Chloe Dao ( lo, ໂຄລອີ ດາວ) (born June 15, 1972) is an American fashion designer and television personality who lives and works in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

, U.S. She was the winner of the second season of the

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

Project Runway ''Project Runway'' is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on December 1, 2004. The series focuses on fashion design. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted by time, mater ...

'' with a collection of women's evening wear. Many of the pieces in her finale collection featured billowing, voluminous sleeves, removable shrugs and strong

brocade Brocade is a class of richly decorative shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in colored silks and sometimes with gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word " broccoli", comes from Italian ''broccato'' meaning "emb ...

prints.

Biography

Dao was born in

Pakse Pakse (or ''Pakxe''; French: ''Paksé''; Laotian: ປາກເຊ 'mouth of the river'; th, ปากเซ) is the capital and most populous city of the southern Laotian province of Champasak, and the second most populous city in Laos. Loc ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist s ...

to an ethnic Vietnamese (Kinh) family. During the Vietnamese civil war Dao's parents moved to

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

to escape the conflict. The family, including Dao, her parents and seven sisters, emigrated to the United States in 1979. Growing up she redesigned vintage clothes; her first original was her senior prom dress.

Education and early career

Dao attended the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

and studied marketing, dropping out after a year and a half.Chloe Dao Biography on Bravo.com
She then enrolled at Houston Community College's design program and at New York's ''

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. ...

'' (FIT), graduating in 1994 with an

associate's degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of Tertiary education, post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelo ...

in pattern-making. While still at ''FIT'', Dao took a job with ''Madame Rossuel'', a costume couture shop on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the we ...

of New York City. After graduation, she worked at knit and sportswear company, ''Finity'' as a design assistant and patternmaker. Leaving ''Finity'' after one year, she took a job with ''Melinda Eng'' as a design assistant and production manager, where she stayed for six years. She then went to work for ''Catherine Dietlein'' as an assistant buyer before returning to Houston to open her own boutique, ''Lot 8''. The name of the store is a reference to the eight Dao sisters in her family. Her clothes have been featured in ''Lucky'' magazine as well as in a variety of Texas publications including the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'' and ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

''.

Project Runway

During the taping of ''

'', Dao expressed some reservations about her desire to win the competition. In the end, the judges selected her collection over those by the other finalists: Santino Rice and

Daniel Vosovic Daniel Vosovic (born March 25, 1981) is an American fashion designer and a finalist in season 2 of the reality show ''Project Runway''. Biography Vosovic was born March 25, 1981, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and raised in the nearby city of Lowell ...

. On ''Project Runway'', she won the second episode, "Clothes Off Your Back" and the tenth episode, "Makeover." She was also in the top three in the fifth episode, "Social Scene", the sixth episode, "Window Shopping"; the seventh episode, "On Thin Ice"; and the ninth episode, "Flower Power." She was also in the bottom two in the eleventh episode, "What's Your Line." Unlike the winner from season one, Jay McCarroll, Dao accepted the winning prize of $100,000 and the mentorship from

Banana Republic In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighboring c ...

After Project Runway

Even with the win of PR2, Dao continues to develop and grow her boutique's business in Houston. In July 2006, she was in a popular Vietnamese music show called '' Paris By Night''. She was also in '' Paris By Night 84''. In January 2007, Dao's designs were featured in the

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC) is a migratory museum that shares Asian Pacific American history, art, and culture through innovative museum experiences online and throughout the U.S through the Smithsonian Institution's work. ...

in the "Exit Saigon, Enter Little Saigon" exhibit. Dao's reputation for understanding women and their bodies landed her a contract with

Dove Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

as their national spokesperson for the "Sleeveless Ready" campaign. During Spring 2007

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning 7–9 days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general pub ...

, LensCrafters chose Dao as the featured designer and as a panelist along with

Tim Gunn Timothy MacKenzie Gunn (born July 29, 1953) is an American author, academic, and television personality. He served on the faculty of Parsons School of Design from 1982 to 2007 and was chair of fashion design at the school from August 2000 to Ma ...

, Hal Rubenstein, Bobbie Thomas, and Gretta Monahan to discuss eyewear as the next "it" accessory. In May 2007, Dao premiered a 13-piece collection on QVC called ''Simply. Chloe Dao.'' which sold out during the televised broadcast. In 2008 her style and modern sensibility led her to partner with Nuo Tech to create a line of mobile technology and travel accessories, available in Spring 2009. She debuted her wholesale line "DAO Chloe DAO" in March, 2008 at the Dallas Market Center. In 2013, she became a judge in '' Project Runway Vietnam'' season 1.

References

External links

''Project Runway'' Designer Bio: Chloe Dao
on ''

Sidewalks Entertainment ''Sidewalks Entertainment'' (1988–present) is a weekly American television series that is a combination of a talk show, magazine show and variety show featuring celebrity interviews, music, artistic and novelty acts, and rising performers. The ...

''
Chloe Dao Official WebsiteChloe Dao for Nuo Collection website"The Concierge Questionnaire-Cloe Dao Interview"
www.conciergequestionnaire.com 2009-04-17 retrieved 2010-03-03 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dao, Chloe 1972 births American fashion designers American women fashion designers Artists from Houston Living people Project Runway (American series) participants Reality show winners Laotian expatriates in Thailand American artists of Vietnamese descent American people of Vietnamese descent University of Houston alumni Fashion Institute of Technology alumni Laotian emigrants to the United States Laotian people of Vietnamese descent 21st-century American women