Boutique Shopping in Hanoi

In July I start styling for Fashion and Life for VTV3 in Vietnam, so over the past weeks I have been hunting out the best boutique in Hanoi. Looking for the most interesting visual merchandising, inspiring stock and funkiest staff. From the outside this might seem like an easy job, but anyone who has been to Hanoi will quickly realize that in fact this is a total challenge!

Firstly Hanoi is the size of London but there is no clear areas with the same style of shops (Like Shoreditch, Camden, Kings Road..etc), everything is completely spread out and in order to shop you need a motorbike (and a driver who doesn't mind the wait..), addresses of where to go and a pocket full of Dong.

Secondly the coolest shops are in underground places, difficult to find, especially in the 40 degree heat, with jam packed roads so a lot of patience and persistence is a must have.

Thirdly most of the clothes are European size 6-8 and one offs! you can fall in love with so many beautiful outfits but they may not quite fit, which can leave you feeling a little devastated...

But fear not my friends Miss Regenerate has prepared a list of some of the coolest shops in Hanoize!

Luxury fashion mens and womenswear designer clothing and high fashion for all occassions, designers include:- Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Antonio Berandi, Hussein Chalayan, Little Marc, Chloe and Victor&Rolf.

- Runway 13 Hai Ba Trung Street, Hoan Kiem District.

Work Clothes for the professional lady!! (Good news, these shop are on the same street)

- L'Atelier a fashion, art and lifestyle shop, full of lovely finds, designed by local new talent, with lots of lovely accessories. They have opened up a second concept store too full of some great childrenswear and menswear too..

33 Xuan Dieu, Tay Ho

-Pure Heaven Showroom understated, clean cut, oversized, comfortable clothes, designers are more European from areas like Copenhagen.

55 Xuan Dieu, Tay Ho

- Gift Haus gifts, toys, decoration and accessories from all over the world. Perfect for notebooks, sketchbooks, craft books, exciting ornaments and accessories, very quirky and cool.

8A Pho Yen Phu, Tay Ho

Indie clothing, casualwear, trend based, lifestyle stores for dayway and clubwear. These stores are quite spread out so you'll need a scooter to get you down the narrow streets.

- I love SA- vintage inspired fashion, quirky, cool clothes, girly shoes and cool accessories, but small sizes, however I love SA they have 3 stores in Hanoi, so plenty to look at.

8 Ta Hien

645 Kim Ma

555 Kim Ma

-Snow- Tasteful, vintage and trend based fashion, incredible shoes and accessories everything is brought from Bangkok so more sizes and great sales assistant.

-2B Ta Hien

Harajuku-cute casual clothes, in bright colours and lots of nice styles to choose from.

-54 Hang Cot

-Unisex, 163 Hang Bac

-Comptoir Des Createurs, 166 Ba Trieu

-À MON AVIS - excellent visual merchandising, lots of different styles, but small sizes.

-18B CHA CA.ST HANOI,

-La Cage- Amazing clothes (La Cage sells Al Saints), quirky layout, good sizes, excellent service from owner Nick who says 'treat this place like you've just came round to your mates house!

- No 9, Alley 3b, Dang Thai Than St

Top tips for shopping for second hand clothes in Hanoi

So after living in Hanoi now for 3 months I have discovered a whole new side to fashion and shopping. Hang Da market and Sida market is the most exciting shopping experience for anyone who loves a good car boot sale, charity shop, swap shop and vintage shop.

Clothes from Europe, Korea, Japan, Thailand and Cambodia all end up bazaarly at these markets so you can imagine what kind of ranges are available for fashionistas and shopaholics!

My top tips for hunting out the best finds are:-

1. First look for interesting fabric, prints and textures, that suit the colour of your skin.

2. Look for clothing that isn't too old and the fabric is not worn and bobbly, some clothes are brand new with labels still attached.

3. Old bras, t-shirts, underwear and vests- a no go area.

4. Wear clothes and shoes that are easy to slip off and you can try dresses and shirts on over the top.

5. Bring a small mirror with you and try all your finds on before buying them.

6. Think about items you can wear to style up your outfit, make up, belts, shoes and bags.

7. If a item in too large think about using a tailor to adjust too your size.

8. Make sure there are no marks, holes and tears on the fabric that can not be removed (unless they look cool)

9. Examine the buttons, zips and fastening to check they are functioning.

10. Thoroughly wash/dry clean your purchases as soon as you get home.

Here are some photos of items I purchased for 40,000 Dong (£1.15) per piece.

Tribes in Vietnam inspirational eco fashion

I travelled to Sapa along with 16 fashion students I was teaching to learn about Vietnamese ethnic minorities and collect fabrics and trimming for future collections. This journey was most inspirational not only because of the bright, vivid countryside and landscape. But also because of the wonderful and unique tribes that reside there, The Red Zao, Black Hmong and Flower Hmong, all living together harmoniously, preserving traditional culture growing there own hemp, spinning it into fabric, indigo dying and utilizing intricate embroidery techniques.

I asked them if they could teach me some of there techniques, 'No' they said 'We pass these down to our children and don't want people stealing our ideas' I was really happy that they were doing this.

Another Inspiration to me was the Sapa Image Gallery a photoagraphy gallery, the photography displayed in our gallery is the work of David Martin. He spent severial years in the Sapa area to produce this collection of photography which gives an in-depth look into the culture & people of my tribe, the Black Mong, and the other tribes in the area. Most likely this is the largest single collection of this nature to come out of Sapa. Some of these images show you the daily activities and ways in which they produce fabric.