On a hazy Sunday afternoon at the M-K-T shopping center in the Houston Heights, the Chloe Dao boutique is buzzing with shoppers, many of whom are doing their best to act normal around one of the city\u2019s most beloved fashion designers. Dao is the only person working at her shop on this busy day, and yet she shows no sign of stress. She greets customers, asks if a sorority rush dress has color requirements, jokes about the latest Real Housewives drama, puts eponymous labels on shopping bags. When she senses one customer might be struggling to get a dress on, she asks, \u201cDo you need help? Those straps can be tricky.\u201d The young woman\u2014who was probably in elementary school when Dao competed on Project Runway, a reality series where designers compete for a chance to show a collection at New York Fashion Week\u2014hesitates as Dao steps away from the front desk of her shop. Dao is the picture of Texan casual elegance, in skinny jeans, an airy top with black stitching, and strappy heels. Her ponytail bounces with authority as she walks over to the dressing room, and within seconds the customer\u2019s frustration is replaced with calm. It\u2019s no wonder that Dao won the second season of Project Runway sixteen years ago. She\u2019s adept at making it work.<\/p>\n
By the time Dao popped up on Bravo, she\u2019d already made a name for herself in the fashion industry. She\u2019d worked with brands such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Carolina Herrera, and Marc Jacobs, selling and fulfilling special orders. Her fashion line Simply Chloe had a recurring spotlight on QVC, and her Houston boutique, Lot 8, had been open for four years. After Project Runway, the opportunities got even bigger. \u201cI did a collaboration with Dove deodorant, I showed [a collection] in the Smithsonian museum, I was the keynote speaker for Girl Scouts\u2019 one-hundred-year anniversary,\u201d she reminisces over the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still think we should have won that lingerie challenge,\u201d Dao says, playfully feigning bitterness in reference to a Project Runway group challenge in which her designs did not fare well with the judges. I think of the black lace undergarments from that challenge and wonder how many similar looks she\u2019s successfully designed and sold since, right here in Houston. In addition to her e-commerce site and flagship store in Rice Village, Dao opened a second outpost in M-K-T, a trendy mixed-use shopping center, in early 2021. And she\u2019s done all of this from Houston, a city known more for its medical and petroleum industries than for its fashion scene. Despite the opportunities flowing in New York, where the fashion district afforded all the energy and resources (including Project Runway fan-favorite shop Mood Fabrics) necessary for a successful career, Dao decided to return home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve covered fashion for nearly twenty years in Houston and I\u2019ve interviewed a lot of designers here,\u201d says Joy Sewing, a former fashion editor and longtime friend of Dao\u2019s. \u201cMost of them went out of business, transitioned to doing something else, or moved to another city. [Dao] is one of the few that have stayed here and made a successful career here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dao was born in Laos and was just eight years old when her family\u2014which includes eight daughters, stairsteps in age\u2014came to the U.S., arriving first in Dallas, then settling in Houston\u2019s north side. Coming of age in the eighties and nineties, Dao was a well-rounded student at Aldine Middle School and Aldine High, and thrived in their diverse environments. \u201cEveryone was smart and talented and popular, and so many different races,\u201d she said. \u201cI was good at school and I got to do cheerleading. It was like a utopia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her mother planted the earliest seeds of Dao\u2019s prowess in the fashion business. \u201cShe\u2019s a kick-ass woman,\u201d Dao says. \u201cShe came to the United States with no English and she had three jobs\u2014one of them was sewing for Macy\u2019s and Nordstrom\u2014then [worked] as an alteration lady at a men\u2019s tailor shop.\u201d Dao gets lost in reverie before she adds, with impeccable comedic timing, \u201cThen she went to KFC to do some fried chicken.\u201d Eventually, Dao\u2019s mother began making clothes to sell at the flea market on the weekends, eight small assistants in tow.<\/p>\n
Over time, Dao developed her own style. \u201cI\u2019m drawn to clean lines and curves, in nature, architecture, and product designs,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m inspired by the great Balenciaga, Givenchy, Vionnet, Geoffrey Beene, and great old American costume designers like Edith Head.\u201d Growing up with seven sisters created her innate understanding of body diversity. Today, that awareness has inspired her to provide sample sizes for all body types. \u201cI\u2019m working on this collection where a lot of gowns\u2019 sample sizes are 12, 14, and 16, where a real woman can come in and try it on. Because real women are not only size 0 and 2.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dao thinks back fondly on her New York days, but she remembers seeing how consuming the fashion industry could be. She recalls working for a boss in New York who was successful but seemed bitter and lonely. \u201cI did not want that life,\u201d Dao says. \u201cMy whole purpose for moving back to Houston was to be closer to my family, and to have a life with fashion, and friends, and family. Three f\u2019s, not just one.