September 29th, 2008
Shop Saigon
Writing this at the conclusion of a weekend trip to Saigon with the girls. (There’s nothing like an all-girl shopping marathon.)
The mission was to by fabric for my cousin’s coming wedding. Her good friend Patty Morato-Roa will be designing the entourage dresses and we were given free-hand in choosing the colors, textures, etc. So we set off to Hai Ba Trung St., to comb through a block full of fabric shops.
Thank goodness we had a local with us to translate and set us straight with the price conversion. (Converting $ to VND is mind boggling.)
Cousin decided on plum and magenta with hints of rust as her color scheme.
Peg from www. verawang.com
We found the perfect colors in charmeuse and were able to buy in bulk on the spot.
Floral appliqué on violet tulle
In the next shop we came across the last 2 meters of tulle with a beautiful rust and purple flower appliqué. After much deliberation, and a couple of long-distance calls, we decided that it would be the perfect accent.
Three stores and three checks off the list.
Rows of embroidered, sequined, and hand-painted fabric
One shop had an array of the intricately embellished and embroidered tulle in all sorts of patterns and colors. Most were sold pre-cut (usually 2 meters), paired with satin fabric, for Au Dais (pronounced “ow yay”), the traditional Vietnamese dress. It costs about $40 to have one made and they can get it done in about 3 days if you’re willing to wait.
Embroidered white tulle
Considered using the white tulle in above photo for her wedding dress (it’s beautifully accented with gold threads). But it was vetoed by her wedding gown designer, Joey Samson, after we told him that the tulle of this particular one felt pretty stiff.
However, couldn’t very well leave without buying a piece or two (or in our case more) for future use.
Green sequined tulle with satin
Grey soft tulle with sequins and embroidered roses
There were scores of silks, chiffons, lace, linen and more. Between trying to pick out the best from a gazillion rows of fabric and trying to converse with the not-so-english-profficient sales staff, it was a major adventure.
At the end of it all, we managed to find everything we needed. Even found beautiful lacquer at Dong Khoi St. (usually not a good idea because it’s a main tourist street but the pieces at Saigon Crafts were quite unique).
Got lost and found a hole-in-the-wall shoe store with the coolest shoes. Bought 5 pairs, each! But that’s one find I’m keeping to myself. Teehee!
Isha.
Tags: Fabric, Hai Ba Trung, Saigon, Vietnam
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hi isha,
thank you so much for the information…i can’t wait to go to Vietnam..God bless…:)
For the designs she had in mind, we purchased silk and charmeuse, I think. They also have a good selection of silk chiffon, embroidered mesh and stiffer thai silk. They carry a good number of printed silks and chiffons which I personally love since pretty prints are hard to come by. Some stores carry lace fabric but I wasn’t too keen on the designs when I went. You can even get linen, cotton, shirting material and wool for men’s suits.
Hai Ba Trung, the street I mentioned in my blog is a great place to go for fabric and prices are a bit lower than in Ben Than Market, which caters to tourists. They also have a lot of fabric in stock, which is great if you plan to buy fabric for your whole entourage there. We still did visit Ben Than to look at the flowers for inspiration. There are stalls in Ben Than Market that sell buttons and ribbons and other cute details that you might want to incorporate into the design. (Eat at Tibs after if you want a snack. It’s right across the street from the flower area of the market and the spring rolls are yummy!)
Before you leave, I recommend having the design in mind so that all you’ll need to do is look for the right fabric and elements. Also, ask your designer how many yards of fabric you’ll need for each dress so you know exactly how much to buy. I don’t recall if they measured in yards or meters so it would be handy to know the conversion. I don’t think the difference is very big.
Don’t forget to haggle! A calculator will be your best friend since the English skills of the vendors in Hai Ba Trung is a bit limited.
Congratulations on your wedding
I’m sure you’ll have fun shopping. We spent a whole morning there and only stopped to eat.
hi,
i would like to know if what fabric did you buy in vietnam for your cousin’s wedding? i am also getting married next year and i am going to vietnam this june. thank you and God bless.