In a fascinating blend of personal history and cultural revival, Vietnamese Gen Zs are reclaiming their forebears' exploitative history of garment outwork. Jennifer Kiều Anh Doan, a Melbourne-based fashion enthusiast, has inherited her passion for fashion from her mother, Đại Nguyen, whose work in the industry was driven by financial necessity rather than creative independence. Ms. Nguyen, an 'outworker' who sewed clothes in her living room after migrating to Australia from post-war Saigon in 1991, is a thread in a larger story of underpaid Vietnamese migrants who invisibly supported Australia's fashion industry. According to Emma Do and Kim Lam's graphic novel, May ở Nhà (Working from Home), Asian migrants were the backbone of Australia's garment industry at the time. Despite the hardships, many outworkers were ashamed of their jobs and their children embarrassed. However, as Vietnam's fashion industry has burgeoned, young Vietnamese creatives in Australia, like Ms. Doan, are reclaiming a history of survival labor and celebrating their forebears' legacy of craftsmanship. Through community-driven fashion pop-up stores showcasing local Vietnamese labels, they are reconnecting with their culture and creating a space where other Vietnamese overseas can see themselves reflected with pride. Fashion has become a bridge between their divorced worlds, and a conduit to building a community for Melbourne's 'Việt Kiều'. Ms. Doan and Ms. Nguyen launched KIỀU Store in 2024, which, alongside serving as a fashion boutique, also serves as a reminder of a faraway place, sparking conversations between strangers about Vietnamese heritage and migration. Vietnam's fashion industry began to revive after the war when economic reforms invited trade opportunities, leading to the establishment of garment factories in the late 1980s. By the early 2000s, a growing middle class spurred a shift toward homegrown fashion and design talent. Ms. Doan attributes Vietnam's recent global fashion acclaim to designers' bold sense of 'fearlessness', a trait she sees as inherited from ancestors' wartime resilience, and one that drives experimental silhouettes and boundary-pushing designs. 'Modern Vietnamese fashion is a reflection of how Vietnam's been able to reinvent itself so much after the war,' she said. Traditional dress such as the áo dài has been re-imagined with exaggerated silhouettes, side slits and unconventional fabrics, Do said. She believes that older generations often viewed these designs as extreme departures from the conservative fit, but 'there needs to be that tension between generations, that's how you push culture forward'.
