Vietnam’s Cong Tri fashion, worn by Rihanna, Beyoncé and Blackpink’s Rosé, and its designer, who is ready to help his country ‘stake its claim on the world fashion map’

When billionaire singer Rihanna posed for an ad campaign by luxury shoemaker Manolo Blahnik, she made a star out of a little-known Vietnamese designer who made the oversized white shirt she posed in.

For more than two decades, Nguyen Cong Tri has been crafting chic structured evening wear made of Vietnamese-spun silk, organza or taffeta. But, despite some success at home, his eponymous label Cong Tri’s designs gained less traction elsewhere.

When Rihanna showcased his Em Hoa range, inspired by the flower sellers of Vietnam, one famous name after another – model Naomi Campbell and singers Beyoncé, Gwen Stefani, Miley Cyrus, Rita Ora and Rosé from Blackpink among them – began wearing his designs to high-profile events.

“I am so proud. Designs by a Vietnamese designer, all Vietnamese production, being chosen and worn by Hollywood stars,” Tri says from his glamorous boutique in Ho Chi Minh City.

Some of his collections were dreamed up during flights over the rice fields of his homeland; another was influenced by the all-women militias of the Vietnam war (1955-1975).

With three stores in the country’s business capital, a judging role on the local version of reality television show Project Runway, and growing international interest, he is a firm believer that Vietnam has more to offer fashion than its role of factory workhorse.

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Tri now has a staff of more than 150 people and is hopeful his success can guide a new generation of talent. “It won’t be too far in the future that Vietnam can stake its claim on the world fashion map,” he says.

One of eight siblings, Tri was born in the central coastal city of Da Nang in 1978 – just three years after the war with the US ended. He studied industrial arts and initially took a job sketching out CD covers for Vietnamese musicians.

But a fascination with the “resilience and strength” of Vietnam’s women soldiers, who he had heard stories about at school, propelled his slide into fashion and led to his first collection – Green Leaves, made using a patchwork cloth technique that took inspiration from the winter uniform and hard green hats of the fighters.

“When they were at home, they worked in the rice fields, taking care of their families,” he said of the soldiers. “When on the battlefields, they became the militias: they were such strong women.”

“In all of my collections … the characteristics that make a strong Vietnamese woman are always conveyed or hidden in my design, even in the material,” added Tri, dressed head to toe in white and sporting a pair of thick-rimmed black glasses.

At Tokyo Fashion Week in 2016, Tri showed off a collection made from Lanh My A silk, a highly durable material made in just one village in the Mekong Delta, to the west of Ho Chi Minh City, that requires huge skill and patience to produce.

The fabric needs to be dyed up to 100 times using the ebony-coloured mac nua fruit to achieve its leather-like appearance, and it took Tri two years to get together enough material.

Those designs were influenced by the ao ba ba – a traditional outfit worn by rice farmers – and his determination to represent his homeland in his clothes has won him fans far beyond Vietnam.

His flower girl collection was spotted by Rihanna’s stylist at Tokyo Fashion Week – who promptly ordered three designs – and two years later, he became the first designer based in Vietnam with a show at New York Fashion Week.

He had spent many years “trying and wishing” to get the attention of global stars in an industry where, according to a recent report by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, half of employees of colour believe a fashion career is not equally accessible to all.

While Vietnam’s textile factories have hit the headlines in the past year over their struggles to fulfil orders for global clothing giants such as Nike and Gap amid a brutal Covid-19 wave, a clutch of young, talented designers alongside Tri are ready to reclaim the Made in Vietnam label.

“Making our names in the world fashion industry is the result of a long process of hard work,” said Tri, who previously joked that the secret to finding success abroad is to put in 18 hours a day at the office.

Some say the pandemic has given the industry a chance to shift, with virtual catwalks allowing designers from all corners of the world to shine, but Tri believes Asian designers need to keep fighting to make it to the top.

He explains: “We have to always think of some way, some path to go down step by step. It’s not just about waiting for society to take a chance on us.”