The first Vietnam Designer Fashion Week began last night at the HCM City Television's HTV Studio in District 1.

Model Le Thuy in a design from Do Manh Cuong's latest collection, Love, which will be displayed during Vietnam Fashion Designer Week.  

More than 70 clothes for women and men created by young talents such as Hoang Dung, Mac Xuan Nuong, Thanh Thanh of Van Lang University were displayed.

The ready-to-wear designs use high-quality materials at reasonable prices.

Machio, Cashew and V64 brand names will present their collections of more than 100 designs tonight.

Famous designers Do Manh Cuong and Li Lam will introduce their new trends in Celadon City in Tan Phu District on Thursday.

New designs by Ha Linh Thu, Anna Vo, Le Ha and An Huong will also be featured during the five-day event. More than 60 fashion models will be included.

The event includes two trade exhibitions on Friday and Saturday at Rex Hotel, which offer opportunities for both local fashion houses and designers to promote their brand names and sales.

To attract customers, several hundred designs will be displayed and on sale at 10-30 per cent discount.

While Cuong's designs are on sale at VND8 million (US$350) per item, clothes by brand names like Cashew are only VND500,000 ($22).

Dozens of leading garment and textile companies and fashion agencies were invited to participate in the event's exhibitions.

Fashion Week is organised by a group of fashion designers and stylists who want to highlight Vietnamese brand names and young designers.

It also plans to launch the Viet Nam Fashion Designers Association.

"The Fashion Week is just not for catwalks but also a place to connect Vietnamese brand names and designers and customers. It also helps designers develop their business," said Nguyen Thanh Huong, director of the F-Fashion magazine, one of the members of the organising board.

"We hope the Viet Nam Fashion Designers Association will open soon because through the association we will have opportunities to make the industry more professional," she added. 

VNS