February 2012

SHOPPING UP A STORM IN SAIGON

From bargain basement handicrafts to high-end homewares, Ho Chi Minh City is a shopper's paradise for every penchant and pocket

WORDS GEMMA PRICE
PHOTOGRAPHY NANA CHEN

We bring you a strategic shopper's guide to downtown District 1, where the city's best boutiques, stores and stalls are allconveniently located.

DONG KHOI

This leafy colonial boulevard is one of Ho Chi Minh City's (HCMC) most prestigious postcodes. Among the high-brow fashion stores and Indochine-inspired coffee shops, you'll find boutiques packed with art and antiques, lacquer pieces, leather goods, and hand-embroidered cotton, linen and silk.

Near the river, dusty, cluttered Nguyên Frères' is a great place to rummage for old art works, frames and reproduction furniture and curiosities. Across the street, propaganda poster shop Lotus offers an insight into another era altogether, stocking original propaganda posters and prints from Saigon's wartime and reunification years.

Look no further than VivekKevin's hot pink boutique for limited edition, one-off and bespoke contemporary accessories; while up the street, Mystere stocks affordable sterling silver jewellery inspired by traditional ethnic minority designs.

At both Khai Silk brand boutiques, tables are piled high with coils of finely printed silk scarves, leather purses, ties, and elegant garments a cut above other local tailor-made couture. Bag fanatics should also check out the shelves of Vietnamese -American designer Le Phuong Thao's preppy satchels, agendas and leather arm wear at minimalist Desino; and Ipa Nima's covetable glam purses, woven leather bags and sequined chic clutches.

Set above the Art Arcade, trend-setting lifestyle concept store L'Usine has fast become the city's hip hang-out. Comprising a factory canteen-cum-café bistro, fashion and homewares store, and art exhibits in a loft-style space, L'Usine stocks exclusive brands that are inspired by and made in Vietnam.

PASTEUR AND LE THANH TON

Discover Valerie Gregori Mackenzie's glorious natural fabrics for home and body at Song, and hats and fun floral garments at Maison de Bunga. Below Geisha's cute tea salon and café, you'll find a ground-floor boutique of pretty print dresses and scarves; and just next door, La Bella has everything to style the modern socialite, from beaded and enamel jewellery to cocktail dresses and silk fur evening wraps.

Along Le Thanh Ton, there are more bags, shoes and couture galore: Shoko stocks one-off, cute-as-a-button Japanese hats and garments, hand-made in Vietnam and retailed at their Tokyo boutique. Shoe store Mandarina sells ready-made and bespoke ladies footwear in satin, silk and snakeskin; and Kenly Silk specialises in skillfully worked off-the-rack and bespoke silk couture.

MARKETS

Haggling hotspot Ben Thanh market has everything under one roof. Cosmetics, shoes, garments and snacks are peddled alongside lacquerware, ethnic minority motif-embroidered bags and chopsticks encased in mother-of-pearl-inlaid resin. But check the quality of your goodies before purchasing — "Vietnamese silk" often means polyester, and stone vanity boxes are often moulded from resin.

Just to the south of Ben Thanh market, the open shopfronts lining Le Cong Kieu are a jumble of reproduction Indochine oil lamp chandeliers, oriental clocks, general bric-a-brac and the odd authentic piece. Dan Sinh Market, often referred to as Yersin Street Market, is a few blocks over and the place to bargain for dog tags, army apparel and battered canteens for your retro military look.

TON THAT THIEP

Tranquil Ton That Thiep lane is the domain of traditional handicrafts. You'll fall in love with lacquerware trays, boxes and eggshell lacquer candleholders, decorative wall hangings of village scenes, and teapots and tableware.

Dogma does a nice line in propaganda art coffee books, replica posters and garments featuring Communist-inspired motifs; and every inch of wall space at Sapa, named for the mountainous northern region of Vietnam, is hung with skirts, tunics and bright embroidered totes adorned with the prints and embroidered designs of the hill tribes that live there.

MAC THI BUOI

Linking Nguyen Hue, Dong Khoi and Hai Ba Trung boulevards, this short street has a little of everything. Quaint boutique It Happened To Be A Closet is jam-packed with fluorescent belts, embellished bags plus dresses decorated with appliqué flowers, birds and sequins by fashion-forward brand Palette.

Opposite, Mosaique is a treasure trove of beaded and embroidered cushions, lampshades and decorative items for the home, while Cao Minh corners the market for quality custom-made and made-to-measure men's business and formal attire.

A BIT BEYOND

Massimo Ferrari produces hand-made off-the-rack, made-to-measure and bespoke Neopolitan-style garments. It's Vietnam's first indigenous top-to-toe luxury design house, run by creative visionary and designer Antonio Torres — of Gucci during the Tom Ford era. 42A1 Tran Quoc Thao, D3., tel: +84 (8) 3930 6212.