Shopping in Hoi An, Vietnam for Custom Tailored Dresses

Getting custom dresses made from Miss Forget Me Not and B'Lan in Hoi An.

I was never really considering seriously shopping in Hoi An, Vietnam and buying the custom tailor made clothes the town is known for. I am, after all, technically a “budget backpacker,” which means that I’m supposed to be frugal and not over spend on unessential things like clothes. Right?

But, seriously, I’ve been wearing the same clothes for five months now. And I got so sick of some of them that I dumped half of my backpack into the donate bin in Sihanoukville. Plus it was Christmas.

Really, I owed it to myself to go get some custom tailored clothes in Hoi An.

Hoi An is pretty much the tailor capital of Vietnam. If not the world.

All of the beautiful colonial streets are lined with shops full of Hoi An tailors who are just dying to get you into some custom made frocks.

Of course this also means that all of the Hoi An dressmakers come with varying degree of skill…

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m kind of lazy.

Maybe you should replace “kind of” with “really.”

So, instead of being a good girl and researching places on my own, and going door to door to ask questions and sort things out, I just went to some of the places Stephanie went to. Because her post earlier this year was the first time I’d heard of Hoi An.

And because you should always trust the advice of someone you’ve only barely once said hi to in a conference bathroom.

But anyways. Here’s where I shopped in Hoi An…

Shopping in Hoi An, Vietnam and Getting Custom Tailored Clothes:

My first stop was B’Lan Silk. Since I wasn’t really prepared to buy a new tailored dress I sat down with some catalogs to find a photo of something kind of like what I kind of had in my head. I decided that I wanted to get a really nice custom silk dress made and found a really pretty white printed fabric.

Because, you know, if you need to replace your dirty backpacker wardrobe you should start with something you can’t possibly wear while traveling.

Dresses from B’Lan in Hoi An, Vietnam

Dresses from B’Lan in Hoi An, Vietnam

When I went to pick up my custom made dress from the clothes tailor a whole six hours later I liked it so much that I had her make a second one, a shorter one, with a more casual fabric. It’s pretty perfect for an Asian beach date. So…who wants to take me on an Asian beach date???

I really loved both of my new dresses. I like the style of dress but, when purchased from a store, they always seem to be made for people with either much bigger boobs or non existent ones. So it was nice to have some made just for me so that they actually fit the way they should.

Next I decided to head to Miss Forget Me Not in the cloth market to get another couple of things made. I wanted a dress that I might actually be able to wear on a normal backpacking day. And I got a t-shirt. Just ’cause.

Miss Forget Me Not is known as the best tailor in Hoi An. Because of her reputation, you need to be careful. As soon as I walked into the Hoi An cloth market I was bombarded by imposters who claimed to be her. I wandered on my own until I found her true stall.

After my dress success I kind of got addicted to the idea of shopping Hoi An and having all of my clothes ever custom made and tailored there. Maybe I could get a few more dresses. Some pants. Some tops. A zany colored suit. Hoi An Vietnam shopping and all those Hoi An tailor shops are addicting.

I had to stop myself.

If I was going home right I would have probably gotten a coat and about a million more dresses made. But alas, I had to stop myself from buying more clothes. (Plus there were other things to buy in Vietnam, like a nice silk lantern…)

Of course, I still do need some clothes I can actually wear…

Where I shopped in Hoi An, Vietnam:

B’Lan Silk
23 Tran Phu St, Hoi An, Vietnam

Miss Forget Me Not
37 Phan Chu Trinh St, Hoi An, Vietnam

Shopping in Hoi An, Vietnam. Getting custom dresses made from Miss Forget Me Not and B’Lan in Hoi An.

Bucket List Idea: Go Shopping in Hoi An, Vietnam. Getting custom dresses made from Miss Forget Me Not and B’Lan in Hoi An.