Vietnamese model first to represent country at top fashion show in New York

Fuji Nguyen, 22, was the first Vietnamese national to ever grace the stage of the 2018 Alta Sartoria fashion show by Italian brand Dolce & Gabbana.

Nguyen was one of two Asian models to feature at the event, alongside 70 others from around the world.

He was born in Vietnam to entrepreneur parents and moved to the United States with his family when he was in secondary school.

He said he became interested in modeling while he was still in elementary school, inspired by fashion shows on TV.

“My parents didn’t support me because they were worried I wouldn’t be able to resist the temptations or withstand the hardships of this career,” Nguyen said.

In 2015, Nguyen got his big break in the fashion world after being signed by several modeling agencies in NYC. From 2016 onwards, he starred in the New York Fashion Week and catwalked for several fashion brands such as Landlord, Ovadia And Sons, Rochambeau, Pyer Moss and Kenneth King.

During his time working for the New York-based boutique model agency Fusion Models in 2017, he received a casting schedule for Dolce & Gabbana, and subsequently basked in the limelight last Saturday.

Fuji Nguyen is currently working in the fields of modeling and marketing, and also says that stylism is one of his hobbies.

Dolce & Gabbana is a luxury Italian fashion house founded in 1985 by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The company reported a net profit of $94 million last year, as cited by Fashion United.