Vietnamese fashion favors international beauty
In recent years, Vietnamese fashion shows have seen more and more foreign models. Girls with typical Asian beauty, Western European girls with blue eyes and blonde hair, models of dark skin from Africa, or faces with typical Middle Eastern features... together create a "visual feast" for the runway and breathe new life into the Vietnamese fashion market.
Three foreign models Elise, Emilly, Yuki and two Vietnamese models Thuy Duong and Rosa Vu backstage at the Sixdo fashion show
Photo: Glasses
One of the foreign models with outstanding Asian beauty that is loved by Vietnamese fashion houses is Polina Kim. In addition to her standard model body and height of 1.76 m, the Korean beauty also impresses with her balanced, soft face and beautiful monolid eyes. She receives bookings in 4 countries: Vietnam, Thailand, Italy and Uzbekistan through 4 management companies in the host country. In Vietnam, Nixx model is the management unit that receives bookings for Kim. This girl has performed at the Vietnam International Fashion Week Spring Summer 2024 , catwalking for designer Do Long. Most impressive is Kim's "super long" lookbook list, with a series of brands such as: Cong Tri, Le Lam, Reina, December Chris, Keira Tong, Myan, Linh Phung, GIGI, MOSEF, Atous, Xeo Xo...
Siberian model Daria, 1.78 m tall, works mainly in Russia and Vietnam. The most popular foreign model of Narc Model Management possesses outstanding European beauty with blue eyes, a high nose bridge, and a perfect bone structure, suitable for high-end fashion brands. Recently, Daria has performed catwalk for designers Do Manh Cuong, Lam Gia Khang, Chung Thanh Phong, Pham studio..., and taken lookbook photos for Phan Dang Hoang, The Soul, Chymeochy...
Black models are still the most prominent group of Western models. Emilly Petraglia is managed by the mother agency in Brazil and was invited to Vietnam by Narc in mid-April. Emilly is 1.72 m tall, has healthy dark skin, a toned body and impressive curly hair. She was called a "living doll" by designer Chung Thanh Phong and is sought after by many Vietnamese brands. Emilly took lookbooks for Gia Studio, catwalked for SIXDO, Pham studio...
Two Vietnamese models Doan Tuong Linh and Thao Linh (middle) with two foreign models Ali and Ju in Cong Tri's Spring Summer 2025 collection
Photo: FBNTK
Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc, founder of Narc Model Management, said there are many reasons why foreign models are favored by the Vietnamese fashion market. In addition to standard body shape and height, these girls are all new faces and have a professional and effective working style. Foreign models bring to Vietnamese fashion different international beauty expressed through skin color, eye color, facial shape or unique features of each continent. Narc's models come from Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, Africa..., invited to Vietnam through contracts with mother agencies. "Western models often only stay in Vietnam for a short time, so there are often many new faces. This creates an advantage of "exclusive" model images for Vietnamese brands when booking foreign models," said Mr. Duc.
Since 2018, Nixx model has had the first Western models pass the casting round to perform for designer Cong Tri at fashion week. With the motto "whatever the world has, Vietnam has", this unit is currently the pioneer in connecting international models with good catwalk skills to the Vietnamese catwalk. Among the fashion shows from the beginning of the year until now, this unit always has 7-10 foreign models selected to perform on the runway. In addition to Narc, Nixx, the supply of foreign models also comes from ASK Model Management, Mango Model Management, New Level Talent Management, PMD Model Management... with many different segments, for categories such as catwalk, lookbook photos, campaign photography, music videos, product review photography...
Compete with strength
For office and street fashion brands such as Oyster, Magonn, DMC, Khau by CQ, White Chic, The Soul... with domestic customers, inviting foreign models brings added value to the product and brand; meanwhile, Vietnamese brands aiming at the international market choose foreign models that are closer to the image of potential customers.
After the shows at New York Fashion Week (USA) in 2019, designer Cong Tri regularly introduced seasonal collections in international fashion magazine Vogue . Of the 3 recent collections including Fall 2025 , Spring Summer 2025 and Fall Winter 2024 , he only chose 3 Vietnamese models out of a total of 12 models. Brands that are "attacking" the global market strongly such as Gia Studios, C.Dam, Lsoul, Fancì club, Hacchic Couture... also chose foreign models for photo sets and communication campaigns on digital platforms.
Model Polina Kim catwalks at Vietnam International Fashion Week Spring Summer 2024
Photo: Organizing Committee
Designer Le Thanh Hoa said he makes no distinction between Western and Vietnamese models. Whether it is a personal show or a fashion week performance, he always organizes castings to find suitable faces. The criteria for selecting models are based on the spirit of the collection and suitability with the brand's fashion style. Particularly for runway models, the model's catwalk skills, charisma and mental energy are the decisive factors.
There is an implicit competition taking place on the Vietnamese fashion catwalk when looking at the number of nearly 1,500 models participating in the casting for the Vietnam International Fashion Week Spring Summer 2025 , including many prominent international models. Young model Kieu Thi Thuy Hang said she noticed that foreign models are gradually becoming the priority choice of designers. "Although not all, but some Vietnamese models are of decreasing quality, weak skills, not tall enough, not standard body shape, unserious working attitude... Meanwhile, international models are more beautiful, have good skills, participate in all activities and are only slightly more expensive than Vietnamese models," Thuy Hang said.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nguoi-mau-ngoai-phu-song-thoi-trang-viet-185250613003623213.htm
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