Style Inspiration: Huong

NAME: Huong Nguyen

HOMETOWN: Hanoi, Vietnam

CURRENTLY LIVING: Hanoi, Vietnam

OCCUPATION: Vietnamese teacher and entrepreneur

I first met Huong at a nightclub in Hanoi and immediately loved her effortless style. With her bowl haircut and loose white dress, she stood out like a sore thumb in the glitzy club full of pumping electro beats, tight skirts and towering high heels. 

I was lucky enough to become close friends with Huong and found out that she is every-bit as down to earth and friendly as she first looked. When my friend Sarah and I randomly bought her an Angry-Bird cake for her birthday, Huong, despite her initial bewilderment was incredibly happy and gracious about it.

Huong always has a million plans up her sleeves and has this incredible drive to make things happen. She left Vietnam at the age of 18 to spend, what would turn out to be the next ten years, studying and working in Beijing and Shanghai. Upon returning to Hanoi she started her own company selling handbags. And her brother is a magician (true story! Check him out here.)

I’m not sure if it is the long time she spent overseas or her constant search for adventure that inspires her unique style. In any case, Huong’s blend of timeless grace and casual nonchalance has been an endless source of inspiration for Madame Tây. 

     

     

Photos by Allie Le and Karen Knauff.

MT in Peppermint Magazine

Back in June we were quite surprised to find ourselves in issue #22 of Peppermint Magazine! We found out that they did a small piece on us when we got a couple of emails from some Peppermint readers.

We promptly went down to the newsagent to find a copy. It was pretty exciting finding something about Madame Tây printed on such nice paper! And the magazine is a good read too.

They gave us a really lovely write up. Thanks Peppermint! x

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worlds apart

It's quite the modern dilemma - how to stay in touch with friends who are scattered across the globe. Not content with simply chatting over Skype, four ladies based in Melbourne, Toronto, Dakar and Hanoi set up their own 'hobby clothing project', Madame Tây, to keep on collaborating despite the tyranny of distance. Made in Vietnam and Senegal from locally sourced artisan fabrics including vibrant wax prints, each garment is produced in extremely limited runs by local tailors, whose stories feature on the Madame Tây blog alongside styling tips.

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Madame Tây 2015

Rooftops in Dakar, Senegal. Photo by Cara.

Hello and happy 2015!

First up, thank you to everyone who has visited Madame Tây here and on our Facebook page lately. The last few months have been an important time of reflection for the Madame Tây team. We have had a few life changes, a few geographical transitions and also some exciting developments with Madame Tây along the way.

This post is just a quick update on what we're up to and what's in store for 2015.

TRAVELS:

Steph, who was living in Vietnam when we launched Madame Tây, is now living in Montreal, Canada.

Steph. weeeeeeee!

Cara, who oversaw all our clothing production in Dakar, Senegal, moved back to Melbourne for much of 2014, but is now back in Dakar again as of this month!

Cara and wax print

I'm still in Melbourne and Christina is still in Toronto.

Me and Cyrus. Surf coast outside Melbourne

Christina and Matt go grocery shopping in Toronto

MORE CLOTHES:

So now that Cara is back in Dakar, we are really excited to be preparing another round of Madame Tây clothing. Cara has been up to her ears in fabrics, meeting people, visiting tailors, sourcing buttons and zips at the markets, while the rest of us have been skyping and emailing madly.

I'll leave Cara to blog in more detail about the fabrics we'll be working with, but there will be plenty more wax print, and possibly some beautiful hand-made fabrics! 

At the moment we're in the early sampling stages of production. We'll keep you updated.

In the meantime, you can follow our journey here on instagram, where we go by the name @madametayclothing.

Sarah x