Fashion worlds collide

Talk about serendipity. So. Arrived in saigon yesterday morning and in true Van-Anh style, went straight to my place, freshened up and was out and about, roaring to seize the day!
First stop, the Park Hyatt for some Sunday brunching with a great group of people.

Second, the cigar club to tinkle the ivories for some friends, be a human Shazam for a bit.

Third stop, Fê Cafe (26 LY Tu Trong St) for some fashionising with Devon, a fabulous designer for label Devon London. She had just launched her A/W13 collection the night before which I was bummed out I missed on but now I got one on one time with her. I had already perused the look book so knew exactly what I wanted.

This is like one of my all time favorite hobbies. Playing designer dress ups with the designers themselves. Adrian from Valenciani was also there too  (being his cafe of course) so that was awesome.

There was another girl sitting there of which I thought was a journalist or Publicist for Devon or Adrian. She was about to leave and we said goodbye and Devon mentioned she was also a fashion designer from Australia. Wait a minute! Just wait on a minute! What? Who? Where? Which part? There's only 1 designer I love who is Vietnamese who is in australia. It was on the tip of my tongue.

She said Betty Tran. Oh my frickin god! I had been following her stuff for forever! And she was standing right there in front of me!

I was like 'omg I love your stuff, particularly your green dress that Jess Hart has worn'.

How cool was that? Sitting right there in saigon was someone who I had admired the designs and successes of for quite some time!

We chatted and rattled on about fashion and music! So cool!

Serendipity! It seems to happen more and more to me! Full of positivities and wonderful networks!

Love and grace,

Van-Anh

And for the right nows:
Current city: Saigon
Next city: Sydney (finally!!)
Wearing: LF daisy crop top, vintage gold poof skirt.
Reading: thinking, fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman
Favorite food: craving a Mekong Merchant coffee and also L'usine olives (random I know)
Missing: the US ... Weird I know but I do! Always wanting what you can't have!
Missing:

Spotlight Sessions #3: HOUSE OF EZIS

SPOTLIGHT SESSIONS. HOUSE OF EZIS.

As most of you know, fashion is SUCH a huge part of my life. I live it, breathe it, play with it just as much as I do the piano.

I've had the pleasure of working with Andrzej, creative director and founder of House Of Ezis since the beginning of 2012 and can confidently say that this is one of my favourite Australian labels. It goes beyond fashion and garments, it's the expression and the input that I am able to have as well as such a fabulous friendship with someone i can definitely call a friend that makes it that much more special. 

Many of you have seen me strut House Of Ezis at my album launch as well as various other collaborations. 

Andrzej's story is intriguing. Having graduated with an Architectural degree, worked in the field and leaving it due to feeling the constraints of designing as to how possible it is to bring it to life, Andrzej moved into fashion. His first label, SIZE evolved into HOUSE of EZIS and is now extremely unique in style. It's funny how the world works because since being in the fashion industry, things have come full circle for Andrzej and his work was featured in the Venice Biennale 2012 (the creme-de-la-creme for any architect).

Here is my quick interview with Andrzej:
THE FACTS
Full name: Andrzej Pytel
Occupation: Creative Director and Founder of House Of Ezis
Originally from: Poland
Living where right now: Brisbane, QLD

THE Qs

1. How long has House of Ezis been in existence?
 3 years

2. Fashion is .. ?
 a word

3. Why do you not have collections like S/S and A/W? why be conventional?

4. Favourite place to holiday and why? Fiji; food, smiles, islands.


5. Which part of architecture studies is most inherent in your designing?
 structured response to context.

6. Worst fashion faux-pas you've seen? The suit.


7. What's the plan for 2013?
 no plan.

8. Hardest part of designing?
 working with gorgeous women

9. favourite part of creating a garment?
 draping

10. which designer(s) do you like? Japanese

The pieces i've had the pleasure and honor of being able to work with Andrzej and wear, as well as my favourite ready-to-wear garments include:

hurry hurry... get this dress on!

those intense moments when you run backstage into the corridor to get stitched into a custom made dress, made 24 hours before <3 td="">

the collaboration for my most recent album release... wearing House Of Ezis Couture for my album cover & booklet. such a privilege.

more ready to wear .. brilliance!

not quite simple as 3 steps :)

cheeky moments of finding a piano in Brisbane whilst in couture

draping at its finest!

one of my favourite winter coats of all time. can be worn oh so many ways :)

wearing House of Ezis in Verona, Italy for my concert, June 2012.

My other favourite pieces from House Of Ezis from his ready to wear as well as custom mades include:

House of Ezis has a ready to wear line as well as the opportunity to work on custom-made designs. Andrzej's concept of 'THE UNIT' gives the client the opportunity to have a one-on-one session whereby the dress is created and at the end, snapped by photograph. The client will then have 24 hours to decide whether they want to purchase it or not. If it is not purchased, the garment is unpinned and appears never to have existed ever and will not be possible to recreate that moment in time.

Sessions start at $690 and can range up to $1200, depending on materials. 
The ready to wear garments are available from www.houseofezis.com 

As you can tell, i'm incredibly passionate about fashion and Andrzej really takes it to the next level. 
Go and check his stuff out.

Love and grace,
Van-Anh xx