PHOTOS: Vietnamese fashion, food, culture liven up Victoria’s Ship Point

PHOTOS: Vietnamese fashion, food, culture liven up Victoria’s Ship Point

Published 7:00 pm Monday, September 22, 2025

From fabulous fashion to delectable food, Victorians and visitors got a colourful taste of culture at the first-ever Soul of Vietnam festival on Saturday, Sept. 20, at Ship Point.

“The Vietnamese community is scattered all over Greater Victoria, so we’re trying to create a bridge,” said Chani Luong, a key member of the festival on the PR team.

While the number of Vietnamese people living in Victoria isn’t directly available, the Vietnamese Community in Victoria Facebook page has just under 12,000 members. “But we don’t share a mutual voice,” Luong said. The festival’s goal, she explained, is to better represent themselves the way other cultural communities have. “That’s our goal – to support each other.”

The festival was bustling with the aroma of delicious food in the air: hot spring rolls, curried goat, Vietnamese subs and coffee. There was live music, choreographed dancing, and an early celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival with lanterns and moon cakes. 

But arguably, the day’s knockout was the fashion show, with its grand finale from world-renowned Vietnamese designer Tran Thien Khanh, whose works have been featured on stages like Miss Grand International and Mr. World. Khan’s line of regal and contemporary ao dai, or cultural garb, is deeply inspired by Vietnam’s imperial past. He uses luxurious fabrics brought together with meticulous hand embroidery.

Ao dai didn’t just make it on the runway. There was also an ao dai competition for visitors to the festival. “They came to the stage, showed their confidence and showed the beauty of the fit,” Luong said. “It’s all about pride of culture.”

The day was special for Victoria resident Von Wu, who left Vietnam as an infant. He likened the festival’s feel to walking the streets of his birth country.

“People just enjoying the street food, the music, kids … it feels like home to me,” he said. “Something as simple as seeing the kids wearing the rice-picking hats just brings me back to being a kid and mowing my lawn with one of those on.”

Wu was also glad that it gave people a fresh experience of what he sees as a misunderstood culture. “People think Vietnam is super conservative because of the communists, but it’s actually pretty relaxed.”

Organizers say the festival was a success, with sunshine, a good turnout, and one hundred volunteers showing up. Based on the smiling faces, it seems more than likely that the Vietnamese community will return next year to showcase the flavours and fun of Vietnam.