Mixed models at Vietnam International Fashion Week

Despite claiming to set high standards when casting models, this year's fashion week still had many weak catwalk faces, ruining the spirit of the collection.

With the criteria to meet the requirements of an international fashion playground, Vietnam International Fashion Week 2015 cooperated with designers to organize rigorous and meticulous model selection rounds before the show. Backstage at the casting, it is not difficult to see the image of models hurriedly changing shoes or sitting on chairs for a few minutes while waiting for the casting. They stay all day at the location, eating and drinking quickly to save time. The circle of casting - fitting - makeup - hair - program rehearsal - catwalk makes the models work non-stop.

The organizers carefully calculated the salary issue to avoid causing disruptions in price competition. For each show, the models receive a uniform salary of 2 million VND. A member of the organizers shared: "If they work hard and are chosen to perform a lot, the models can pocket more than 20 million VND in salary in a few days."

Minh Tu took on the role of vedette at several shows of Vietnam International Fashion Week.

International designers are very particular when it comes to finding faces to wear their clothes. Designer Julien Fouriné holds a measuring tape at hand to measure the height of his models, looking at them from every angle. His criteria is to choose models who are at least 1.75 m tall, have long legs, and are able to walk smoothly in specially designed high heels that are difficult to balance.

Models participating in the casting of the Japanese "wedding dress queen" - Yumi Katsura shared with VnExpress: "Ms. Yumi Katsura is a meticulous and fastidious person. We sweated to get the nod because she seemed to like the beauty of Western models. She prioritizes choosing foreign models, letting them try on outfits and then recruiting Vietnamese models." In addition, the 80-year-old designer also organized the casting according to a rather "perverse" rule of choosing male models first. The "wolf man" K'Broi from Vietnam's Next Top Model 2015 is one of the rare Vietnamese male models that Ms. Yumi chose to try on outfits.

Young, inexperienced or even completely new models can surpass experienced names in the profession to catch the eye of international designers because they possess many qualities suitable for special outfits. For example, Hong Xuan - a girl who is 1.9 m tall - was chosen by designer Julien Fouriné to be the face of his collection.

Meanwhile, Kha My Van - who possesses international experience and an Asian beauty - failed the casting for Yumi Katsura's show after trying the catwalk 5 times. Mau Thuy and Nguyen Oanh also had to go through many times before receiving the nod from the designer.

However, the quality of models at this year's fashion week is considered to have quite a clear difference.

At international fashion weeks, the selection criteria of designers are always consistent and clear. For example, models must be at least 1.75 m tall, have straight legs, and be size 0 to fit into the collection. Trang Khieu shared that she once fell into a state of depression when she could not lose weight to fit into these clothes. The age of models is also increasingly narrowing as international fashion houses tend to choose faces from 16-18 years old. The number of models waiting for casting is too large, while the number of collections is limited, so the competition for a catwalk spot is extremely fierce. Hoang Thuy, Trang Khieu, Kha My Van, Minh Tu... have all "fought" at many major fashion weeks around the world and acknowledge this.

However, Vietnamese designers do not require any standards regarding height, weight or experience... of models when performing. Many audiences were amazed when witnessing the opening performance of runner-up Hoang My in the show of designer Vincent Doan, within the framework of fashion week. Wearing a tight design, Hoang My clearly showed off her muffin top and big biceps in every movement of her body.

In addition to Hoang My, the models added to the collection are mostly beauties from the Miss Universe 2015 contest, including Miss Pham Huong. This is based on the designer's personal relationship and preferences with the beauties. Not all beauties perform badly on the catwalk, but the introduction of a different standard, with a huge difference compared to the general model level, partly causes inconsistency in quality and shows the unprofessionalism of the selection process.

For the above reasons, this year's fashion week has recorded many cases of models being confused, showing anxiety on their faces when being assigned to show off evening gown designs that are cumbersome or too long for their height. They often have to use their hands to lift the hem of their dresses to avoid falling on stage. However, this is a taboo for a professional model. Not only the way they walk, the demeanor of the beauties also lacks the strength and decisiveness to convey the collection's intention. Many catwalk incidents have occurred during the fashion week.

Some models were confused about how to handle the situation when they encountered an incident on the catwalk. Photo: Y Ly.

The organizers said they do not interfere much in the casting of models or vedettes of the designers. They take care of the selection and pay for 20 models in a collection. If the designer wants to invite more people, they will have to do the casting themselves and negotiate the fee separately. Depending on the criteria of each collection, the designer will choose the appropriate face. That is also the reason for the "phase difference" in the quality of models in this year's program.

Regarding the reason for choosing beauties instead of professional models, Vincent Doan said that his evening gown collection mainly consists of designs that show off sexy busts and hips, which only beauties can do. Therefore, he needs models with full, vibrant bodies, without placing too much emphasis on performance experience. Similarly, French designer Julien Fourniné also surprised everyone when he chose Thuy Hanh to open his show. Because he loved the former model's beauty so much, the designer decided to replace her, even though her figure was not the same as the rest of the collection's models.

According to VnExpress