Threads of Heritage From Vietnamese Craft Villages to a London Runway
Highland Haven, a design from Lan Hươg’s Prosperous Planet No. 2 collection.
From revived weaving techniques and La Khê silk to highland hemp, hand embroidery and beeswax drawing, traditional Vietnamese crafts will take their place at Áo Dài Fashion Week London 2026. Behind the garments on the runway are the people who still weave, embroider and make by hand — and who are finding new ways for these skills to remain part of contemporary fashion.
From fabric to runway, every Áo Dài carries the story of the hands that bring it to life.
On 20 September, their work will arrive at the Leonardo Royal Hotel London Tower Bridge for Áo Dài Fashion Week London 2026. Alongside the runway collections, the Heritage & Craft Exhibition will bring audiences closer to the materials, tools and processes behind the finished garments.
Two stories offer a particularly revealing look at this world. In La Khê, Hanoi, artisan Lê Đăng Toản and his wife, designer Nguyễn Thị Thúy Quỳnh, have spent years recovering weaving knowledge that had nearly disappeared. Meritorious Artisan and designer Lan Hương, meanwhile, continues to bring traditional craft into new work, connecting a collection to the hundreds of hands involved in its making.
Two stories offer a particularly revealing look at this world. In La Khê, Hanoi, artisan Lê Đăng Toản and his wife, designer Nguyễn Thị Thúy Quỳnh, have spent years recovering weaving knowledge that had nearly disappeared. Meritorious Artisan and designer Lan Hương, meanwhile, continues to bring traditional craft into new work, connecting a collection to the hundreds of hands involved in its making.
La Khê: Weaving Lost Techniques Back to Life
La Khê, on the outskirts of Hanoi, was once renowned for its the and silk weaving. Over the years, Lê Đăng Toản and Nguyễn Thị Thúy Quỳnh have sought out knowledge from older generations, reconstructed equipment and revived techniques that were in danger of disappearing. Today, their family can be considered among the last remaining practitioners of traditional the weaving in La Khê.
To date, Toản has successfully revived 10 of the village’s 14 traditional types of fabric. Of these, the is the textile he particularly wants to introduce to London.
Its distinction lies in the loom set-up and a specialised go võng heddle system. Warp and weft threads are twisted and interlaced in a way that gives the fabric an unusual balance: airy and lightweight to wear, yet firmly structured.
The more difficult question now is who will learn to make it next.
Its distinction lies in the loom set-up and a specialised go võng heddle system. Warp and weft threads are twisted and interlaced in a way that gives the fabric an unusual balance: airy and lightweight to wear, yet firmly structured.
The more difficult question now is who will learn to make it next.
- “Hand weaving is demanding work, and everything is done through human labour. Young people today are therefore less interested in taking up the craft. But we still hope to find someone who can carry it on, beginning within our own family,” Toản says.
At Áo Dài Fashion Week London, the couple will present “The Essence of Le Khê”, a collection made entirely from natural silk sourced from Bảo Lộc in Vietnam’s Lâm Đồng province. Cocoons and a traditional silk-winding tool will also form part of the exhibition, giving visitors a closer look at some of the tools and materials involved before silk becomes finished cloth.
Cocoons and a traditional silk-winding tool from La Khê, to be presented at the Heritage & Craft Exhibition.
Lan Hương: The Hundreds of Hands Behind a Collection
If La Khê is a story of recovering techniques that came close to disappearing, the work of Meritorious Artisan and designer Lan Hương explores another side of craft preservation: what happens when those skills continue to be commissioned, practised and transformed into new fashion.
One of the key pieces in “Prosperous Planet No. 2”, her collection for London, is “A Highland Haven”.
At first glance, the piece commands attention through deep indigo, densely worked motifs, a contrasting yellow bodice and a dramatic silhouette. Yet much of what makes it remarkable happened long before the finished garment could be seen.
It begins with hemp.
According to Lan Hương, turning the plant into cloth involves hundreds of stages. The hemp must be grown and harvested, its bark stripped, its fibres spun into thread and finally woven into fabric — all by hand.
Across the garment, motifs connected to the cultural life and relationship with nature of indigenous communities in Vietnam’s north-western highlands are rendered through hand embroidery and beeswax drawing.
Hành Tinh Phồn Thịnh No.2 is also the result of work shared across communities: traditional embroiderers from the lowlands and highland women involved in embroidery, drawing, brocade making, spinning and weaving. Lan Hương estimates that the collective labour behind the work runs into hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of hours.