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2000, Dao moved back to Houston and promptly created a life containing all three of her priorities. \u201cI get to go to my mom\u2019s to sleep over or hang out, hang out with my family, have time with my husband and friends\u2014even though I\u2019m working my butt off all the time.\u201d Moving to Houston helped her achieve the elusive work-life balance, but it also made her dreams financially feasible. At first, she lived at home with her parents and drove their car to save money. \u201cI don\u2019t come from money,\u201d explains Dao. \u201c[I] needed family support and financial support to open the boutique.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Dao\u2019s M-K-T boutique is a testament to everything she\u2019s built over the past two decades. The store is the physical embodiment of approachable glamour; there\u2019s a table of geometric earrings, delicate necklaces, and statement rings; a row of hot pink and parrot-green skirts and pants paired with floral and firefly-printed tops. In just about every direction, you\u2019ll find meticulously crafted dresses for any occasion. Dao\u2019s design studio is visible from all points in the boutique, welcoming customers to watch alterations, to gaze at mood boards, to see the design process. She was inspired by the \u201copen kitchen\u201d concept that became popular around the time of her Project Runway run. \u201cFood became a whole thing, chefs became rock stars, because you can see the process and why it takes so much to make some dish,\u201d Dao explains. \u201cI think once you see how things are made, you value it more. I personally love watching anything get made. I just love the process and creation of anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s advantageous that Dao values the journey as much as the destination, because on any given day she\u2019s a fashion designer, businesswoman, and everything in between. \u201cI talk to my staff, sell to clients, come up with custom designs, strategize about the business, and then probably do some cleaning and organization between the design studio, the Rice Village store, or the M-K-T location,\u201d she says. \u201cSo I\u2019m like the cleaning lady and the CEO.\u201d Natalie Besnard is store manager for Chloe Dao and has known Dao since 1999, when they were both starting out in retail. She thinks Dao\u2019s personality is a key to her sustained success. \u201cBeing with Chloe is like being with, like, your closest, funniest, most creative friend. She will just make you feel so welcomed.\u201d<\/p>\n
No matter how much love for the H one might possess, it\u2019s much easier to be in the business of selling clothes in a town like New York. \u201cI wish I could just go down the street and find the fabric or trimming I need, the fashion culture,\u201d says Dao. \u201cI miss just walking out in Manhattan. I miss the ecosystem of the fashion district.\u201d Ultimately, though, she\u2019s at peace with her decision to design and run her business in Houston, especially since she has witnessed the city investing in its arts and culture scene. \u201cI think we try. There are more fashion boutiques now and more support for local designers,\u201d she says. \u201cLike, literally next door to me at M-K-T is a shop called the Pop-Up Co-Op. They\u2019re local designers and artists, women-owned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back in 2006, when Tim Gunn visited Dao ahead of her Bryant Park showing, he was bewildered at the lack of sketches or a declared collection theme. Unfazed, Dao said, \u201cI\u2019m the kind of designer that doesn\u2019t really think of a theme. I like to think about my customers and what they need this season.\u201d Dao is just as attuned to her customers\u2019 changing needs today as she was during that episode sixteen years ago.Read more at:long prom dresses<\/a> | prom dress shops uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On a hazy Sunday afternoon at the M-K-T shopping center in the Houston Heights, the Chloe Dao boutique is buzzing with shoppers, many of whom are doing their best to act normal around one of the city\u2019s most beloved fashion designers. Dao is the only person working at her shop on this busy day, and … L\u00e4s mer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-okategoriserad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogg.improveme.se\/latestlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogg.improveme.se\/latestlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogg.improveme.se\/latestlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogg.improveme.se\/latestlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogg.improveme.se\/latestlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogg.improveme.se\/latestlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177,"href":"https:\/\/blogg.improveme.se\/latestlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions\/177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogg.improveme.se\/latestlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogg.improveme.se\/latestlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogg.improveme.se\/latestlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}