 After a long journey of ten months, Chloe Dao emerged as the winner of
Bravo’s Emmy nominated Project Runway 2 on March 8, 2006. She competed against
15 designers and was among the three finalists to showcase their Fall 2006
collection at New York’s Fashion Week at Seventh on Sixth. Dao won the hearts of
America with her mild honest demeanor but won the votes of judges Heidi Klum,
Michael Kors, Nina Garcia and special guest judge Debra Messing with her
consistent display of technical skills, business savvy and creative talent.
As the winner of PR2, she received $100.000 seed money to use toward her
design business, a 2007 Saturn Sky Roadster, a spread in Elle magazine, and a
mentorship with Banana Republic. Her win caused a media frenzy, and “Chloe Dao”
quickly became a household name. Dao was featured on NBC’s Today and Access
Hollywood, CNN’s American Morning, ABC’s The View and E!’s Inside Edition. Major
national and international magazines such as People, Time, US Weekly, Forbes,
Forbes Asia, Star, WWD, and New York Times covered this success story of an
immigrant living out her American dream. After the media frenzy waned,
invitations came flooding in for Dao to share her inspirational story. She was
the keynote speaker at Houston Community College’s Class of 2006 Commencement
and spoke in front of 20,000 graduates and guests. News of Dao’s accomplishments
reached the White House, and she was honored with an invitation to a special
conference celebrating Asian American Heritage month with President Bush. In
January 2007, Dao’s designs were featured in the Smithsonian Museum in the “Exit
Saigon, Enter Little Saigon” exhibit.
Dao’s reputation for understanding women and their bodies landed her a
contract with Dove as their national spokesperson for the “Sleeveless Ready”
campaign. And during Spring 2007 New York Fashion Week, LensCrafters chose Chloe
Dao as the featured designer and as a panelist along with Tim Gunn, Hal
Rubenstein, Bobbie Thomas, and Gretta Monahan to discuss eyewear’s role as the
“it” accessory. Dao reached the masses this year when she debuted on QVC with
three consecutive sell-out appearances with her line Simply Chloe Dao, exclusive
to QVC. Her effortless style and modern sensibility lead her to partner with
Pacific Design where she created a line of electronic accessories now available
nationwide at Circuit City.Dao’s modest immigrant upbringing has kept her
grounded despite her new found celebrity status. She emigrated from Pakse, Laos
in 1979 with her parents, Thu Thien Dao and Hue Thuc Luong, and her 7 sisters to
the U.S. and settled in Houston, Texas. All the sisters were encouraged to study
hard and pursue careers in medicine or law, although Dao was never interested in
either.
Her passion for design and fashion were sparked at the age of 10 when she saw
her first episode of CNN’s Style with Elsa Klensch. The passion grew into a
career choice, and years later Dao graduated from the Fashion Institute of
Technology with a patternmaking degree. After graduation, she honed her design
and patternmaking skills at Finity, Melinda Eng, and Gregory Parkinson. Her
business savvy came naturally since both parents were entrepreneurs.
Internationally renowned buying office, Catherine Dietlein taught Dao the art of
buying and merchandising. Dao left New York in the summer of 2000 a seasoned
industry professional and opened up Lot 8, named after the eight Dao sisters.
Even with the win of PR2, Dao continues to develop and grow her boutique’s
business in Houston. She hopes to open stores in other cities such as New York
and Los Angeles.
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