Kim Pham is sharp.

Before designing a dress, Kim looks the customer over.

“I see your skin; I know what color is good for you. The skin, hair and eye colors are very important,” she says. “I don’t use patterns. Everybody’s different.”

Every color conceivable is available in her crowded Chinatown dress shop, which Kim opened 17 years ago, just three years after arriving from Vietnam. Her desire to create custom fashions has seen her through 14-hour workdays, losing her building in a fire and nearly being nudged out of her second location in Copley Place when a larger store wanted the space.

“My husband said I have to learn English before I can work here,” but Kim was impatient. She bought a sewing machine without consulting him, and the rest is a blur of bobbing needles and a kaleidoscope of colorful silk.