Australian female tourist was satisfied with her custom-made dress after only 7 hours at a tailor shop in Hoi An ancient town.
In Hoi An, among the pagodas of pale green or yellow stone, a tailor is working in an old tailor shop. When Australian female tourist Anabel Dean entered the shop, she was greeted by petite designer Pamela Van. Anabel wants to make a cocktail dress that will look younger and not look too skinny.
A tailor shop in Hoi An ancient town. Image: iStock
On the floor of the tailor shop, about 100 workers are working hard at sewing machines. Quality controllers go around making sure the products come out perfect but as quickly as possible.
Downstairs, Anabel sat on a couch next to a table filled with designs. She flipped through the pages to choose. Seeing that the guest was wondering, Pamela led her to a room filled with colorful pieces of fabric. After choosing the fabric sample, Anabel was led into a room with curtains, where Pamela began to stretch the fabric on the customer’s body and mark the folds with chalk, then promised to return 3 hours later for the final try-on.
There are many ways to explore Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In addition to trying out basket boats or weaving through the streets on a bicycle, the old town also attracts Australian female tourists with instant clothing tailoring services. More than 400 tailors in Hoi An are doing this work, day and night.
Anabel is a journalist and travel blogger. She went to Hoi An and Quy Nhon on a trip in November 2023. She commented that very few tourists can refuse to order a tailor-made suit at an affordable price in Hoi An. However, she also worried about being scammed when the tailors used cheap materials and felt very grateful to her tour guide for leading her to a reputable tailor shop. “You get what you pay for,” the tour guide told Anabel while waiting for her in front of the tailor shop to prepare for the next journey.
While waiting to get her dress, Anabel and a local guide walked around the old town, weaving through carts of banana cakes and tapioca starch and visiting houses with a long history.
When I returned to the tailor shop, the place was bustling with tourists trying on dresses and shirts. A wealthy-looking female tourist wearing designer clothes was trying on ready-made jackets in the store.
The tailor gave Anabel her outfit. The design is a combination of East and West styles, with a waist-length silk tie creating a highlight for the chest. Pamela took Anabel’s arm and walked her to the door after the guest finished trying on the clothes. When the Australian tourist left, the woman was still standing there waving. Three more hours later, the blue silk dress was brought to Ananbel’s hotel and wrapped in a simple paper bag.
A week later, when colleagues walked up to the cocktail bar at a chic Sydney gathering, they asked Anabel about the dress she was wearing. Colleagues think this is a design by Bianca Spender, a famous fashion designer in Australia. “No, it was sewn in Hoi An by a woman named Pamela,” Anabel replied with a smile.