When a garment reaches the runway, that entire chain of work is compressed into a few minutes. What an audience sees is the finished piece. Less visible are the plants that were once grown, the hemp fibres spun by hand, the cloth woven, the beeswax drawn onto its surface and the individual stitches worked into it.
At Áo Dài Fashion Week London, that story will continue beyond the runway. In the exhibition, Lan Hương will present her work at close range and speak directly with visitors about its materials, techniques and the people involved in making it.
One of the key pieces in “Prosperous Planet No. 2”, her collection for London, is “A Highland Haven”.
At first glance, the piece commands attention through deep indigo, densely worked motifs, a contrasting yellow bodice and a dramatic silhouette. Yet much of what makes it remarkable happened long before the finished garment could be seen.
It begins with hemp.
According to Lan Hương, turning the plant into cloth involves hundreds of stages. The hemp must be grown and harvested, its bark stripped, its fibres spun into thread and finally woven into fabric — all by hand.
Across the garment, motifs connected to the cultural life and relationship with nature of indigenous communities in Vietnam’s north-western highlands are rendered through hand embroidery and beeswax drawing.
Hành Tinh Phồn Thịnh No.2 is also the result of work shared across communities: traditional embroiderers from the lowlands and highland women involved in embroidery, drawing, brocade making, spinning and weaving. Lan Hương estimates that the collective labour behind the work runs into hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of hours.
When a garment reaches the runway, that entire chain of work is compressed into a few minutes. What an audience sees is the finished piece. Less visible are the plants that were once grown, the hemp fibres spun by hand, the cloth woven, the beeswax drawn onto its surface and the individual stitches worked into it.
At Áo Dài Fashion Week London, that story will continue beyond the runway. In the exhibition, Lan Hương will present her work at close range and speak directly with visitors about its materials, techniques and the people involved in making it.
Alongside many collections exploring Vietnamese culture, Áo dài Tăng will bring the Tứ Linh (Four Sacred Creatures) — the Dragon, Qilin, Tortoise and Phoenix — onto the Áo dài, combining traditional cultural values with contemporary design for London audiences to discover.
- From Fibre to Runway
- “We want audiences to see more than a beautiful Áo Dài. We want them to wonder who wove the fabric, who made each detail, how long a piece takes to complete, and how many years it takes to master the skills behind it. When we look at a finished garment, the work — and the many hands that created it — can so easily remain unseen,”
- says Hà Hoàng, a representative of Áo Dài Fashion Week London 2026.
Fashion is perpetually drawn to the new. Yet sometimes, what is worth travelling thousands of miles to London to see is something that has existed for generations — and the skilled hands still keeping it in motion.
Designer Lê Thanh Danh’s Bamboo & Symbiosis collection will also be featured at Áo Dài Fashion Week London 2026, bringing the image of bamboo and the simple, rustic elements of Vietnamese village life into his designs.
Date: Sunday, 20 September 2026
Time: 1:00–10:00 PM
Venue: Leonardo Royal Hotel London Tower Bridge, 45 Prescot Street, London E1 8GP
Heritage & Craft Exhibition: 1:00–8:00 PM — Free admission
An exhibition exploring Áo Dài heritage, Vietnamese silk traditions, embroidery techniques and artisan craftsmanship.
Runway Show 1: 3:00–5:00 PM
Runway Show 2: 6:00–8:00 PM
After Party & Industry and Cultural Networking: 8:30–10:00 PM — Free admission
An evening networking programme bringing together designers, cultural organisations, diplomats, media and creative professionals.
Tickets: Standard £35 · VIP £65 · SVIP £95
Website: adfw.london
Tickets: Eventbrite – Áo Dài Fashion Week London Gala Runway
Time: 1:00–10:00 PM
Venue: Leonardo Royal Hotel London Tower Bridge, 45 Prescot Street, London E1 8GP
Heritage & Craft Exhibition: 1:00–8:00 PM — Free admission
An exhibition exploring Áo Dài heritage, Vietnamese silk traditions, embroidery techniques and artisan craftsmanship.
Runway Show 1: 3:00–5:00 PM
Runway Show 2: 6:00–8:00 PM
After Party & Industry and Cultural Networking: 8:30–10:00 PM — Free admission
An evening networking programme bringing together designers, cultural organisations, diplomats, media and creative professionals.
Tickets: Standard £35 · VIP £65 · SVIP £95
Website: adfw.london
Tickets: Eventbrite – Áo Dài Fashion Week London Gala Runway