Fashion collaboration project connects Vietnamese, New Zealand youth

Illustrative image.

(Cinet)- Twenty outstanding fashion students from New Zealand and Vietnam on May 29 commenced work on the first ever New Zealand - Vietnam fashion collaboration.
The project aims to provide their youth with an opportunity to cooperate to create modern and unique fashion styles and learn about the two countries’ cultural values and similarities.
Currently, 10 groups of students with each consisting of one from Vietnam and one from New Zealand , are nurturing their ideas and working with each other by using the Internet and information technology skills.
They have two months to design new collections before their designs are made public in Ho Chi Minh City on August 6.
“2015 is a really important year for New Zealand and Vietnam as we celebrate 40 years of friendship and diplomatic relations.  People-to-people links, through education and tourism, are the bedrock of this relationship and our aim with this project is to showcase the opportunities for creative connections to be made between the younger generations from our two countries.  We’re expecting innovative, vibrant, unique and creative fashion!” said New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam Haike Manning.
The fashion show on August 6 will be the culmination of months of hard work by the students involved.  In April, students from fashion schools throughout New Zealand and Vietnam were selected from hundreds of potential students to participate in the project. 
"This collaboration is an amazing opportunity to gain exposure to a different cultural and design perspective. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the design process works long-distance and what we will create together,” said Miriam McCreanor, a NZ participant in the collaboration from Massey University’s School of Design.
The New Zealand students will arrive in Vietnam in early August to meet and work with their Vietnamese teammates in person and put the final touches on their collections.
“This is an amazing format for us. Never have I ever worked with a talented, foreign designer. My New Zealand partner is meticulous and creative. However, I have to admit that our fashion styles have nothing in common which has encouraged us to mix our thoughts, souls and styles to create a very unique collection of garments. Let’s wait and see how our collection turns out!” said Khanh Vy from the Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Art.
The project is part of activities launched by the New Zealand Embassy in Vietnam to mark the 40th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.