THE IDIOT Vietnam and the Freedom to Wear the Unexpected
Being “foolish” means remaining curious enough to question what fashion considers normal. In conversation with CZMOS Magazine, the Vietnamese brand discusses its gender neutral vision, the influence of Ho Chi Minh City and a possible dialogue with Italian tailoring.
Being “foolish” does not mean creating something strange simply to attract attention. For THE IDIOT, it means remaining curious enough to keep questioning what fashion considers normal, appropriate or predictable.
Founded in Ho Chi Minh City in 2020, the Vietnamese brand builds its language around gender neutral silhouettes, essential forms and unexpected elements.
Its motto, “Be foolish to wear the unexpected”, summarises a philosophy that extends beyond the aesthetics of clothing.
It also describes how a creative team chooses to work, listen and grow.
Equality sits at the centre of this approach. THE IDIOT rejects the idea that a garment must necessarily belong to a masculine or feminine identity, while also avoiding the transformation of gender neutral fashion into an anonymous sequence of oversized volumes and neutral colours.
Its exploration takes place through proportion, movement, construction and small changes capable of altering how a garment is worn or perceived. A skirt can meet structured elements. A minimal silhouette can be interrupted by an unexpected proportion. Something complex can be reduced to its simplest form without losing its character.
THE IDIOT Vietnam in Conversation with CZMOS Magazine
In this interview, THE IDIOT discusses what it means to protect creative freedom as the brand grows, how design can move beyond gender categories and why the contradictory energy of Ho Chi Minh City continues to live within its language.
Your mission is “Be foolish to wear the unexpected”. As THE IDIOT becomes more established, what allows you to protect the idea of remaining “foolish” within the creative process?
For us, being “foolish” has never meant being careless or simply trying to be different. It means giving ourselves the freedom to question what is considered normal, appropriate or predictable, while maintaining enough curiosity and innocence to look at things without assuming that we already have all the answers.
As THE IDIOT grows, we believe that remaining “foolish” becomes even more important. Growth naturally brings expectations from the market, customers and sometimes even ourselves. It can be easy to repeat what has already worked, but remaining “foolish” reminds us not to become too comfortable within those expectations.
There is also a human value behind this idea. We believe that preserving a certain innocence and kindness helps us remain humble, calm and grounded. For us, being humble does not mean being passive. It means being willing to listen, learn and accept that we can always improve, continuing to grow without losing sight of where we started.
We want this mindset to be shared by the entire team. It is not only about how we design clothes, but also how we work, communicate and treat one another. We believe that kindness and humility can create a positive environment in which creativity is free to grow naturally.
In this sense, being “foolish” becomes a way of protecting the core of THE IDIOT: our creative freedom, curiosity, kindness and willingness to keep learning. It allows us to move forward while remaining connected to the values from which everything began.
Gender neutral fashion is often interpreted through oversized volumes and essential garments in neutral colours. How do you move beyond this formula, creating clothes that are open to everyone without making them visually anonymous?
We do not think that gender neutral clothing necessarily needs to look neutral.
For us, gender neutrality begins by questioning the idea that a garment must belong to a specific gender. Instead of designing for a predefined male or female silhouette, we are more interested in proportion, movement, construction and the relationship between the garment and the person wearing it.
This allows us to experiment with different shapes, volumes and details without considering them inherently masculine or feminine. A garment can be structured, delicate, oversized, fitted, peculiar or elegant while remaining open to different bodies and identities.
At the same time, equality is an important part of what gender neutrality represents to us. It does not simply mean removing gender divisions from clothing. It also means recognising that every person deserves the same freedom to express themselves and exist without being defined by a predetermined category.
We see clothing as a way to communicate this idea. The balance lies in giving people enough freedom to interpret a garment in their own way while still creating something with a precise identity.
We do not want inclusivity to result in a loss of character. THE IDIOT’s identity comes from our silhouettes, construction and the small unexpected elements within each garment.
Ultimately, we hope that clothing can reflect a sense of equality and openness, not only on the body but also in the way people perceive themselves.
You describe your silhouettes as “minimal yet peculiar”. How do you know when an unexpected element gives a garment identity rather than simply making it unusual?
We usually ask ourselves whether that unexpected element has a reason to exist.
A detail can be unusual, but if it exists only to attract attention, it can easily become decorative or feel forced. We are more interested in details that change how a garment is perceived, worn or constructed, even when those interventions are very subtle.
