Bao Tranchi is a Costume and Fashion Designer.  Bao has built a highly esteemed, 20-year career, renown for extraordinary vision, unstoppable work ethic, and passion to create the most memorable designs from the big screen, to the red carpet, to the performance stage.  The more dynamic and twisted the mathematical creative equation of the project is precisely what spells out Bao’s passion.  A consummate professional with an obsession for how details, textures, colors, shapes, silhouettes marry history, story, character and depth.  Obsessional research is at the backbone of all her designs. Classically trained with a BFA in Fine Arts with a major in Fashion Design, Bao is an all inclusive talent with the ability to design, draw, draft, make, sew, anything that she conjures up in her head. Her ability to see designs and visions thoroughly from A-Z, from technical manufacturing to creatively illustrating to having a tailor’s knowledge and control and play of fit.  Bao lives to Create and believes that it is all just Fabric until Original Thought weaves Life into it. 

She graduated at the top of her class from  Otis College of Art & Design at the age of 21. Immediately upon graduating, Bao was offered a design position with ANNE KLEIN in New York City or to work on Warner Bros. Queen of the Damned.  Bao took the Costume job was accepted into the Costume Designer’s Guild and went on to work on additonal feature films such as Charlie’s Angels and  Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  Her first photo shoot was with Mark Seliger shooting Leonardo DiCaprio for Rolling Stone magazine, and styling on music videos for Janet Jackson and Destiny’s Child.  Her costume Illustrations can also be seen in the Madonna Drown World Tour book. She has also designed the wardrobe for two consecutive Kelly Clarkson World Tours as well as looks for her huge hit video “Behind these Hazel Eyes”.  She has also designed and created the clothes for the advertising Billboards & Commercials for four consecutive seasons of  America’s Next Top Model. Bao’s clothes have also been used for the advertising campaigns for Nikita, Melrose Place, Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars and the SLS Hotel, Cosmopolitan Hotel,  and Planet Hollywood, both in Las Vegas.  In addition, Bao has designed and collaborated with Paul Mitchell for half a decade of Advertising campaigns and creating elaborate Fashion shows.

Bao Costume Designed her first feature film “Journey from the Fall” at the young age of 23. With a production budget of nearly $2 million, the film was prepped entirely in Vietnam and Thailand and shot in both the United States and Thailand.  The costumes spanned from pre 1975 Vietnam to 1980 America, with over 200 extras and 40 principals. Bao prepped for the movie in Vietnam for authenticity while facing the extraordinary obstacle that the movie and subject matter itself was government blacklisted and could not be discussed at all.  This is when Bao is in her element. She is a hands on Costume designer and thrives in getting her hands dirty and making the vision come alive no matter what. She is driven by absolute commitment to vision regardless of obstacle.  

Bao has gone on to costume design the two most expensive movies ever made in Vietnam: the fantasy period drama “Once Upon a Time in Vietnam” and the historical 1000 AD period epic “Prince and the Pagoda Boy”, the drama “Finding Julia”, and the 1894 period piece “Chinatown Squad”.

In 2021 Bao was asked by “Green Book” Oscar winning director Peter Farrelly to be the Costume Designer for his follow up movie “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” starring Zac Efron, Russell Crowe and Bill Murray.  The $40 million dollar epic period feature film had Bao designing for over 75 principal roles and over 4,000 extras spread over three different geological worlds.  Due to the prep taking place in Thailand and during the height of the pandemic, nearly all the costumes (even down to footwear & headwear) had to be custom made from scratch. Filming took place in Thailand and New Jersey and the movie will be released in late 2022.

Bao is also the Designer behind the high end eponymous label that she launched in 2015. Her body-conscious designs are known for their masterful cutouts that make them architecturally intriguing and provocative. Bao Tranchi has one of the most uniquely sensual clothing brands around, her body-conscious designs melding elements of lingerie, fetish and couture-level detail into pieces that show skin in a strategic way that's both edgy and powerful. Tranchi's style is so eye-catching that it's what Jennifer Lopez chose to wear for her 46th birthday party; her revealing look was seen across the globe, sparking a Viral & cultural conversation about age-appropriateness and how sexy can a Woman dress over a certain age.

Bao was at the foreground of the Body positive movement and is a major advocate for changing how Plus size red carpet fashion should be. Her red dress for Ashley Graham when she hosted the Oscars was not only a Fashion moment but created another viral conversation about how sexy a Plus size celebrity could dress versus a sample size celebrity.  Tranchi's signature pieces have been worn by all the top celebrities who want a fashion “Moment”. Nicki Minaj, Gigi Hadid, and Alicia Keyes all stole every Best Dressed headline when they wore Bao Tranchi on the red carpet.    Her list of celebrities is extensive and her dresses have walked every major awards show and her designs are seen all over the red carpets, music videos, Award show performances, Tours and magazines and press.

Bao has been exhibited for her work and life story at both the Smithsonian in Washington DC and the Richard Nixon Museum in Loma Linda CA. Bao lives in Los Angeles with her two daughters, Sadie & Storey.