LCFS’ students visited Duc Giang Garment Company

On the 22th of May, students from the London College for Fashion Studies Hanoi visited the production lines of Duc Giang Garment Company. This trip was very helpful to LCFS’ students, who had the chance to see the operating systems of the company. 

During this trip, students visited all the different sections such as design, cloth laying, cutting, sewing chain, embroidery section and finishing. Most of the students were positively surprised by the company and very interested in this visit. They had the opportunity to learn more about the fashion market in Vietnam as well as know and understand the requirements of the garment enterprise.

LCFS’ students and lecturers in Duc Giang Garment Company

The students also did not forget to bring their cameras to take a lot of pictures of the work in the company. Students also took note of important information during the trip, so they could apply them directly at the college.

This is one of the real-life examples that London College for Fashion Studies Hanoi organizes. And this trip was part of the curriculum which allows students to better understand the fashion industry in Vietnam. Therefore, they can orient their works appropriately when they graduate from college.

Below are some pictures of the trip to Duc Giang Garment Company:

LCFS’ students were very interested in the design section

(www.lcfs.vn)

A Silky Trip

Hi guys! So another term has already begun in LCFS Hanoi! And before we are getting super busy once again with our final project, Ms. May Cortazzi has organized a trip for us to relax and prepare to fight! As well as to increase our knowledge on one of the finest kind of fabric – silk. And our destination was no other than the oldest silk village in the east side of Hanoi – Van Phuc, Ha Dong village. 

The first place we visited was a traditional household called Trieu Van Mao where we learnt all about the long process of making silk. The cycle begins in summer and takes a whole year to complete. It all starts when a special type of butterfly lays eggs. Each butterfly can lay up to 400 eggs which take about 10 day to hatch. The villager raise the worm with Dau leaves for 4 to 6 weeks till they start to release silk thread, wrapping around themselves to create cocoons in approximately 4 days. Naturally, it takes around 10 days for the butterflies will break their cocoons, but nowadays, to speed up the process, villagers boil the cocoons and collect the silk threads right after the worms stop releasing threads. The boiled worms will be sold in the market as a Vietnamese traditional food (they are actually quite tasty and nutritious.) Villagers then untwine cocoons using a homemade wooden machine. The silk threads now are ready to dye and wrap into rolls, preparing for the next step.   

Silky cocoons

Wooden machine to separate silk threads

Silk thread then get twined into rolls

Weaving machine

Pattern cards

Beautiful silks are on the way!

The next stage of the process begins in autumn when villagers start weaving fabric. They use a weaving machine with pattern cards to weave their silk. The pattern cards help creating patterns on the fabric.

After the lesson, we got to do some shopping! The 3 most popular silk fabrics are 100% silk, silk with visco blend and silk with hemp blend. The silks products are great. Villagers use their fabrics to produce clothes and house decorations which not only look beautiful but also have superb quality.

And the gorgeous final products!

An absolutely amazing trip that we couldn’t have asked for more! It was knowledgeable as well as enjoyable. We totally had a blast! So if you are looking for some beautiful silk for your project, you know where to get them! Lastly, stay in tuned to see our final projects, some of them will be made with the silk we got!

Direction to Van Phuc Village

Have a great one! With love, Nicky Vu. 

Spotted...

So we, at LCFS, we breath fashion, we talk fashion, we eat fashion, we act fashion, and of course we dress fashion!
We want to make this new post a regular one! It's all about styling.

It's easy, while at the college, if and when we spot a student or a teacher or any other fashion creature, wearing anything that is fabulous, inspiring, unique, i.e. attention seeking,  WE IMMORTALIZE THE MOMENT!!!

This week, we spotted the wonderful Miss Thao wearing a colorful tie-dye Lolo inspired scarf,  electric silver heels, and fun patterned crochet black tights

 Until we spot the next one... Enjoy!

Talk to you soon,
Joelle

Thirsty Thursday #1

Xin Chao fashion students,

I know we are all busy in preparing our final projects, but let's share some words about what happened on November 3, 2011.

The college hall was packed with students, curious and curiouser to learn all about setting up a fashion business in hectic Hanoi. YES! The first edition of Thirsty Thursday was a success.

LCFS’ students came early to attend this event

The guest speakers: The Chula team and Ms. Duyen Huong’s design – the founder of two famous brands L’Atelier and Concept Design.

Owners of two famous fashion brands Chula and L’Atelier are guess speakers

Diego, an architect turned designer, shared his experience in starting up Chula in Vietnam. He revealed that the combination between Spanish’s colorful designs, embroidery technique and Eastern colorful fabrics created the Chula’s success in Vietnam. He and Laura, his joyful and beautiful wife, make the perfect couple. Their positive energy and undeniable professionalism  is the good recipe behind the success of the brand.

Diego Cortizas and Laura Fonatn – co-founder of Chula shared their experiences with LCFS’ students.

 We also had the chance to meet with Ms. Duyen Huong. As a former LCFS student, she is the perfect example of someone talented and ambitious enough, who took what she learned at LCFS and applied it in the working world. More specially, Ms. Duyen Huong set up her fashion business on what she studied at LCFS. And today, she has made a real name for herself in the Hanoi fashion scene.

 

Ms. Duyen Huong’s designs showed in the event

Ms. Duyen Huong is sharing her success  with the younger generation.

Lucky for us, all three, enthousiastically shared their experience, in starting up their fashion brands, with all the ups and down, challenges and problems. The talk was full of useful information, but also life experiences and funny stories, which made it more exciting.


So get out there, you know what to do now. As  Ms. Duyen Huong put it "If you want it, go get it".

And what do WE say?
WE WANT MORE!! And cannot wait for the second edition of Thirsty Thursday!

Enjoy,
Talk to you soon,
Joelle