Vietnam’s fashion scene is ambitious, young, and rapidly evolving. Aquafina Vietnam International Fashion Week is one of its most longstanding platforms, and it was here that French fashion executive Jean Paul Cauvin recently offered his impressions. As general director of Julien Fournié, one of the rare Paris houses officially recognized with the haute couture designation, Cauvin candidly observed, “The designers are not yet up to the level of the platform,” he said. “The production is wonderful, and they’re very good at creating buzz—but they need to put the emphasis on quality.”
Defining Couture
Cauvin insists that part of the problem is confusion about what couture actually means. “It’s not because it’s handmade that it is couture,” he explained. Nor is it simply about embroidery or dramatic silhouettes. True haute couture garments are one-of-a-kind, made-to-measure, and crafted to highlight the individual wearing them. Quoting Coco Chanel, he noted:
When you see the dress, the dress is bad. When you see the lady, the dress is good.
For Julien Fournié, achieving the official couture designation in Paris meant years of scrutiny. A house must maintain a workshop in Paris, present regularly on the calendar, and gain recognition from peers who are, essentially, competitors. “You have to bring something new in terms of innovation, either in the process or in the design—and you have also to follow the way we conceive a dress,” Cauvin said. The lesson for Vietnam: world-class production values are impressive, but couture-level credibility comes from mastery of fundamentals.
Craftsmanship as Vietnam’s Edge
Vietnamese designers do not lack material to work with. Cauvin sees enormous potential in the country’s artisanal traditions. “There’s many very good craftsmen in Vietnam,” he said. Embroidery, lacquer, and weaving all carry the potential to be applied in fashion. He pointed to lotus silk—a fabric made from lotus stems—as an untapped resource: “In the period where everybody’s concerned about eco-friendly material and climate change, this is something that could be very, very interesting as a direction.”
Vietnam’s strength lies in finding contemporary ways to adapt these practices for the runway. Traditional embroidery can be scaled into modern silhouettes; lacquer, long associated with art objects, could inspire new surface treatments; and lotus silk may become a signature eco-material. These crafts are already rich with history—what’s needed is simply the vision and stewardship to carry them forward in a fashion context.
Reaching the Global Stage
What holds Vietnamese designers back, Cauvin argued, are essential but often overlooked basics: ironing clothes before a show, finishing seams, sourcing fabrics, and constructing garments with precision. “They need to understand that they have to do the right finishings and the right ironing,” he said. “What I saw was unacceptable on the runway.”
Beyond technique, he urged designers to push past surface-level ideas in applying creativity. “Idea number one is never the good one,” he said, explaining that an iterative process is key to reaching the full potential of a concept. “Go to idea number two, number three, and maybe that will be the one that is really original.”
Still, for Cauvin, the enthusiasm of Vietnam’s young generation is undeniable. He has even invited a Vietnamese student to intern in Paris. “If you want to educate the market, you also have to go through the makers of the market,” he said. With discipline, collaboration, and originality, he believes Vietnamese fashion can move from dazzling production to the world of couture.
