Cultural heritage is important to Singaporeans. The Heritage Awareness Survey 2024 found that 93 per cent of respondents consider it so, with the strongest interest coming from those aged 15 to 34.
For younger Singaporeans, heritage involves more than monuments and milestones. It also spans craftsmanship, visual art, artefacts, vernacular languages, traditional performing arts, and clothing.
The last, especially, is a marker of our evolving identity, reflecting both cultural roots and contemporary expression. To examine how tradition is sustained in the apparel sector, a+ spoke with three business leaders whose work bridges heritage and enterprise.
Here, Raymond Wong, co-owner of Rumah Kim Choo, who received the National Heritage Board’s Stewards of Intangible Cultural Heritage Award in 2024, expounds on the craft of designing and making the Nyonya kebaya.
What is a little-known fact about your brand?
Kim Choo Kuey Chang was founded in 1945 by my paternal grandmother Lee Kim Choo, a Peranakan. It started out selling Nyonya rice dumplings and sweets. Having mastered Peranakan embroidery, I started designing and sewing Nyonya kebayas and slippers in 2005. Rumah Kim Choo was started in 2024 to compliment the business when my parents purchased the current Katong branch.
How does your business strive to convey Singapore’s cultural legacy?
The kebaya symbolises the way we live in Singapore. The crux of Peranakan culture lies beyond its blend of Chinese and Malay cultures. Our ability to adapt our tastes is at the heart of it. There is no such thing as a frozen culture; it always returns to relevance. We adapt to fit into our society because we want to belong. When something feels out of place—too white, too formal, too old-fashioned—we change it. However, change is not always easy. It makes us question our future and our direction.
Why is this cultural legacy important?
Culture is a living thing. Even if a traditional garment is beautiful, it must speak to the people of today. The less relevant it is, the harder it is to wear, and the more irrelevant it is to everyday life, the less people wear it. When that happens, it no longer lives in wardrobes—it lives in museums. To me, that’s extinction.
How do you impart traditions and techniques?
I have been teaching kebaya sulam design at LaSalle College of the Arts since 2011. It is my hope that students who use embroidery to enhance their collections in the future will be able to articulate their expectations clearly and guide artisans to achieve the results they want.
What do you do to keep your products accessible to customers?
I approach my work with young people in mind. Like skirts, for example. Many women don’t know how to fold or drape fabric, yet they still love to buy beautiful, expensive batik. So I ask myself: what should I do if they don’t know how to wear it? I can design a skirt that doesn’t require cutting into the fabric but looks sharp and modern. In my mind, the future is about creating pieces that fit into today’s real-life situations. My focus is on the future rather than the past.
Protecting our cultural legacy comes with responsibilities.
As a traditional artisan, I must continue to learn and evolve. During one of LaSalle’s graduations, the theme was “Sustainable Fashion”. A student asked if he could incorporate feathers into his kebaya—aiyoh, how? This motivated me to think outside the box; eventually we focused on creating the texture of feathers on the fabric by doing flat embroidery on one side and sewing on the other.
What strategies do you have in place to ensure this mission continues under your next-generation leadership?
I want to set up a design library for our next generation. They will be able to study and build upon a valuable archive of vintage kebaya ideas and techniques. I’m working on digitising this knowledge. My vision needs to stretch 10 years ahead!
What is your most memorable customer experience?
A customer wanted to wear a kebaya to her Balinese-themed wedding. She couldn’t find one, insisting that it made her look old. I asked, “What do you like about the kebaya?” She said, “I like how it gave the SQ girls a good silhouette”. We looked through her photos, and I noticed she had straight shoulders. I thought, let’s make a halter-necked kebaya! We even included a built-in bra. Considering that built-in bras were only available in sportswear in 2017, that was quite impressive.
What are your current challenges?
Learning how to use technology more effectively. [Laughs] I used to draw everything by hand on paper, but now I use the Procreate app, which saves me a lot of time. After customers approve it, I adapt it to the actual scale. I’m also exploring digital embroidery by using software to convert designs into stitch files for embroidery machines.
No, I do not feel guilty about using technology for something as traditional as the kebaya. Because I know how to achieve a handmade effect, I don’t see any problem with it. I’ve worked on the kebaya for a long time; I know my stitch length, when to jump my thread, and so on. With a machine, I’m creating more opportunities for myself. Maybe I will be able to use digital embroidery to make our slippers in the future?
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