When Anh Thu, a tall woman with black-rimmed glasses, walks into a designer boutique to choose a wedding outfit she knows exactly what she wants -- something bright.
Trying on a blood red silk rose-embroidered top, the 25-year-old secretary for a trading company in Ho Chi Minh City, says sedate hues would not be fitting for her big day.
"The style of the collection here is suited to my Vietnamese taste," she says.
Thu's fashion sense may stand out in this traditionally staid communist country but it lights the way ahead for Vietnam's fledgling fashion industry, both domestically and if it is to attempt to make its mark in the global market for haute couture.
The emerging industry is concentrated around Ho Chi Minh City with its growing population of trendy and relatively affluent urbanites.
Critics say most designers here simply copy or improvise Western and Chinese patterns. But a band of young designers in the southern business capital is seeking to assert a separate identity with works partly inspired by Vietnamese traditions that are catching the eye of foreign designers.
Nguyen Quoc Binh, 25, the designer and owner of the "QB Mode" boutique helps Thu tuck in a long, orange-colored cloth beneath the top and lets it cascade in front of her.
The fabric will be turned into an ankle-length skirt and acquire some pink, blue and purple layers, setting Thu back US$300.
In between attending to her customer, Binh says, "I like to mix many colors because I want to have fun and create the image of a happy life."
After nearly two decades of economic reforms and rising affluence, fun and a happy life are becoming affordable for many Vietnamese people.
"People have so far been used to wearing something that lasts long, synthetic fabrics," says Nguyen Kieu Thu, a prominent make up artist in the fashion industry.
"Now the living standards are upgraded and people care about what they wear. It is a good sign for fashion. They realize that silk or cotton or linen is good and they begin to use many different kinds of material and colors. But I think fashion in Vietnam is too young compared with other countries," she says.
Binh's design and those of another young designer, Nguyen Trong Nguyen, were recently displayed at a show in Hanoi which also featured Italian fashion company Erreuno.
The show was overseen by Dang Thi Minh Hanh, director of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Fashion Design Institute, who has had her works displayed on catwalks abroad.
Erreuno designer Sonia Speciale was impressed with what she saw.
"They are ready to be exported," Speciale says of the collections presented by Binh and Nguyen. "The only thing is that in order to be exported they have to have a proper organization and a proper base of people working for them to get the best they want. But at this point, they can be exported, no problem."
Speciale marvels at the color schemes preferred by Binh and Nguyen.
"What struck me was the eccentricity, especially for the skirts, they were using textiles which were like raw silk."
The outfits the designers presented at the show are aimed at special evenings or parties and bring into play the tradition of embroidery and
needlework in Vietnam.
"There were a good series of outfits which had orange and red as colors and it really struck me because it reminded me of fire," she says.
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