By Joy Sewing, Chron
Fashion Houston, four nights of runway shows beginning this week downtown, will present the collections of local up-and-coming talent for the first time since it launched in 2010.
This year the group includes three men – Vietnamese immigrant Viet Kent Nguyen, Houston-bred high schooler Amir Taghi and Hawaii native Jo’se Reyes – all of whom have varying backgrounds and talents but share a love of fashion and design.
We met with each of the men before the big event, to hear their stories and to find out what the audience should expect from them on the runway. For a full Fashion Houston schedule, see page at left.
Viet Kent Nguyen
Viet Kent Nguyen creates his pieces at Kim’s Fabrics in West Houston. Photo By Karen Warren/Staff
When Viet Kent Nguyen left his native Vietnam nine years ago, he could speak only a few words in English. But he knew he wanted to become a fashion designer.
“In Vietnam, there really are no professional schools for fashion design, but that was my goal,” said Nguyen, 36, who moved to Houston to join his sister, Tiffany Nguyen, who lived here with her husband.
Nguyen took English classes and eventually enrolled in the fashion design program at Houston Community College, where he now teaches basic tailoring techniques. He earned his U.S. citizenship five years ago.
“I knew I had to study triple hard because my English was not that good. I couldn’t take notes because the instructors would speak so fast, so I studied by vision. I drew everything the teachers did. That’s how I learned.”
In recent years, Nguyen has specialized in custom Vietnamese dresses made with vibrant jewel-tone silk fabrics from his family’s fabric store, Kim’s Fabrics in West Houston. His studio is a back corner of the store, behind bolts of fabric and rows of shoes and accessories, which the store sells.
At Fashion Houston, Nguyen will debut his first ready-to-wear collection, featuring ladylike separates and day and evening dresses with intricate fabric manipulation techniques. One of Nguyen’s gowns, for example, is created with a poufy, swirl pattern he calls a “vortex.” His collection also has a more muted, softer color palette than his traditional Asian pieces.
“I don’t sketch at all first,” Nguyen said of his design process. “It’s all in my mind. I take a piece of muslin and create a design, then a pattern, then I sew. When I’m sewing, I’m really happy. I can sew until 2 in the morning and never get tired.”
Amir Taghi
Amir Taghi, 17, a junior in high school, is one of the emerging designers of Houston. Photographed in his home, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013, in Houston. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle )
While many high school students are involved in sports and other extracurricular activities, Amir Taghi is working in his atelier (a massive room in his parents’ estate) on his spring women’s wear collection. His pieces are manufactured at David Peck USA and currently sold at Tootsies.
“It’s such an honor to be able to present my collection at Fashion Houston,” said Taghi, 17, a junior at Episcopal High School. He created his first collection of eight pieces during his freshman year.
This summer, Taghi worked to fine-tune his design chops as an intern for Oscar de la Renta in New York. Much like a scene out of “Project Runway,” Taghi and the other interns were given daily tasks from making designs out of lace and beads to hunting for fabrics in Manhattan stores.
“I learned so much because you had Mr. de la Renta and Anna Wintour there regularly. If you did something wrong, it could ruin your fashion career,” he said.
Taghi’s spring-summer runway show at Fashion Houston will feature satin dresses and shorts, organza blouses, leather bustiers and peplums, as well as embroidered gowns and long tulle skirts. He said the collection mixes the classics of 1950s with the accents and layers of Japanese samurai costumes.
Though Taghi grew up around the family’s Galleria area luxury menswear store, A. Taghi, he has little interest in menswear right now.
“I’ve been around menswear all of my life. It seems a little boring to me, but with women’s you have leather, lace, gowns, shorts, separates. So many options.”
Read the full article by Joy Sewing, Chron.
