Westerners with the experience of getting clothes tailored immediately in Hoi An

The Australian tourist was satisfied with her custom-made dress after only 7 hours at a tailor shop in Hoi An ancient town.

In Hoi An, amid pagodas of pale green or yellow stone, a tailor works in an old tailor shop. When Australian tourist Anabel Dean walks into the shop, she is greeted by the petite designer Pamela Van. Anabel wants to make a cocktail dress that will make her look younger and not too skinny.

Westerners with the experience of getting clothes tailored immediately in Hoi An — **A tailor shop in Hoi An ancient town.** Photo: iStock

On the floor of the tailor shop, about 100 workers are busy sewing machines. Quality control inspectors walk around to make sure the products are produced perfectly but as quickly as possible.

Downstairs, Anabel sat on a couch next to a table piled high with samples. She flipped through the pages, making her selections. Seeing her client was hesitant, Pamela led her to a room filled with colorful fabric pieces. After selecting a sample, Anabel was led into a curtained room, where Pamela began holding the fabric up to her body, marking the folds with chalk, and asked her to come back in three hours for a final fitting.

There are many ways to explore Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Besides trying out a basket boat or weaving through the streets on a bicycle, the ancient town also attracts Australian female tourists with its instant tailoring service. More than 400 tailors in Hoi An are working this job, day and night.

Anabel is a journalist and travel blogger who visited Hoi An and Quy Nhon in November 2023. She commented that few tourists can refuse to have a tailor-made suit made at an affordable price in Hoi An. However, she also worried about being cheated when tailors used cheap materials and felt very grateful to her tour guide for taking her to a reputable tailor shop. "You get what you pay for," the guide told Anabel as she waited for her in front of the tailor shop to prepare for the next journey.

While waiting to get her dress, Anabel and her local guide walked around the old town, weaving through banana cake and tapioca dumpling carts and visiting historic houses.

When I returned to the tailor shop, it was bustling with tourists trying on dresses and shirts. A wealthy-looking female tourist dressed in designer clothes was trying on ready-made jackets in the shop.

The tailor handed Anabel her dress. The design was a fusion of East and West, with a waist-length silk tie that accentuated the bust. Pamela linked arms with Anabel and walked her to the door after the customer had finished trying on the dress. The woman waved goodbye as the Australian left. Three hours later, the blue silk dress arrived at Anabel’s hotel, wrapped in a simple paper bag.

A week later, when colleagues walked into the cocktail bar at a swanky Sydney gathering, they asked Anabel about the dress she was wearing. They thought it was a design by Bianca Spender, a famous Australian fashion designer. “No, it was made in Hoi An by a woman called Pamela,” Anabel replied with a laugh.

According to vnexpress.net

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