On a foggy Sunday afternoon at the MKT mall in Houston Heights, the Chloe Dao boutique is buzzing with shoppers, many of whom are doing their best to act normal next to one of the city’s most beloved designers. Dao is the only person working in her shop on this busy day, and yet she shows no signs of stress. She greets customers, asks if a sorority rush dress has color requirements, jokes about the last one Real Housewives drama, put name tags on shopping bags. When she senses that a customer may be struggling to put on a dress, she asks, “Do you need help? These belts can be tricky.” The young woman—who was probably in elementary school when Dao competed Project track, a reality series where designers compete for a chance to show a collection at New York Fashion Week—reluctant as Dao leaves her store’s front desk. Dao is the picture of casual Texan chic, with skinny jeans, an airy top with black stitching and strappy heels. Her tail bobs with authority as she makes her way to the dressing room, and within seconds the customer’s frustration is replaced with calm. No wonder Dao won the second season of Project track sixteen years ago. She is capable of making it work.
By the time Dao appeared on Bravo, she had already made a name for herself in the fashion industry. She had worked with brands such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Carolina Herrera and Marc Jacobs, selling and fulfilling special orders. Her fashion line Simply Chloe was constantly in the spotlight on QVC, and her Houston boutique, Lot 8, had been open for four years. after project track, the possibilities became even greater. “I did a collaboration with Dove deodorant,” I said [a collection] at the Smithsonian museum, I was the keynote speaker for the Girl Scouts centennial,” she recalled over the phone.
“I still think we should have won that underwear challenge,” Dao says, jokingly feigning bitterness about a Project track group challenge in which her designs did not go down well with the judges. I think of the black lace underwear from that challenge and wonder how many similar looks she has successfully designed and sold since then, right here in Houston. In addition to her e-commerce site and flagship store in Rice Village, Dao opened a second outpost at MKT, a modern mixed-use mall, in early 2021. And she’s done it all from Houston, a a city known more for its medical and oil industries than for its fashion scene. Despite the opportunities flowing in New York, where the fashion district provided all the energy and resources (incl Project track Fan favorite shop Mood Fabrics) needed for a successful career, Dao decided to return home.
“I’ve been covering fashion for almost twenty years in Houston and I’ve interviewed a lot of designers here,” says Joy Sewing, a former fashion editor and longtime friend of Dao’s. “Most of them left the business, moved on to do something else, or moved to another city. [Dao] is one of the few who have stayed here and made a successful career here.”
Dao was born in Laos and was just eight years old when her family — which includes eight daughters, all toddlers — came to the U.S., first arriving in Dallas, then settling on Houston’s north side. Growing up in the eighties and nineties, Dao was a well-rounded student at Aldine Middle School and Aldine High, and thrived in their different environments. “They were all smart and talented and popular, and so many different races,” she said. “I was good at school and I had to do cheer. It was like a utopia.”
Her mother planted the earliest seeds of Dao’s prowess in the fashion business. “She’s a bad woman,” Dao says. “She came to the United States with no English and had three jobs—one of them sewing for Macy’s and Nordstrom—then [worked] like a change lady in a men’s tailor shop.” Dao gets lost in the excitement before adding, with impeccable comic timing, “Then she went to KFC for some fried chicken.” Eventually, Dao’s mother began making clothes to sell at the weekend flea market, with eight little assistants in tow.
Over time, Dao developed her own style. “I’m drawn to clean lines and curves, in nature, architecture and product designs,” she says. “I’m inspired by Balenciaga, Givenchy, Vionnet, Geoffrey Beene and great old American designers like Edith Head.” Growing up with seven sisters created her innate understanding of body diversity. Today, this awareness has inspired her to provide sample sizes for all body types. “I’m working on this collection where a lot of the dress sizes are 12, 14 and 16, where a real woman can come in and try it on. Because real women aren’t just size 0s and 2s.”
Dao looks back fondly on her days in New York, but remembers how consuming the fashion industry could be. She recalls working for a boss in New York who was successful but seemed bitter and lonely. “I didn’t want that life,” Dao says. “My whole purpose in moving back to Houston was to be closer to my family and have a life of fashion, friends and family. three ps, not just one.”
In 2000, Dao returned to Houston and immediately created a life that contained all three of her priorities. “I have to go to my mom’s to sleep or socialize, hang out with my family, hang out with my husband and friends — even though I’m screwing my butt all the time.” The move to Houston helped her achieve the elusive work-life balance, but also made her dreams financially feasible. At first, she lived at home with her parents and drove their car to save money. “I don’t come from money,” Dao explains. “[I] needed family support and financial support to open the boutique.”
Today, Dao’s MKT boutique is a testament to everything she has built over the past two decades. The store is the physical embodiment of approachable glamour; there is a table with geometric earrings, delicate necklaces and statement rings; a line of bright pink and parrot green skirts and pants paired with floral and fire print tops. In almost every direction, you’ll find meticulously crafted dresses for every occasion. Dao’s design studio is visible from all points of the boutique, welcoming customers to see the changes, to see the mood boards, to see the design process. She was inspired by the concept of the “open kitchen” that became popular in her time Project track run. “Food became a whole thing, chefs became rock stars because you can see the process and why it takes so much to make a dish,” Dao explains. “I think once you see how things are done, you appreciate it more. I personally like to watch anything that is made. I just love the process and the creation of anything.”
It’s helpful that Dao appreciates the journey as much as the destination, because on any given day she’s a designer, businesswoman, and everything in between. “I talk to my staff, sell to clients, create custom designs, strategize for the business, and then maybe do some cleaning and organizing between the design studio, the Rice Village store, or the MKT location,” she says. “So I’m like the cleaner and the CEO.” Natalie Besnard is the store manager for Chloe Dao and has known Dao since 1999, when they both started retailing. She believes that Dao’s personality is the key to her lasting success. “Being with Chloe is like being with your closest, funniest, most creative friend. She will just make you feel so welcome.”
No matter how much love one might have for H, it’s much easier to be in the business of selling clothes in a city like New York. “I wish I could go down the street and find the fabric or trim I need, the fashion culture,” Dao says. “I just miss going out to Manhattan. I miss the ecosystem of the fashion district.” Ultimately, though, she’s at peace with her decision to design and run her business in Houston, especially as she’s witnessed the city invest in its arts and culture scene. “I think we will try. Now there are more fashion boutiques and more support for local designers,” she says. “For example, literally next to me in MKT is a store called Pop-Up Co-Op. They are local, women-owned designers and artists.”
In 2006, when Tim Gunn visited Dao before her show at Bryant Park, he was puzzled by the lack of sketches or a stated collection theme. Unfazed, Dao said, “I’m the kind of designer who doesn’t really think about a theme. I like to think about my customers and what they need this season.” Dao is as attuned to the changing needs of her customers today as she was during that episode sixteen years ago.