For us, balance comes from contrast. There needs to be something familiar that allows the unexpected element to exist naturally. A simple silhouette can create space for a particular construction, an unusual proportion or a small alteration in how a garment would normally function.
Sometimes we are also interested in the opposite transformation: turning something complex or chaotic into something simple, or taking an apparently ordinary element and changing it slightly until it suddenly becomes unexpected. That moment of transformation is often where we find our “wow”.
Sometimes we know that a detail is right when the garment feels incomplete without it. That is the moment when its peculiarity becomes part of the garment’s identity rather than simply an attempt to make it unusual.
THE IDIOT was founded in Ho Chi Minh City. What part of the brand’s visual language or attitude do you think could only have emerged from this city?
Ho Chi Minh City is shaped by constant contrast and movement. The old and the new exist very close to one another, and the city is continually changing, sometimes faster than expected.
We believe this environment has influenced our attitude more than any specific visual reference. There is a particular openness and flexibility in the way people in Ho Chi Minh City move through the city, dress, work and interact with different influences.
Different generations, cultures and aesthetics can coexist without necessarily feeling the need to resolve their differences.
There is also a strong sense of freedom, equality and generosity that we personally associate with the spirit of Saigon. People can be warm, open, expressive and willing to support one another. There is something very generous and spontaneous about that energy, a willingness to welcome differences rather than immediately placing them into categories.
This openness has always reflected the values we want to communicate through THE IDIOT. We believe in creating space for different identities, perspectives and ways of being. We do not want people to feel restricted by a predetermined structure.
We are interested in curiosity, exploration, discovery and the possibility of developing ourselves while learning to understand who we are, what we need and where we want to go.
This sense of coexistence has become important to THE IDIOT. We are interested in the contrasts between masculinity and femininity, simplicity and peculiarity, structure and movement, familiarity and surprise.
Rather than trying to represent Ho Chi Minh City through immediately recognisable Vietnamese references, we think the city emerges more discreetly through our attitude: adaptable, curious, generous, open, sometimes contradictory and always in motion, while continuing to carry different layers of its past.
In a way, THE IDIOT simply adds another flavour and colour to the map of Vietnamese fashion. We want to offer another possibility to the people who live here and contribute, in our own small way, to presenting the diversity and values of Vietnamese fashion to an international audience.
Italian fashion is deeply associated with tailoring and established ideas of elegance. If THE IDIOT entered into a dialogue with Italy, which part of this tradition would you want to preserve, reinterpret or subvert?
We would probably begin with craftsmanship.
There is something timeless about the Italian approach to tailoring: the attention given to construction, proportion, fabric and the relationship between a garment and the body. These are values we would want to preserve and learn from.
At the same time, we would be interested in reinterpreting what can be considered elegant today. For us, elegance does not necessarily need to be refined, formal or perfectly constructed in the traditional sense. It can also exist in something imperfect, relaxed, unexpected or slightly strange.
Perhaps this is where a dialogue with Italy would become interesting for THE IDIOT: respecting the discipline behind tailoring while questioning some of its rules.
We would like to take that tradition apart, understand why it works and see what happens when we approach it from our perspective as a contemporary Vietnamese gender neutral brand.
Rather than rejecting tradition, we would prefer to subvert it from within.
The Unexpected as a Space for Freedom
THE IDIOT does not use gender neutral fashion to erase identities. It uses it to multiply the possibilities through which a body can encounter a garment.
In the same way, the brand does not see tradition as something that must automatically be rejected. Even within its imagined dialogue with Italian tailoring, the first gesture would be to understand technique, proportion and the relationship with the body. Transformation would come only afterwards, working from within the rules.
It is a philosophy built through apparently opposing balances: discipline and freedom, simplicity and strangeness, structure and movement, identity and openness.
In a city where periods, cultures and aesthetics coexist without completely merging, THE IDIOT has found a way to leave these contradictions open. Being “foolish” therefore means continuing to ask questions, even when the market appears to have already found an answer.
About the Brand
THE IDIOT is a gender neutral fashion brand founded in 2020 and based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Its collections are available through the brand’s official website and selected retailers in Singapore, Los Angeles, Malaysia and Sydney. THE IDIOT also ships directly to several European countries, including Italy.
Photo Credits
Photography: Kai Naito
Production: Kohei Kawano
Hair and makeup: Imanishi Yukiko
Concept and styling: Tomie
Model: Hibiki Tomiyama
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