BLOODLINES AND BRANDLINES: READING CUONG DAM’S THE FLOW OF BLOOD

What words do we usually use to describe a dress? Beautiful, breathtaking, strange, even hideous. All of these may apply, but they feel insufficient when faced with the garments in Cuong Dam’s campaign The Flow of Blood. Released to mark Vietnam’s Independence Day on September 2, the campaign carries a significance that extends beyond fashion. This year’s commemoration is particularly momentous: the 80th anniversary of the nation’s first declaration of independence, celebrated with a national military parade — an event that resonates with the weight of history, almost like a second Lunar New Year’s Eve.

As a Vietnamese. In these images, I see pain, pride, and the depth of our heritage — emotions that, I believe, can not be fully grasped without being Vietnamese. Yet even global audiences can sense the power of this campaign in another way.

Branding as Emotional Identity

Most brands sell aesthetics. Cuong Dam sells memory as luxury.

He grounds his brand in the deepest form of authenticity: his own family’s history. His grandfather, a military doctor; his grandmother, a nurse supporting from behind the lines; his relatives, soldiers in some of Vietnam’s most defining battles. These lives are not romantic backdrops, but the raw material of the brand’s storytelling.

The genius lies in translation. Medals, photographs, and uniforms are not presented as relics. This is not just his family's story, but the story of the whole nation, the strength, the common voice of all people. I hear the sound of bombs falling, the sound of bullets through each medal pinned on his chest. I feel the smell of blood seeping through every piece of cloth of the soldier. And I also see youth, joy and pride through each photo. Branding here is not an afterthought; it is the very bloodstream of the campaign. 

"The Flow Of Blood" Campaign 1

The campaign functions as a gift of gratitude to the Motherland, so if you don't cry like me when you see these,  it's okay. The garments themselves evoke military uniforms through cut and structure, yet compared to Guo Pei, who monumentalizes heritage through explicit ancestral references, Cuong Dam is ambivalent. Blood in this campaign is fluid, emphasizing circulation and continuity rather than permanence.

Fashion as Living Archive:  Wearable Museum

The Flow of Blood operates as a living archive, bridging personal memory, collective history, and national identity. Unlike static institutional museums, this campaign is mobile, wearable, and enters public imagination. It curates legacy through form, fabric, and silhouette.

Comparable fashion-as-archive practices include Hussein Chalayan’s After Words (2000), which embodies exile and memory, Alexander McQueen’s Highland Rape (1995) and Widows of Culloden (2006), which stage historical trauma, and Rei Kawakubo’s Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body (1997), which reframes the body as archive. In this context, The Flow of Blood functions both as archive and ritual — a living museum of bloodlines, heritage, and belonging.

Legacy in Fabric: The Generational Dialogue

This campaign is not a costume drama or nostalgic cosplay. It is a dialogue between generations: young people are invited to listen to past memories and integrate them into the present. In doing so, the sacrifices, pains, and small joys of wartime live on through today’s and future generations.

This dialogue has two effects: it recovers core values — patriotism, resilience, communal empathy — and reshapes them in contemporary terms: creativity, openness, and global integration. The result is a dual identity, both rooted in history and adaptable to the modern world.

The Face of the Campaign: Dahan Phuong Oanh

The Flow of Blood evokes the essence of pure lineage and the continuity of perseverance, and she alone can convey this spirit while bringing out the haute couture vision of the collection. From her beginnings on Vietnam’s Next Top Model Allstars 2017, where she was eliminated after two episodes, she rose from anonymity to become the first Vietnamese model listed on Models.com, walking for Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Elie Saab, and Giorgio Armani.

Her journey mirrors the campaign’s themes: perseverance, talent, and national pride.  Vietnam is undergoing a period of profound transformation, striving to assert itself on the global stage — in fashion as well as in other industrial and technological fields — and both Phuong Oanh and Cuong Dam exemplify this ambition.

For me, a Vietnamese living abroad and pursuing a niche field like fashion curation, she is an inspiration — proof that persistence allows one to achieve ambitious goals. Phuong Oanh translates the campaign’s message to young audiences: “If they had such great faith, what should our faith be – the young people of today? How can that source not only flow in memory, but also shape the present and the future?” - Cuong Dam.