The Folklore of the Silk Lady: DOAN Atelier Weaves Vietnamese Heritage into Modern Couture
In an era where Vietnamese creatives are increasingly garnering global recognition, a new wave of designers is making a significant mark on the international fashion scene. Among them, DOAN Atelier stands out for its profound commitment to honoring history while artfully crafting the future. Their collection, Nàng Gấm, or Folklore of the Silk Lady, is a testament to this ethos, intricately weaving traditions passed down through generations into its very fabric. This collection celebrates the enduring beauty and strength of Vietnamese women throughout history, presenting a vision of regality born from labor.
Jennie (Gia Linh) Doan, a graduate of Seneca Polytechnic’s Fashion Arts program, unveiled her groundbreaking collection last spring. Her innovative and bold designs not only captivated audiences but also served as a powerful affirmation of Vietnamese tradition. The collection’s exceptional merit was recognized with a nomination at the recent Canada Arts and Fashion Awards for the Fashion Design Student Award, a significant accolade for emerging talent.
EnVi had the opportunity to connect with the creative minds behind DOAN Atelier, sibling duo Jennie and Austin Doan, via Zoom. They shared intimate insights into their heritage, the genesis of their brand, and the rich lore that underpins their celebrated Nàng Gấm collection.
The Siblings Behind the Brand: A Symphony of Art and Design
The collaborative synergy between Jennie and Austin Doan is a natural extension of their sibling bond and shared artistic sensibilities. Jennie spearheads the design process, meticulously articulating and constructing each garment, while Austin, as creative director, shapes the collection’s narrative through in-depth research and evocative editorial photoshoots.
Hailing from Vietnam, the siblings were immersed in a family deeply rooted in the arts, boasting a lineage of musicians and dancers spanning three generations. Jennie’s background in ballet and Austin’s studies in traditional music provided them with a unique understanding of movement, form, and cultural expression. Upon relocating to Toronto for their studies, they found themselves drawn to new artistic frontiers. Austin expanded his creative scope to visual mediums, producing music videos, short films, and documentaries, while Jennie discovered her calling in the intricate world of fashion design.
"We’ve always been so fascinated with fashion, and I think it makes sense because we’re both in the arts," Austin explained. "We’re both performers ourselves, and so we have that kind of connection to costume design."
Jennie’s years of dance rehearsals, witnessing the dazzling spectacle of costumes and the meticulous craftsmanship behind theatrical productions, illuminated a profound connection between stage costuming and haute couture. In dance, where the body and movement serve as the primary language, costume structure plays a pivotal role. Jennie translates this understanding into her designs, believing it to be the foundational principle of DOAN Atelier. "Garments have to move a certain way and be seen a certain way," she emphasized.
Echoes of the Past: The Genesis of Nàng Gấm
Drawing from a family legacy steeped in classical art forms and the generational inheritance of craft, Jennie and Austin turned their gaze towards traditional Vietnamese arts, beginning with the stories that had shaped their childhood. The collection’s title, Folklore of the Silk Lady, is a direct homage to the legends, myths, and tales that the siblings grew up hearing. Jennie found particular inspiration in the histories of Vietnamese heroines, from the formidable Trưng sisters, 1st-century military commanders who led significant rebellions, to resilient maidens featured in fairytales like Tấm and Cám, often referred to as the Vietnamese Cinderella. These narratives, alongside personal stories shared by her grandparents and parents about their past and upbringing, fueled her desire to pay tribute to the keepers of folklore: the women who carry history forward.
"I wanted to dive deeper into how women dressed in the past and what they normally wore," Jennie stated. "I got inspired by áo dài, our traditional costume, áo yếm, and áo bà ba." She immersed herself in research on Vietnamese garments, exploring regional variations and their evolution over time.
The extensive research into the evolution of Vietnamese womenswear was integral to the collection’s development, with Austin leveraging his documentary filmmaking experience to guide the process. A key challenge, Jennie noted, was maintaining historical accuracy while allowing for creative reinterpretation.
