Design & Cultural Dialogue:
What is Nanyang Fashion & Why it Matters?
Naming What Already Exists
For 20 years, we have been exploring the language of Nanyang Fashion.
At this Dialogue, we shared a simple belief:
“We did not invent Nanyang Fashion — we named it."
Naming it allows us to be intentional about how we design, what we preserve, and how we evolve — so that our clothes are not merely beautiful, but meaningful.
What Nanyang Fashion Is Not
Nanyang Fashion is not a Google-defined term.
It does not have a fixed visual template — and that excites us.
“Nanyang Fashion is not defined in Google — and that excites us.”
It is not 新中式.
It is not nostalgia.
It is not costume.
It is not narrowly confined to the Qipao.
A Lived Nanyang Lens
Nanyang Fashion is lived experience.
Born in Singapore to Malaysian parents, I grew up travelling between Singapore and Malaysia. My Peranakan grandmother wore the Kebaya and Qipao even for a simple trip to the market. That world — tropical, hybrid, layered with Chinese roots and Southeast Asian realities — shaped my lens long before I became a designer.
For two decades, each Fuchsia Lane collection has been grounded in research and narrative. Our work reflects Chinese aesthetic lineages and the aspirations of our ancestors, yet is narrated through a Nanyang lens — informed by multicultural exchange, colonial encounters, global trade routes, and the realities of tropical living.
Nanyang Fashion is contemporary.
It is global.
It belongs to the climate and rhythm of Southeast Asia.
A Cultural Responsibility
As the ASEAN region gains economic and cultural momentum, naming Nanyang Fashion becomes a cultural responsibility. In a nation that has just marked 60 years of independence — and is celebrated for technological precision and efficiency — perhaps it is also time to articulate our cultural identity through fashion.
A century ago, Nanyang Art began in Singapore and quietly travelled outward.
Perhaps Nanyang Fashion, too, will take root from here — as Singapore has long been a gateway to Southeast Asia.
The Dialogue: A Cross-Disciplinary Room
This intimate two-day Dialogue brought together leaders across disciplines.
From heritage and cultural institutions: Chee Yan Yeoh (Chairman, National Heritage Board) and Chris Lee (Assistant Chief Executive, National Gallery Singapore).
From the arts and education field: Low Sin Leng (Chairman, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts) and Tan Soh Wai Lan (President, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts).
From fashion and industry: Ting-Ting Zhang 张婷婷 (Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Fashion Council) and established fashion stylist Jerome Awasthi.
From design: Architect-turned-interior designer Lui Yen Ho, who is shaping the Nanyang Fashion Gallery with us.
Each came from a different discipline, yet engaged with the same question.
I was deeply encouraged by the generosity of thought in the room.
Working at the Speed of Culture
“We are working at the speed of culture, not mass fashion.
Inviting people to appreciate, and sometimes participate in, the process rather than simply consume the end product.
This was not a conclusion.
It was an opening.
An Invitation to Shape the Next Chapter
Nanyang Fashion is still being defined — thoughtfully, rigorously, collectively.
If you would like to take part in future Dialogues and contribute to shaping this cultural language, we invite you to register your interest.
The next chapter is being written.
Join us at the table.
Shared for institutional and cultural reference