Imagination and passion celebrated in creativity scholarship winner

Imagination and passion celebrated in creativity scholarship winner

Nguyen Ngoc Lien Giang used her passion for fashion, as well as plenty of imagination, to secure a Creativity Scholarship from the university.

Lien Giang with her family, after accepting the RMIT Creativity Scholarship at the Scholarship Presentation Ceremony. Lien Giang with her family, after accepting the RMIT Creativity Scholarship at the Scholarship Presentation Ceremony.

Giang, who will study Bachelor of Fashion (Merchandise Management) at the Saigon South campus, didn’t originally intend to go to RMIT, though that changed when she looked into what the University offered.

“I researched the fashion program that RMIT offers and it’s really unique. Rarely do any Vietnamese universities have this kind of program, so I told my parents that I would have to either go here or study abroad, which would cost more,” Giang said.

In order to help this possibility become a reality, Giang applied for a Creativity Scholarship.

“The scholarship required us to make a digital portfolio, meaning we had to collect all the art work that we made into a five-minute video,” she shared. “So what I did was I made a clothing collection; I drew them and I made them into real garments and I wore them and I made it into a fashion film.”

Giang’s design that was submitted to RMIT for the Creativity Scholarship application. Giang’s design that was submitted to RMIT for the Creativity Scholarship application.

Before beginning her sketches, Giang visited malls and researched fashion-related Instagram pages in order to find design inspiration. “The summer was good for tribal or bohemian styles, so I thought that would be great,” she explained.

She then chose colours and selected fabric samples from markets to create wearable clothing based on her detailed sketches. Her work for the scholarship was going on at the same time that Giang took the national high school exit exam, leading to a period of intense pressure.

Giang chose fabrics from markets to turn her original fashion sketches into wearable clothing. Giang chose fabrics from markets to turn her original fashion sketches into wearable clothing.

“I didn’t expect that I would receive this scholarship,” she said. “I just did my best and let it go to whatever result. I didn’t expect too much, but when it came out I was so surprised and happy.”

She now plans to use her time at the university to expand on this practical knowledge: “I hope that I will get to know more about the industry… [like] skills such as sketching and building up ideas and also how to deal with the fashion business.”

Lien Giang: “I researched the fashion program that RMIT offers and it’s really unique. Rarely do any Vietnamese universities have this kind of program.” Lien Giang: “I researched the fashion program that RMIT offers and it’s really unique. Rarely do any Vietnamese universities have this kind of program.”

Story: Michael Tatarski

  • Fashion
  • Scholarships

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