Living the Life in Hoi An – Part 3: A Trip to the Tailor

Besides its beaches and quaint old town, Hoi An is best known for one thing – tailors. Every other shop is has a big sign out front offering custom clothes. Best of all, they can make their designs in a day or two, and at super affordable prices. Clearly getting some custom clothes was therefore at the top of our agenda.

After doing a bit of research (and getting stopped by locals every ten feet while walking through town to get some unsolicited recommendations), we settled on a tailor, based primarily on its proximity to the Old Town but also because of the designs in the front of the store. After our day at the beach, Jemma, Leanne and I spent an hour in front of the hotel’s computer, printing out designs we wanted to copy, and then headed over to our new personal tailor.

I went first, and showed the tailor a picture of a dress I had printed out from a celebrity website. She immediately had me pull it up on her computer, so she could see it better, and then set about asking me a million questions: what kind of fabric, how thick did I want the piping, how low did I want the neckline, etc. Then it was time for fabric selection, and there was a huge selection of bolts to choose from, in all the colors of the rainbow. Finally, I was measured and then it was Leanne and Jemma’s turns.

Excited by the whole experience

We came back the next day after our cooking class for the first fitting. Everything was almost perfect, just one or two small adjustments on a few of the items. It was unbelievable how quickly they turned everything, especially since it wasn’t based off of a pattern and was just from pictures we had provided. Since I was leaving that night, we grabbed a drink nearby and in two hours, my clothes were complete!

Final fittings

I got two dresses made – the blue party dress in the picture above, and a pink work / afterwork dress. I also got a black blazer with a cool pink striped lining inside. All of this, custom fit within 24 hours, for about $120. The blazer alone off the rack in the US would probably be $200, and each of the dresses about the same, so this was an amazing deal. Besides my scuba diving lessons, this was the most expensive part of the trip, but definitely worth it and I can’t wait to wear these clothes at home.