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Thủy Design House
Borrowing its title from the haunting strains of Ngậm Ngùi by Huy Cận and Phạm Duy, An Everyday Dream opens a window into the boundless creative cosmos of Thủy Nguyễn. Here, fashion is not treated as mere fabric and form but as a living current, an ever-shifting weave of memory, culture, and the soul-infused aesthetics of the Vietnamese spirit, elevated into the realm of pure artistry.
Showcasing more than 200 garments and artifacts, Thủy Design House stages a world where folk traditions, architectural echoes, visual art, and sartorial experimentation converge in a dynamic interplay. No work exists in isolation: each is orchestrated within a dramatic mise-en-scène, unfolding like the fluid poetry of recollection.
The exhibition is structured around seven sweeping themes – Áo Dài: From Yesteryear to Tomorrow; Sojourning in the Mortal Realm; Streetscapes and Neighborhood Whispers; Twin Orbs of Sun and Moon; Myriad Forms, Infinite Guises; Crimson Towers and Jeweled Pavilions; Brimming with Memories. Together, they form a series of cultural vignettes that probe the deep layers of Vietnamese identity while situating contemporary fashion within the currents of global dialogue.
I long to infuse tradition with a fresh vitality, a contemporary rhythm. My desire is to breathe new life into the Áo Dài, liberating it from the constraints of what we have come to label as ‘Vietnamese traditional.’
Tia Thuy Nguyen
For Thủy Nguyễn, fashion is not simply clothing but an instinctive lens through which to probe the depths of Vietnam’s cultural legacy. Her exhibition is more than a showcase of garments; it is a bold manifesto: tradition must not be embalmed, it must beat in rhythm with the present.
The áo dài—often treated as an untouchable national treasure—finds radical reinvention in her hands through daring silhouettes, refined craftsmanship, and immersive scenography. To her, if it survives only within museum vitrines or ceremonial rites, it risks losing its vitality. Its future, she insists, lies in daily life, inhaling and exhaling with its wearers.
Among the countless textiles she has worked with, brocade holds a singular, haunting power. For Thủy, it is more than thread and weave; it carries the patina of Hanoi, a living narrative embedded in every fiber, echoing the affections and ethos of the city that shaped her youth. Immersing herself in this material has taught her to listen to the stories of entire landscapes, nurturing a profound reverence. This is why Thủy Design House consistently foregrounds ancestral textiles and crafts in its creations.
At the same time, brocade’s stubborn elegance, difficult to tame and harder still to modernize, offers an irresistible challenge. When she first began, she saw no contemporary counterpart daring to propel brocade into the present, making it approachable and intimate for the body it clothes. She seized that challenge, experimenting fearlessly while pledging fidelity to the fabric and the Vietnamese narratives it carries forward.
“An Everyday Dream” is not simply a fashion showcase; it is a visual diary that scripts Vietnam through layered vocabularies, from folklore and rituals to fairy tales, urban rhythms, and private reveries. Through this body of work, Thủy Nguyễn draws us into her dreamlike cosmos, where everyday longings are rendered in a language steeped in emotion and exquisite formalism. At the same time, it opens a portal for both local and international audiences to witness Vietnam’s daring fashion narrative.
More Images of the Collections in “An Everyday Dream” by designer Tia Thủy Nguyễn