Silk, Vietnam’s most significant traditional fabric, takes center stage in Nàng Gấm, with a particular focus on gấm (heavy silk) and lụa (mulberry silk). "When she first pitched this idea, it very much felt like a love letter to silk," Austin remarked. "It not only felt like a love letter to the fabric itself, but to Vietnamese women." This profound reverence for both material and muse is palpable in every piece of Nàng Gấm, reimagining traditional Vietnamese attire with a contemporary, editorial sensibility.
Unveiling the Lore: The Narratives Woven into Silk
At its core, Nàng Gấm delves into the intricate interplay of class, labor, and femininity. The collection’s striking color palette embodies a powerful duality: black and yellow, representing the working class and nobility, respectively. Black was historically favored by rural laborers due to its resistance to dirt during agricultural work, while the upper echelons of society donned vibrant yellows, symbolizing wealth, affluence, and authority. Crucially, the latter also held the privilege of wearing silk, a luxurious fabric accessible only to those of their social and economic standing.
The collection showcases a diverse array of iconic garments and elements from Vietnamese heritage, transcending social classes, regions, and occasions. It moves seamlessly from the formal elegance of the áo dài to everyday silhouettes like the áo yếm, a halterneck undergarment, and the áo bà ba, a long-sleeved blouse and pant set traditionally associated with women in the Mekong Delta.
Looks 2 and 5 exemplify this delicate balance, reinterpreting these traditional garments with a modern aesthetic while preserving the timeless, rustic, and intimate beauty characteristic of Vietnamese women. Notably, Look 5 was featured in Lady Gaga and Doechii’s music video for "RUNWAY." This ensemble, featuring a skirt adorned with a lotus-leaf pattern that flares like a blooming lotus, embeds deep cultural imagery into a high-fashion presentation, aligning the motif of Vietnamese femininity and resilience with the song’s theme of empowerment.
Beyond clothing, the collection reimagines traditional accessories, including the khăn mỏ quạ, a square headscarf worn by rural working women; the nón ba tầm, a flat palm hat worn by middle to upper-class Northerners; the mấn (or khăn đóng), a ceremonial wedding headdress; and kiềng, a silver or gold necklace often passed down as a cherished heirloom.
The incorporation of attire from various Vietnamese regions underscores the diversity of labor and how dress is intrinsically shaped by place, work, and daily life. Nàng Gấm masterfully blends the utilitarian design of workwear with the regal silhouettes of ceremonial garb, interweaving them into contemporary couture compositions. This striking contrast is particularly evident in Look 1, where a long robe draws inspiration from the áo tơi, a rain cloak crafted from layered palm leaves, and the áo long bào, a gold, dragon-emblazoned robe traditionally reserved for emperors, thus intentionally merging garments from vastly different origins.
Look 3’s skirt shape mirrors that of nơm bắt cá (fish trapping baskets), while cascading yellow silk fringes evoke flowing grains of rice, conjuring imagery of generations of agricultural labor and sustenance.
Look 4 pays homage to the ethnic minority communities inhabiting Vietnam’s mountainous regions through its dramatic asymmetrical shoulder piece, emulating rolling hills and towering peaks. Carved waves across the garment evoke the movement of ruộng bậc thang (terraced rice fields). Worn over a backless áo yếm-inspired dress with a bold leg slit and a wide-brimmed nón ba tầm that artfully veils the eyes, this look exudes confidence and allure, capturing the quiet resilience of Vietnamese women.
From Sketch to Silhouette: The Labor of Love
Look 4 also marks the genesis of Nàng Gấm – it was the initial sketch from which the entire collection began to take shape, with the original drawing preserved intact throughout its meticulous execution. The construction of this piece presented a significant learning curve, with Jennie acknowledging the inherent challenges of working with silk. Furthermore, she was committed to sourcing all silks and fabrics for the collection exclusively from Vietnam, working with a finite supply of materials.
