Designer Minh Hanh gets Japan’s Fukuoka Prize

The Arts and Culture Prize recognizes Minh Hanh, 54, one of the country’s celebrated designers, as having contributed to the development of fashion culture.

The Fukuoka Prize website at http://fukuoka-prize.org/ says, “Based on her deep insight of Vietnam’s original cultures, Ms. Minh Hanh has created contemporary fashions by fusing ao dai and time-honored embroideries and fabrics inherited among Vietnamese ethnic minorities.

Sadakari Atsuhito (R), deputy mayor of Fukuoka city, presents Vietnam fashion designer Minh Hanh the Arts and Cultures Prize of the Fukuoka Prize in Hanoi on Tuesday - PHOTO: JAPANESE EMBASSY IN VIETNAM

“As a leading fashion designer in Vietnam, she has also organized many fashion shows in various parts of the world and developed young designers and the fashion market in Vietnam. Her great contribution to the development of fashion culture makes her worthy of the Arts and Culture Prize of the Fukuoka Prize.”

Also present at the announcement were Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Jun Yanagi, Fukuoka City Deputy Mayor Sadakari Atsuhito, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Huynh Vinh Ai, and Professor Phan Huy Le.

Historian Professor Phan Huy Le received the Academic Prize of the Fukuoka Prize 1996. After Professor Le, Hanh is the second Vietnamese laureate of the Fukuoka Prize.

The Fukuoka Prize is designed for promotion and understanding unique cultures in Asia and as a means of showing respect to those who have made outstanding contributions to academia, arts, and culture in Asia.

Now in its 26th year, the Fukuoka Prize 2015 ceremony will be held on September 17 in Fukuoka City.