Vietnam, NZ fashion designers join fashion development Twenty outstanding fashion students from Vietnam and New Zealand have been working together on the first ever NZ–Vietnam Fashion Collaboration since early May to last until late July 2015. Ten teams, each comprised of one Vietnamese and one New Zealand student, will undertake ‘virtual’ or online collaboration to prepare a collection of garments under the theme “Fusion”.  The theme is designed to enable the students to explore the common traits and cultural values the two countries enjoy. The collaboration is part of the New Zealand Embassy’s activities to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic relations and friendship between New Zealand and Vietnam.  The collections will be judged, and the winning teams announced, at a high end fashion show at the Caravelle Saigon Hotel 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. Nhan Dan