KVT – Impressive Fabrics are in Lucy’s Dream of Wearable Art

(Vietnamese version available – Đã có bản dịch tiếng Việt)

KVT investigates a YOUNG art initiative

When I saw this on the Grapevine…………..

……..I was in the middle of a rant about how our young artists are mostly being left out of the exhibition scene by the established galleries and art shops so I decided to go to the Lucy Dream shop in Hang Giay, in the pulse of the Old Quarter and see what Lucy was up to.

Lucy had a dream to become a fashion entrepreneur and the dream has gradually morphed from a day dream to a dream come true.

Lucy is Tram Mai Nong who went to the United Kingdom to study economics (taking on a more Anglo sounding name along the way) and when she returned to Hanoi with an understanding of market forces under her belt, she changed tack and decided to combine economics with the fashion industry. Rather than jump into the fray with a bit of money to tide her over and pretend she knew it all and then end up, like a lot of other wanna be fashion queens, in the gutter draped with unsaleable designs, scissors and fabric, she used her economic common sense and enrolled in short courses at the local London College for Fashion Studies and learnt other aspects of the trade from professionals and hands on practitioners

31 Hang Giay is a little space elegantly hung about with gorgeousness.

Two models mutely meet you as you enter.

Then its into seventh heaven as you are assisted by a friendly and attentive staff to view individual art pieces -a very few of which I highlight here- made from fabric printed with Western fairy tale themes, Dong Ho prints, ethnic Dan Toc scenarios, surreal canvasses and abstracted city scenes

It’s an art gallery with a difference

On a shelf are bolts of printed fabric…silk. crepe, linen, rayon, cotton blend selling at around $20 per meter which is cheap as chips for excellent art work. Most fabric designs seen in my images or on the better ones on Lucy’s excellenty colorful websites http://www.lucysdream.info/, http://www.lucysdream.net/ are available by the meter with my favorites including

Lucy has a workshop on the second floor at 20 Trang Tien and there her partners and staff, mainly graduates from the Hanoi Industrial Art University (which has been the tertiary training ground for a host of Hanoi’s best and foremost artists), design print and tailor the creations that are the brain child of Lucy and her early thirtyish helpmate, Dai

And the results are very often imbued with a big WOW factor

Check out this link to get a real eyeful of what Lucy’s Dream can conjure up

And if you contact Lucy on 097 639 8868 she’ll be able to tell you about dress making courses for young people and even about printing your own fabric design

I’ll conclude by admitting that I might not know a lot about fashion but I do know a really nice art initiative when I see one.