“When my shop opened, I saw tourists from different countries. There is cultural interference with traditional costumes of other countries. It’s like a fashion catwalk including South Korean hanbok, Japanese kimono, Indian kurta, Chinese cheongsam and Vietnamese ‘ao dai’ (Viet Nam's traditional long gown). This gives me creative inspiration to bring into applications in life”, Ms. Phan Ngoc Xuan Thao, the founder of the fashion brand Miuk Style at 96 Tran Phu, Da Nang, proudly shared about her fate in the fashion design profession.

People with disabilities wear clothes designed by Miuk Style in the recycled fashion show named ‘O Collection’ performed in Hoi An, Quang Nam.

Nurturing passion from the ancient features of the old town

Born and raised in the ancient Duc An house at 129 Tran Phu, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province, that is more than 200 years old with 8 generations, Ms. Xuan Thao inherited the ancient cultural values of the Hoi An people. “Every day I wake up, I see paintings, tables, chairs, teapots present in the house with its ancient features preserved from generation to generation. This culture is deeply ingrained in my mind and motivates me to want to do something special to preserve the cultural values associated with my childhood.”, Ms. Xuan Thao confided.

However, having a hobby is one thing, but whether or not you can pursue and live with it is another thing, especially when she graduated with a master's degree in commerce from Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics. To get into the profession of designing ‘ao dai’, she had to study with a monk. The first thing was to learn how to sew and draw.

Ms. Xuan Thao recalls: “In 2013, I opened a clothing store. Unexpectedly, it attracted lots of customers. From there, I thought about creating my own brand so I could make a series of products according to my ideas to better serve customers. With my love for the old town, I am interested in ancient costumes, especially the retro style of the 50s and 70s. Famous tailors in Hoi An like Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Lien and Ms. Truong Thi Sy helped me lay the foundations in cutting and sewing ‘ao dai’ according to my own design ideas. From then on, sisters Lien and Sy became my friends and effective collaborators after developing the Miuk Style brand.”

In the face of fierce competition in the current market, to create your own path, you need to find a different style. Ms. Xuan Thao thought about innovating ‘ao dai’ to keep up with the trend. Her innovative ‘ao dai’ outfits have begun to attract young people thanks to their dynamism but still retaining the charm of traditional ‘ao dai’.

At the same time, she continues to research variations of some traditional costumes of other countries such as hanbok, kimono and kurta. However, she always researches carefully to see if anyone has ever done it, and on what occasion to wear that outfit. Why is innovation still based on the cultural foundation of traditional costumes? For example, when researching the ‘ao dai’ worn with skirts of the Cham people, she transformed the Vietnamese ‘ao dai’ worn with skirts as a cultural interference. When the hand embroidery trend emerged, she studied and inspired her colleagues to learn modern and embroidery. Thanks to that, up to now, her young colleagues can create hand-embroidered products on costumes that are popular with domestic and foreign customers.

Aim for community-targeted projects

When the Miuk Style brand became known to everyone, she was invited by the Hoi An City People's Committee to participate in the performance event of the recycled fashion collection ‘O Collection’ within the framework of activities responding to the  Earth Hour campaign in Hoi An in April, 2023.

What’s special is that the models performing are people with disabilities from the Happiness Store and the Centre for Research and Community Integration Support (CORMIS) with designs of traditional ‘ao dai’ made from excess fabric. With high applicability and aesthetics, Miuk Style’s unique outfits convey the message of empowering communities of disadvantaged groups to participate in environmental protection, spreading humanitarian messages and meaningful, creating a positive impact in the community.

Sharing about this meaningful work, Ms. Xuan Thao said: “The inspiration of the O Collection is taken from Kintsugi, the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with lacquer and gold and at the same time enhancing the cracks.

The collection is a source of inspiration, a message, a story of connection and sharing between people and people, between people and society - a cycle of community, a cycle that will not determine the starting point nor the ending point, just like that everything comes and blends together. People with disabilities have confidently put on their clothes and shine, thereby overcoming their inferiority complex and confidently walking on their path."

After the end of the performance, Miuk Style continued to coordinate with people with disabilities from CORMIS to sew accessories such as baby hats, makeup bags, wallets, backpacks and handheld fans.

Ms. Mai Thi Dung, the Director of CORMIS commented: “The O Collection has brought a new mindset to people with disabilities when they can step on the catwalk as fashion models. From then on, they feel more in love with life and live more optimistically. In addition, Miuk Style also participates in recycling activities and places orders for this group of fashion performers, thereby supporting people with disabilities to bring products to market to create jobs. In particular, in the early stages, Miuk also supports colour matching, helping people with disabilities hone their skills in coordinating clothes".

As the Miuk Style brand grew, Miuk's outfits became associated with art projects. In 2018, Miuk was contacted by singer Jun Pham to use the outfit for his MV. Especially this year, two film crews ‘Lien and Dat’ and ‘Light up’ also came to Miuk to rent costumes. Among them, ‘Lien and Dat’’s crew with famous actors such as Do Khanh Van, Cody Nam Vo, Hoang Meo, Vo Dang Khoa, Be 7, Quang Tran and Thanh Vy were very satisfied with Miuk's outfit.

The movie ‘Light up’ is a film directed by Hoang Tuan Cuong revolving around the story of prosperity and decline, the transition of ‘cai luong’ and theater troupes touring throughout the Southwest region, so it is very suitable for the Miuk Style's outfit style.

Sharing this joy, Ms. Xuan Thao said: "When I received a call from the film crew asking for costume cooperation in a few scenes of the movie. I was very excited and happy because I would see Miuk Style costumes on the big screen, shown across theaters in Viet Nam”.

It can be seen that Miuk Style's steps are slow yet steady, because in addition to the support of Miuk Food that Ms. Xuan Thao is pursuing. As Ms. Xuan Thao shared: “My nickname is Milk. Miuk is an intentional misspelling of the word Milk to make a difference. It is like mother's milk, a source of life, a source of energy to always guide us to be filled with enthusiasm for the path we take."

"Miuk Style's costumes are very suitable for the time when the movie takes place in the early 90s such as ruffle neck and puffy sleeves. When we contacted Miuk Style, we received very enthusiastic support from Ms. Xuan Thao. The quality of the fabric and patterns on the costumes are also suitable. Through the director's consent, the actors can use the costumes and they feel very satisfied. Many famous actors like Le Phuong and Truc May not only loved them but also asked for the address to buy them for themselves. Miuk also gave outfits as gifts to the actors. Miuk's costumes will appear on the big screen when the movie comes out on Lunar New Year 2024” said, Ms. Huynh Thi Ngoc Mai who í in charge of costumes for the film crew ‘Light up’.

Reporting by DOAN HAO LUONG - Translating by A.THU