Where to buy vai ao dai in San Jose?

Today, we found a great fabric shop where you can buy all sorts of materials for ao dai (the traditional Viet dress that Vietnamese women wear). The shop is off of N. King Road, called Fabrics R Us. It is the best place you will ever find in the southbay area. You can find any material that you are looking for, with enough color variety to appease your color palettes.

The sales associates speak fluent Vietnamese (sorry English speakers!) and can hold a conversation in English and will be able to respond to your needs (if they aren't swamped with too many customers). We were assisted by two sales associates who not only offered their advice about choosing materials and colors, but will also go above and beyond their duty of cutting the fabric for you. They discussed color schemes with us, and gave us solid recommendations about which materials to choose for what occasion -- with an eye/ear out for great prices fit for our pockets. There was one young lady who just moved here from Phan Rang, Viet Nam, just two years ago and she was so helpful and kind and accommodating.

The prices are ideal even if the organization of the shop layout is not. One complete set (ao va lot) of higher quality fabrics and detailed embroidery (in a stunning sage green color) was tagged at $40 total. We saw the exact same thing a few hours earlier at a more posh-looking shop (Y Nhu in the Century Mall/shopping center on Story Road) and asking price was $80 for materials for the dress, with $20 for the materials for the trousers. Mum found three complete sets. First one: black ao with freely drawn designs, lot with silver gray chiffon, and trousers in satin gray. Second outfit: Beautiful black chiffon patterned with quarter-size rich navy blue flowers arranged in slanted parallel lines; lot with dark navy blue satin, same material for trousers. Third outfit: Rich neutral tones of cream, tan, brown, adobe, burnt orange and highlighted with gold for the ao; lot with beautiful mousse brown cream; satin brown trousers.

I found one completely adorable outfit to wear for the upcoming wedding I'm attending. I dunno how to describe it, but theres a myriad of purple, lavender, cream, pinkish tones that are undercut by cream, maroon, and magenta. It sounds garish, but the muted effects are gorgeous. Now, I just need to love 50 pounds before taking it to the tailor.

We were buying yards and yards of fabric at $2 or $3 dollars up to $10 per yard. For four ao dai outfits, we paid $94.00 which was only $4 more than ONE outfit that mom bought at Y Nhu on Story Road. What a steallllllll!!!

I can't believe how wonderful it was. I would absolutely go back there, and will recommend to everyone I know.

The shop was hot b/c there was no A/C, and a tad dirty. But, you will be so delighted you won't even mind the dirty floors! Serious fire hazard exists though b/c of the way the bolts of fabric are stuffed into those cramped spaces. I shudder at the thought of the sales associates and customers being trapped inside during a fire or an earthquake or some other disaster.

The only person I found truly unhelpful and rude was the owner's wife -- she seemed to run the shops (spread into three different shop locations in the same strip mall) with a tight hand and was very uncommunicative. She never made eye contact and expressed frustration when we asked her questions.

Buzz me if you need the address to Fabrics R Us.