When I started working on the first designs for Miraelle, I kept returning to one question: what would a garment look like if it carried Vietnamese influences, but still felt completely natural to wear every day?
The blouse
The collar is inspired by the mandarin collar on the áo dài: structured, minimal, and close to the neckline. It's a detail with centuries of history that also happens to look exactly right with modern tailoring.
The buttons are frog closures, a detail found on Vietnamese traditional garments going back over 2,000 years. Ours are handmade from the same fabric as the blouse itself. That's what keeps them minimal, just a small cultural accent that you can carry with you every day.
The overall structure draws from the áo bà ba, a traditional southern Vietnamese garment known for its central buttons, paneled construction, and side slits that let the fabric move with the body.
The pants
I kept coming back to the silk pants traditionally worn under the áo dài. They're light, fluid, and effortless in a way modern trousers rarely are.
I spent weeks wearing our sample pair everywhere: on trips, through long days, paying attention to how they held up after hours of sitting and moving. How they felt in the morning versus the evening. Whether they still felt like something I'd keep wearing weeks after.
They passed every test. Versatile enough to pair with our blouse or a simple top. Light enough to take up almost no space in your closet or luggage.
Why we kept going back to historical garments for reference
Vietnamese clothing was shaped across completely different ways of life, from women working long days in the fields, to those wearing the most intricate fabrics in royal settings. Two very different worlds, connected through the same attention to detail.
The cultural references in our pieces are there if you recognize them. But each piece also stands on its own: as a well-designed blouse. As a pair of pants you'll actually wear.
That's the goal. Pieces that carry something forward.
I hope you enjoy wearing them.
Mika