All Gussied up at Poolside

KVT gets a peek at FALL/WINTER Fashion Week in Hanoi

The last place I expected to be on a sultry Saturday night in late April was poolside at the Daewoo Hotel watching lithesome models strut their stuff up and down the runway that was hovering over the water.

But how did I come to be there you may ask! Well it all goes back to a chance meeting with a dress specially designed for a solo violinist and worn at Nha Hat Lon last year.

Afterwards I congratulated Diego and Laura from the fashion house of Chula and told them that I’d like to write about any other design stuff they may have on a cultural theme…so here I was in a ringside…or poolside…seat  investigating that singular type of theater called a fashion parade….and intriguing theater it was with music swelling, fireworks flashing and flaring, smoke spuming, and sparks from gigantic sparklers and catherine wheels and roman candles sprinkling all over the well dressed audience .

It was an Hanoi Fashion Week parade and five local fashion houses were putting their Fall-Winter collections on view and here are two You Tube clips that show a bit of the atmosphere that almost, but not quite, was cut short by one of April’s heavy rainstorms:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sOAUF8w8YE[/youtube]

I particularly liked the works (I tended to approach the whole thing like an art exhibition) by the doyen of the Hanoi fashion industry, Minh Hanh. All soft denims that often featured large, strikingly beautiful embroidered features that looked for all the world as if they’d been done by the Thai ethnic people near Tan Uyen.

The term that kept springing to my mind as the exhibits flowed past was Greek goddess, Artemis the Huntress

The Redwood fashion house gave a hint of what may replace the ubiquitous Fair Isle prints and knits that seemed to be on everyones’ arms, legs and wrapped around their necks last winter. There were lots of deep greys, deep reds and deep greens and blacks highlighted by plaids that made me think fondly of heather, the Mull of Kintyre and smokey malt whiskey.

But it was the music themed attire designed by Chula that I’d especially come to see.

The black and white creations in typical Chula style with highlights appliqued or painted on were dramatically stunning and traced a short history of music from Verdi through to modern pop with a bit of very good flamenco thrown in; all accompanied by a themed soundtrack.

Did I say all black and white? One delicious dress (for which I have no image) was B and W but featured Mick Jagger’s full and pouting lips in bright red.

Here’s a selection from the collection with a bottle of excellent fizz for anyone who can correctly name the musical styles or eras

All images by Fashion.bg and Chula.