HÀ NỘI - Young designer Vũ Ta Linh from Ha Noi has just won the annual designed-by-Viet Nam contest’s fashion category with her creations from old clothes.

Linh combined some of her old clothes with a piece of cloth embroidered by Thai ethnic minority people in the central province of Nghe An to create a collection of six items.

“I also applied a few more Vietnamese traditional handworks to support the old cloth such as hand quilting, thread drawing, hand-stitching, patch-working, and crocheting,” Linh told Viet Nam News. “I crafted the whole outfit myself.” 

With her collection N.A.M, Linh expresses a profound meaning: limitations can be a barrier, but they do not prevent creative aspirations or desires being transformed to adapt to new living conditions.

“It brings up a strange emotion that I have never ever experienced before. I call it a form of metamorphosis,” she said.

The fashion contest themed “Awakening traditions” was part of Vietnam Design Week, a series of events that seek to honour and apply distinguished designs practical to serve several fields in everyday life: Food & Beverage, Living, Fashion, Souvenirs, and Public Art.

The judges highly appreciated Linh’s capability to turn limitation into the advantage, while her collection used recycled cloth, which is a sustainable trend of the future.

In the Souvenir category, HCM City-based Lưu Như Ngọc won first prize for her creations from broken pieces of ceramic made from Bat Trang Village.

Her work titled Returned Tickets bears the image of doctorate students at the Temple of  Literature in Ha Noi, which transmits a clear message praising traditional values in the modern era.

The contest was launched in mid July and ends in August, gathering 183 designs, 30 of which will enter the final round.

The competition is a co-operation between Vietnam Design Group, the Vietnam Institute of Culture and Art Studies, Ashui Company, Ha Noi Culture & Sport Department, Temple of Literature – Quốc Tử Giam Culture and Science Centre and other agencies. VNS