My idea of Saigon before I came to visit was a city full of bars and GI Joes. Obviously prejudiced by the play Miss Saigon, I half expected to see scantily dressed bar girls prancing in the streets. Or in their sexy ao dais wheezing by in their motorbikes. To my surprise, Saigon is not just that. It has risen from the ashes and, as many nations are becoming aware, Vietnam is in the midst of rapid development and societal changes. It is still laid-back in a lot of ways, but one must not forget that it was badly ravaged and damaged by war. It must be the charm of the old IndoChine intertwined with the fast-paced modernization that is attracting a lot of tourists like us. One thing for sure, the restaurants are great and the shopping is good. You will definitely get value for your money in Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City). Indeed, for shopaholics like us, we found a lot of fashion finds that were inexpensive but world-class in quality.
One such boutique is Anna Bui along Dong Khoi, which is considered the most fashionable street in Saigon. This street is also surrounded by most of Saigon’s five-star hotels. Anna Bui has a collection of ladies’ bags, shoes, clothes, and accessories that are different from the other boutiques. Among the zillions of bags and shoes one sees all over the city, the ones at Anna Bui are different and unique. We liked her boutique so much that we got carried away buying a lot of her bags with matching thongs and sandals. I did more than that. I went as far as interviewing her PR manager, Mr. Thanh, who obliged me with information about Anna Bui. Seeing a lot of Japanese and Europeans in her boutique convinced me that her collection will one day be featured in major fashion magazines.
Anna Bui is a graduate of chemistry at the University of Ho Chi Minh. But she became a banker, not a chemist. After working for 10 years in the bank, she was being promoted to a senior position when she decided to pursue her childhood dream of being a fashion designer. She started by dressing up her dolls as a young girl. In 1999, she opened her first boutique, Capuccine, in the heart of Saigon. Her line of clothing and scarves attracted a lot of Japanese tourists and wives of expats. In 2001, she decided to open another store under her name, Anna Bui, in Dong Khoi. She added bags and shoes to her line and this attracted even more customers. She started her factory with 25 workers and today, she has 70. She is the main designer, assisted by three young designers who help her source out products. Her favorite materials are silk taffeta, canvas, suede, leather, silk chiffon, velvet. Her designs veer towards feminine lines, soft-looking but sophisticated. She draws her inspiration from Vietnam’s beautiful nature, remembering that as a child, she admired the flowers of Dalat, the beautiful city where she grew up. At present, she exports to Japan, Thailand, Italy, USA, and England. She would like to expand further and export to more countries. But for now, she has another dream: to open her own haute couture line. Judging from the success of her boutiques, it won’t be long before she achieves this dream.
I asked Mr. Thanh how they avoid the problem of getting copied (I noticed most boutiques had the same designs of bags and shoes), and he quoted Anna Bui’s philosophy: "Be fast, be fresh, be of quality." This is the secret of Anna Bui’s success.