The Doan siblings’ family played an indispensable role in the collection’s development. Their parents sourced the necessary textiles from local markets and artisans in Vietnam before shipping them to Canada, embodying an "it takes a village" approach that reinforced the collection’s commitment to Vietnamese authenticity and craftsmanship.
During their conversation, Jennie showcased a piece of test fabric she experimented on to create the distinctive grooved slashes on the shoulder piece of Look 4. The signature yellow silk peeked from beneath black canvas, interwoven with intricate lines of embroidery, each slit and threaded pattern meticulously executed by hand. Jennie shared that she had deconstructed an áo dài sent by her mother, studying its layers, seams, and structure to gain a deeper understanding of its assembly.
The painstaking level of detail infused into each piece truly embodies the thematic proverb of Nàng Gấm: khó nhọc, sống sau, translated literally as "suffer first, ease later," the Vietnamese equivalent of "no pain, no gain." This is a saying that Jennie and Austin’s parents ingrained in them, and one that Jennie deeply felt throughout the assembly of each garment.
This philosophy of discipline and care is mirrored in Jennie’s design approach. "As a designer, I feel like everything we do, we have to have the intention behind it," she stated. "I don’t want to put something in without any meaning – even down to the smallest detail like a button or a seam."
Embracing agricultural motifs within the collection, Jennie emphasized the paramount importance of hand labor to "harvest the fruit" of her work. Much like the fishermen, rice harvesters, weavers, and countless hardworking Vietnamese individuals, it is precisely this intensive labor and care that is essential to preserving delicate beauty. Through the creation of this collection, Jennie developed a profound appreciation for the labor of Vietnamese women throughout history and their invaluable contributions to preserving cultural and material traditions.
Nàng Gấm on the Global Stage: A New Dawn for Vietnamese Fashion
The unveiling of Nàng Gấm represents just the beginning for DOAN Atelier. Jennie and Austin are diligently working to solidify their presence in the fashion industry, navigating the demanding rhythms of school, work, and life. They are focused on further familiarizing themselves with the industry, fostering connections with fellow creatives, and building their team.
Deeply inspired by the Vietnamese designers who have paved the way and their contemporary peers, the siblings aspire to join them in occupying a prominent space on the global stage, representing a flourishing vision of Vietnamese talent.
During the development and showcase of Nàng Gấm, Jennie and Austin observed a common reaction: "Wow, is this coming from Vietnam?" Many were deeply impressed by the quality of the silk, a sentiment that initially surprised the duo. "This is something we could easily have access to; literally, if you go to Bến Thành Market, this silk is so abundant, but it is something so unknown to people elsewhere," they noted.
As one of the world’s largest textile exporters, Vietnam plays a monumental role in the global fashion supply chain. However, its rich legacy of craftsmanship has remained largely underrecognized. Only recently have figures like the talented tailors of Hội An gained viral traction on social media among tourists. Yet, for Vietnamese people, tailoring culture has always been an integral part of daily life, with shops discreetly nestled on almost every corner.
Reflecting on their aspirations for both Vietnamese and international audiences, Austin shared with EnVi, "It’s not just about promoting Vietnamese fabrics and products, but also for them to know that ‘Hey, we’re Vietnamese, and we can do this.’ This is something from our country, and this is something we can do."
As Jennie and Austin Doan move forward with their future creative endeavors, DOAN Atelier continues to build upon the foundational principles of Nàng Gấm, translating heritage into modern reinterpretations. The brand remains steadfast in its mission to position Vietnam not merely as a center of production, but as a vanguard of emerging creative talent, imbued with rich craftsmanship, cultural memory, and innovation.
At the heart of DOAN Atelier lies an enduring tribute to Vietnamese women, spanning from the past to the present, whose strength, resilience, and labor continue to shape the very fabric of each meticulously crafted piece.
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