Sitting by the window of the Nhan Dan Newspaper building, looking out at the Turtle Tower, designer Vu Viet Ha began his story with a word he repeated over and over: "luck." He believes he was lucky to be born in Hanoi, lucky to have studied painting, and lucky to have found his own path in the highly competitive fashion market. But listening to him, behind that word "luck" lies nearly twenty years of perseverance to pursue his dream.

He originally majored in painting. The turning point came when he won an international award from the Bunka Design Institute (Japan). "The Japanese criteria is to honor traditional cultural values, everything related to heritage," he recalled. That award outlined the path he has pursued to this day: telling the story of Vietnamese culture through the language of clothing.

As the son of an official at Vietnam Television, he was initially slated to work there. But he took a different path, because of a life principle: he is responsible for his own success or failure. "I'm very worried that if I don't do it well or to the point of not meeting expectations, the criticism will be a burden on me," he confided. Throughout his student years, friends were familiar with Vu Viet Ha's image of studying and working at the same time, with the cost of art supplies and materials consuming all his self-earned money. That period of self-reliance honed both his style and his professional skills.

When Vũ Việt Hà is mentioned, the fashion world immediately thinks of materials that most designers wouldn't be keen on: hemp fiber, pineapple fiber, banana fiber, lotus fiber, and brocade. Faced with a somewhat bold decision, he chose to go against the grain, believing that the very "difficulty" of these local materials would create a unique mark.

The story began with internships during his student years, venturing into traditional craft villages in remote, mountainous areas. Each traditional fabric carries its own cultural genetic code: the Cơ Tu brocade of Quảng Nam is embellished with beads, while the brocade of Northern Vietnam is a multi-layered weaving technique. "It's like the product's positioning, a unique characteristic of each ethnic group," he says.

For designer Vu Viet Ha, the most beautiful ao dai (Vietnamese traditional dress) is perhaps the one yet to be made – the creations await him in the future, on a journey whose destination is always Vietnamese culture.