Good day, dear clients of #lafemmemimi,

I owe you an explanation of how I ended up in Prague and how I got into fashion… So here it is — my friendly and honest “confession” :-)))))

The photo on the left was taken in Hanoi at the moment I was about to leave for the airport. My father took the picture. I was 15 years old. My cousin and my best friends from kindergarten came to say goodbye to me. I flew alone, without anyone accompanying me. I had a layover in Dubai, where all I remember was desert and a little stand selling gold rings and bracelets…

My mom was waiting for me at Prague Ruzyně Airport. Back then, she was about the age I am now — around 40. My mother had come to Prague alone in 1982, while I stayed in Hanoi with my brother and father. During all those years, she returned home to Hanoi only about three times, so traveling to Prague to see my mom at the age of 15 was a huge, huge challenge for me.

And the photography on the right was taken by my son Lam Pelnář

My father came from an intellectual family in Hanoi. His father was a professor of philosophy, and his mother was a housewife. My memory of her is that she was the most beloved grandmother under the sun… She never forced me to do anything — she only wanted me to enjoy her cooking and not cry because I missed my mother.

My father was a painter. He created beautiful paintings, and my grandparents supported him in everything he wanted to do. Then came the long war (the Vietnam War lasted from 1945 to 1975), and my father, like many other young people, had to go to war.

At the bottom left is a rare photograph of my father holding an exhibition in the jungle :-))))

On the right is a photograph of my parents with me and their friend, the Hanoi painter Bui Xuan Phai. I love looking at this photo — everyone was happy there… On the wall hung an unfinished portrait of little MiMi, which Mr. Bui Xuan Phai had painted as a gift for me, and shortly after this moment my mother left for Prague.

You probably don’t often see a photograph like this — Hanoi painters at the beginning of the 1980s.

They all came from bourgeois families, and then the long, brutal war arrived, while the rest of the world was celebrating the victory and the end of the Second World War…

They were all young and fragile… They all had to leave school and go to war against the imperialists. They survived the war, but although they once had everything, after the war they were left with nothing.

They had to step into completely new roles in life — and they managed.

My parents were never together very much. After my mother left for Prague, their relationship eventually came to a definitive end. I was raised by my grandmother and grandfather. My father worked as a painter for the government and created various political propaganda paintings. His salary was not enough for us to afford even an egg every morning… He fell into depression and later became dependent on alcohol.

But he was always my beloved father.

And look at us — great minds think alike… I’m wearing a striped T-shirt and my father is wearing a striped shirt.

Jak jsem se vyrostla bez maminky, tak vždycky jsem si ji představovala v hlavě jaká je, co dnes má na sobě, rtěnku nosí ? Jake vlasy ? trvalou má nebo ne….(měla a stále má trvalou:-). 

Hodně mi to pomohlo v práci, po každé když pracuji na novou kolekci tak si uděláme hlavě imaginární ženu :-).

Tady dole je fotka z módní přehlídky La Femme MiMi na Designbloku……imaginární Ženy dle MiMi:-)

My work is deeply connected to the past and to nostalgia… because that is what I grew up with. You know, when I was a little girl, my grandfather, grandmother, father, uncles, and aunts were constantly telling me stories about what we once had, how we lived, what life was like before the war, and so on…

I love femininity (perhaps because I missed having my mother), and when we talk about femininity, periods like Art Nouveau and Art Deco feel incredibly feminine to me.

My work always returns to those worlds, and they continue to inspire me.

Unfortunately, I probably won’t be the kind of designer who creates for the future — I’ll be the one who always takes you back to childhood….

Life in Prague as a teenager in the 1990s was both a lot of fun and very demanding. I went to school from morning until afternoon, worked hard to learn Czech, prepared for university entrance exams, and after school I would go straight to help my mother sell green tea and ceramics.

From time to time, I went to concerts and to the club Radost FX… haha… back then, if you hadn’t been to Radost, it was almost as if you didn’t exist…

My first studio was in Prague 6, where Jaroslava Muchová, the daughter of Alfons Mucha, had lived and worked. That space was truly magical! I had five beautiful years of work there, and during Covid we had to let it go and move everything to Štěpánská 53, Prague 1, where we are still based today.

What feels very close to me in the Czech Republic is the traditional folk costumes, the patterns, and the embroidery… I feel a connection between the two cultures, and I would say that through folklore, all countries can connect and find a common language.

In my work, you will find many patterns and details that may feel familiar to you… as if you had seen them or owned them sometime in the past. That sense of familiarity — those quiet echoes of memory — are the signatures of folklore.

Life in Prague gives me a new challenge every day, and I let myself be surprised by it.

I am grateful for your loyalty to the La Femme MiMi brand. Keeping a fashion brand and showroom running for almost 20 years in the centre of Prague is no easy task… It has cost me many tears and plenty of moments of headaches and struggle :-).

But as the Dalai Lama says:
“If you approach your work with enthusiasm and kindness, exhaustion disappears and is replaced by inner strength.”

I found an old photograph for you showing Baťa’s first store in Saigon, and I have to say that this historical image inspires me greatly in doing business in the Czech Republic.

Baťa entered Saigon in 1932, and within seven years had opened 19 stores in Hanoi and 20 in Saigon.

In 1949, Baťa built a factory in Saigon… even though the situation in Vietnam was uncertain, they still decided to move forward — and it turned out to be a successful decision.

Thank you for your attention — my “confession” has come to an end…

I hope you enjoyed it at least a little 🙂 I wrote and prepared this letter myself. I didn’t let ChatGPT or anyone else edit it — this is how I speak Czech, and unfortunately it probably won’t get much better. I simply don’t have the capacity for that :-)))

I’d rather save my time and energy for creating beautiful clothes for you, women…

With love,

MiMi Lan Nguyễn Hoang