About

Our Brand

Hong Hoa (HH) is a fashion brand that specializes in designing and producing women’s custom “high fashion” formal wear and ready-to-wear apparel. Couture by Hong Hoa is a segment of our brand that focuses strictly on one-of-a-kind, made-to-measure couture designs for clients and runway fashion shows. Additionally, we also design, source, and produce everyday yet fashion-forward, unique and feminine apparel as part of our ready-to-wear line, which are available for purchase online.

Our Mission

Our mission is to help women feel confident, unique and beautiful through our clothing. The HH woman is one who is fashion-forward, exquisite, elegant, and feminine but she is also a fierce boss babe who is not afraid to add boldness and passionate colors to her wardrobe. She embraces her body and is organically and honestly happy with herself.

Designer’s Story

Hong Hoa Gonzalez is the owner/principal designer behind the womenswear brand Hong Hoa. As owner, she is responsible for the overall direction of the company as well as the design and production for both the couture runway collections and ready-to-wear apparel.

Being Vietnam-born and DC-raised, her designs are a reflection and an infusion of both the eastern and western worlds.  She is gifted with an artistic talent, namely as a fine arts artist. At eight years old, she began drawing and painting landscapes, portraits and still life using various mediums.  She won numerous art contests in elementary and middle schools. At the age of 14, she discovered a newly found love for fashion illustration. Concurrently, she developed a passion for fashion designing and learned how to sew watching her two oldest sisters, who were seamstresses by trade at the time. At the beginning of high school, she was invited to prom twice by upperclassmen, which was when she decided to show off her sewing skills by making the prom dresses for both occasions.

During her final year of high school, she created a portfolio for Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in NY with a desire to pursue a career in the fashion industry. However, FIT did not happen for her. Her career plans took a different path as her parents felt that fashion designing was not an ideal career.  Additionally, going away for college was not an option since she is the youngest child. She wholeheartedly respected and obeyed her parents’ wishes and for that, she is grateful for her academic achievements. She ended up acquiring a Bachelor’s in Literature and Accounting followed by a Master’s in Business with a concentration in Human Resources Management.

Fast forward to over ten years later with a successful career in human resources, she still does not feel satisfied because her life is still missing an ingredient: passion. The satisfaction was fulfilled when she found herself designing and sewing again as side projects in 2016. This time around, she knew for sure this is what she is destined to do and is ready to revisit a burning passion that she left over ten years ago.

At the end of 2017, she officially launched a clothing brand named after herself, Hong Hoa. A year later in November 2018, she was scouted, discovered and invited to launch her custom designs in Paris by a reputable runway production company called Oxford Fashion Studio, based in the United Kingdom. With over 10 months of preparation as a one-woman show, Hong Hoa successfully presented her first Spring/Summer collection on global runway during Paris Fashion Week (PFW) on September 27, 2019 in Paris, France.  As a result of her runway presentation, Hong Hoa was interviewed by a journalist group called Fashion Week Pro after the show;  two of her designs appeared in an article written by Fashion Week Online (FWO) as two of the top ten trends that vowed on the runway at Paris Fashion Week SS20; her brand was mentioned as one of the couture designers in an article written by a known European fashion magazine called Schon; and lastly, her entire runway collection appeared online in Elle Italia, Marie Claire Italia and Bazaar Espana.

Our founder’s story taught us one very important thing: It is never too late to pursue your dreams. Dreams that are not realized are dreams not pursued to begin with. Trust the timing and the process.

Today, Hong Hoa continues to grow and expand as a brand. In addition to custom designs made to order, we also offer a unique and sophisticated ready-to-wear collection.