The American dream is alive and well. For it is here in America that a
woman with a passion for fashion who immigrated from Vietnam with no formal
design training could grow as an emerging contemporary designer in a very
competitive market. Hanh Merriman has become one to watch in the fashion
industry, and it was no easy feat for her to get there.
The Dallas-based fashion designer was born in Vietnam, and now has a
showroom in New York City. 75 percent of her production is now done in New
York City too, with the other 25 percent done in Dallas.
When Merriman was 12 years old, she began falling in love with fashion and
dreamed of making clothes. At the time she didn’t know anything about
sewing or making patterns, but she asked her mom to buy her fabric which
she made an asymmetrical top with a triangle neckline. It was very fashion
forward for the time, particularly for her small village in Vietnam.
Unfortunately, when Merriman was a teenager her mom became very ill, so
rather than continuing on with her passion for fashion she became
interested in becoming a doctor to help people who were sick like her
mother.
However, back in 1975 Merriman’s brother and sister had escaped Vietnam.
With admissions to higher education being based on family history, Merriman
wasn’t admitted to college because in the eyes of Vietnam her brother and
sister had betrayed the country. She ended up staying home with her mother
until her brother was able to sponsor her to move to America when she was
25 years old. Merriman would go on to have two kids, with her life focusing
on being a mother.
Motherhood didn’t deter her from finding a hobby. She became a fashion and
travel blogger at the height of blogger mania in 2006 and found a renewed
love for fashion. After eleven years of blogging she began to shift her
focus back to her family, but then came a closer look at her wardrobe. “One
day I went into my closet and thought to myself ‘I need a closet update,’”
Merriman said to FashionUnited. “But then I said, why don’t I finally
design something and do a line, because I’ve wanted to design all of my
life. I designed ten looks for myself and people started telling me they
would buy these pieces if I had my own clothing line. That’s what really
encouraged me to do this.”
Self-taught designer Hanh Merriman is slowly growing her namesake
label
Merriman would soon be introduced to Brian Bolke, the co-founder of Forty
Five Ten, who introduced her to the Forty Five Ten buyers that told her if
she produced a full-scale collection they would carry it in their stores.
With her oldest child getting ready to go off to college, and her other
child approaching her senior year of high school, Merriman jumped at the
opportunity to have what would become her new baby.
Merriman told FashionUnited if she could go back and tell her younger self
one thing it would be, “If you’re passionate about something, don’t betray
that passion. Keep moving forward and set a goal, because in a matter of
time it will happen. You can’t run away from what you love.”
She doesn’t deny there have been some challenges in being a self-taught
designer. Figuring out the proper names of different techniques is still an
ongoing process for her with English being her second language. “Vietnamese
is my mother language, so when I learn a new technique in fashion, I don’t
always remember the name of it, but I always know exactly what it is,”
Merriman said to FashionUnited. “So I started carrying around pictures to
show manufacturers so I can tell them this is the technique I want for my
garment.”
Her word of caution for young designers trying to make it in this climate
is that, “Finding the retail partners isn’t as easy as it used to be. They
want to make sure you are really committed to this and that your brand DNA
is consistent. They need to prepare themselves that the reality of selling
clothes isn’t easy. Designers need to be on top of their design aesthetic
and know what buyers and customers think about their designers so they can
take that feedback and better themselves as designers and better their
brand.”
Despite Merriman being self-taught, she is a strong supporter of young
designers attending fashion design school. “Design schools are needed
because they make it easier for students to succeed,” Merriman said to
FashionUnited. “They will teach the students techniques so they can leave
with a good knowledge of fashion. It’s important for designers to also look
beyond what they learn in school and also have a natural instinct for
fashion, because that is really important too. You can go to school, but if
you don’t have designer instincts it will be very difficult to succeed.”
Merriman also told FashionUnited that given the current retail climate,
which is very saturated and very competitive, that young designers also,
“Have to work harder to be more creative and original. In addition, they
also have to be patient. Above all else, be yourself.”
There is no denying the designer is truly one-of-a-kind overcoming
hardship, immigrating to America, and being self-taught to end up with one
a top luxury store as her exclusive retail partner. Merriman is proof of
the age-old testament, never give up.
photos: courtesy of Showroom Seven
