Chloe Dao
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| Chloe Dao | |
| Birth name | Chloe Dao |
| Born | June 15, 1972 (age 34) Pakse, Laos |
| Other name(s) | Chloe Dao |
| Notable roles | Winner of Project Runway Season 2 |
Chloe Dao (born June 15, 1972 in Pakse, Laos), is an American fashion designer of Vietnamese ancestry who lives and works in Houston, Texas. She was the winner of the second season of the reality show Project Runway with a collection of women's evening wear. Many of the pieces in her finale collection featured billowing, voluminous sleeves, removable shrugs, and strong prints.
Since 2000, Dao has owned and operated Lot 8, a women's clothing boutique in Houston. The name of the store is a reference to the eight girls in her family. Her family emigrated to the United States in 1979 from Laos after the Vietnam War. Her clothes have been featured in Lucky magazine as well as in a variety of Texas publications including the Houston Chronicle and Texas Monthly.
During the taping of Project Runway, Chloe 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.
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[edit] Education and early career
Dao attended the University of Houston to pursue a concentration in marketing, but dropped out after a year and a half.[1] She then enrolled at Houston Community College's design program and at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), graduating in 1994 with an associate's degree in Patternmaking.
While still at FIT, Dao took a job with Madame Rossuel, a costume couture shop on the Upper East Side of New York. After graduation, she worked at a 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.
[edit] Project Runway
Dao was a contestant in the second season of Project Runway, and was eventually declared the winner. During her time on the show, she won the second episode, the Clothes Off Your Back challenge; and the tenth episode, the Makeover challenge. She was also in the top three in the fifth episode, the Social Scene challenge; the sixth episode, the Window Shopping challenge; the seventh episode, the On Thin Ice challenge; and the ninth episode, the Flower Power challenge. However, she was in the bottom two in the eleventh episode, the What's Your Line challenge.
[edit] Notes
[edit] Sources
- Ernst, Amanda. "Adventures in The Rag Trade", Forbes, March 13, 2006. Retrieved on March 9, 2006.
- Sewing, Joy. "From Runway, to her way", Houston Chronicle, March 10, 2006. Retrieved on March 11, 2006.
- "'Project Runway' names its winner", CNN.com, March 9, 2006. Retrieved on March 11, 2006.
- "Best of 2006: Style Makers", UCLA Asia Institute, January 12, 2007. Retrieved on February 3, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Project Runway Designer Bio: Chloe Dao
- Lot 8 Boutique
- "Runway" winner following HER dreams, not parents'
| Preceded by Season 1 |
Project Runway Season 2 |
Succeeded by Season 3 |
| Preceded by Jay McCarroll |
Project Runway winner Chloe Dao |
Succeeded by Jeffrey Sebelia |
