IT’S rare to hear of fashion being equated with logic, but that’s exactly how fashion designer Priscilla Shunmugam describes her journey. At the receiving end of consistent acclaim and increasing popularity from when its first cheongsams were sold, the Ong Shunmugam’s label profile reads that the brand seeks to re-evaluate the traditional Asian dress. And it did. The brand’s refreshing take on culture and heritage proved to fill an unknown gap in the market of the modern Asian woman searching for her fashion identity. 

As I sat down with the former lawyer recently at local boutique ShoesShoesShoes, where the label’s seasonal collection is carried, Priscilla confides that we’ve caught her at a “very important” time for the brand. 

She admits that the pressure is now great. “We’re no longer a start-up, the novelty has worn off. Now the question on everyone’s lips is, ‘What’s next? What now, Priscilla?’” 

It’s no surprise that the scrutiny is tremendous. The last five years have been nothing short of meteoric for her label, a fairy-tale like growth from “homemade” dresses — she worked out of her home when she started — to the runways of Paris Fashion Week in 2013 and New York Fashion Week trade show Coterie last year. 

If the last five years was about discovery, the coming five years will be about transition. That involves deciding what the brand will be ultimately, she says. Without precedent or example to follow, the designer acknowledges that there will come a time when she will need external help: “As the person who has led the brand, I’m willing to say that I’ve reached my capacity,” she says. 

Citing the likes of Christopher Kane and Joseph Altuzarra — contemporary fashion brands that have shown consistent track records of both critical acclaim and commercial success — Priscilla divulges that for the label’s next growth spurt, including expanding into accessories and lifestyle products, external investment is necessary. “I am open to the brand being bought over by a conglomerate. It is a sacrifice I am willing to take to head to the next level: to become a global brand or at least build a strong reach across major capitals in Asia,” says Priscilla. That is, after all, what the business of fashion is all about.

But she very quickly adds that it’s not just about money. “When I say help, it is external advice, consultancy perhaps … to take the brand to a higher level. Despite being an entrepreneur, the heart of my brand has never been about the money.” 

Never just about fashion
Part of the Ong Shunmugam appeal is definitely the story of the brand. “It’s never just a fashion piece, there is always many layers to it — from context, storytelling and information to education. 

“A lot of people come and tell me that they have followed the story of the brand since it started,” she says, recounting the stories of her early supporters. “There’s a relationship, an affinity.” 

She attributes that success to her getting the answers she needed right from the very beginning.  “I figured early on that you need to have something interesting to say,” she says and cites this as the main ingredient for a fashion label’s success. Her practical answer to the core question was her heritage. “We were brought up to believe that the Western woman’s fashion option is limitless, but today I say that it’s actually the other way around.” 

And she is right. Woven into Ong Shunmugam’s story are now tales of how women would come to her home with wads of cash, try out clothes in her bedroom and pay the rather hefty price tag (for an emerging designer) for a dress that didn’t even come with a paper bag — because Priscilla couldn’t afford to make any. 

For a designer whose aesthetics is driven by the expression of a story, it is now time for a new chapter.  She says maybe it’s a dose of naïve bravado but she believes that she can do something about the gap in the market for Asian clothing that would speak to women of her generation. 

From her decision to plunge into the fashion world after taking up a two-month dressmaking course while on a working holiday in the United Kingdom — a decision spurred by uncertainty after the Lehman Brothers crash — to the stories behind her collections, Pricilla has always been ruled by logic and that indeed has been the success of her fashion retail business.  

Heading out
The next phase is for the brand to take its place as the leading Asian brand. Unlike most Asian designers who have to make it overseas before they are taken seriously back home, the Ong Shunmugam brand is completely the other way around. Ninety percent of its customer base is Asian. 

The designer says that strong reactions from her shows overseas prove that it’s only a matter of time before the brand hits global success and “we will be ready when that happens”.

Meanwhile, the impact at home is clear — when you’re able to convince the Asian consumer that it’s something to be proud of to buy a local brand at a price point of about S$600 (RM1,597) for a dress, it’s no longer just about “supporting local”. It’s about succeeding in the fashion world.

“That means we’ve created a sustainable market, not just financially, but emotionally … That’s the most powerful consumption if you think about it,” says Priscilla, “If your choice speaks to the heart and mind, then you’ve got the most powerful product in the room.”

Digging deep into our roots

Ong Shunmugam has outdone itself each time with its modern interpretation of the cheongsam, the kebaya and batik. Its last 2014 fall/winter collection — Madness & Civilisation — which premiered at the Audi Fashion Festival Singapore, unprecedentedly sold out within two months. 

Giving live it! a sneak peek of what’s to come this spring/summer, designer Priscilla Shunmugam says she will present a “deeply personal” collection that reflects her 15 years in Singapore — tentatively called Of Love and Letters. 

“I am going to approach 10 to 15 people in Singapore who have good penmanship — authors, journalists or scriptwriters,” she says. These people may or may not know her, but have nevertheless impacted her in one way or another. 

“I will be asking them to write me a short paragraph on their feelings about Singapore at this moment, be it negative or positive, and the thoughts will then be taken to a calligrapher to be written out based on what it emotes. The words would then become prints on fabric that will form the collection’s new designs,” she explains. 

Recalling her ups and downs in Singapore, where the Malaysian-born designer moved to read law at university, Priscilla says, “It’s been difficult in ways. When I first came I was already 20 years old, with no social network. I really started my business from scratch … I had no favours done.” 

Calling the country home now, she acknowledged that it has only given her good experiences. “Singapore has been fair to me,” she adds. 

She is hopeful that the abstract and ambitious collection will resonate with people, what with the changes that the country is going through physically and in turn, emotionally. “The sense of belonging is being questioned. Not very different from Malaysia if you think about it,” she adds.

Addressing concerns that the niche “Asian style” fashion will fizzle out creatively, Priscilla’s reply is succinct: “It’s my problem. Leave that to me.” 

She adds that she’s not afraid. She reiterates that through her travels and research in places like the National Library of Singapore, where she studies books on batik, Chinese textiles, Peranakan attire and so forth, there is endless material. “I have all of Asia. We’ve only just started … it’s literally my playground.” — By Mae Chan

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 17, 2015.